Lima, Peru March 8 Kathryn Bowen shares her thoughts on volunteering in Peru.

I just got back from spending a week volunteering in Lima, Peru with Cross-Cultural Solutions. We volunteered in a district of Lima called Villa el Salvador. Villa el Salvador began in 1970 as a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima established by a group of immigrant families who had moved down from the Andes. Villa el Salvador has been called ‘organized poor people' as from its inception the community was well planned and developed by the people; even earning international recognition including a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. During the 1980's the community suffered a large set back when the Shining Path terrorist organization saw Villa el Salvador as opposition to their movement and infiltrated the community terrorizing the people and killing several of the area's political leaders. While the community has achieved a lot in a short period of time by bringing infrastructure like water and electricity to many of its inhabitants, they still have a long way to go and have land set aside to one day build themselves a hospital as well as other large institutions.

Within Villa el Salvador I volunteered at Los Martincitos, a senior's center. The centre is open Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Many of the seniors that visit the centre have been abandoned by their children and have no money even for basic necessities like food. The seniors come to the centre where they are fed two meals a day, can have a shower, visit the doctor and participate in extra curricular activities. While there I helped cook lunch one day, worked in the craft room and also became the centre's hair stylist; dying all of the women's hair. On Tuesday and Thursday we went on home visits, which were really difficult to see. The conditions in which they live are shocking. Some of us bought groceries the night before which we took to the people we visited. One of the men we visited, DaMateo, told us that by bringing food we had saved his life and he thanks God everyday for the volunteers that come by to help him. On another one of the home visits we rebuilt a duck and guinea pig coup for a couple who try to make some money through selling the animals for food.

The experiences I had volunteering in Peru were incredible. We really got to know the people and learn about the politics and history of the country and region from some of the people who helped shape it. I am definitely planning on volunteering abroad again and I am really glad that salesforce.com supports us doing so.