Volunteering Teaching English in Peru

A friend once told me to never have a five year plan. Set up goals for your future, but make them rough copies, because you'll never know what opportunities life will throw in your path. Up until a little over six months ago, I took the saying with a grain of salt; a small excuse to never have to make real concrete future plans for myself, if you will. Almost exactly a year ago, during the end of my first year of college and the start of the summer before my next, I realized university at this point in my life wasn't working. I felt pressured to pick a major that I'd be using for the remainder of my life, and I felt like the US university system gave me little to no freedom to live and breathe. Maybe this is a bit dramatic, but I certainly felt out of place. A part of me knew that I belonged somewhere abroad, and I came to the conclusion that simply taking "filler classes" (AKA general education courses) was sucking up money and leaving me with knowledge I wasn't particuarly interested in. "Isn't the whole point of college to WANT to be there? To be studying something you're actually INTERESTED in? To study to become qualified for your future JOB?" - These are questions I continuously asked myself as I sat in a lecture hall answering math questions. Summer rolled by and soon came time to go back to school, in which I promptly told my parents I don't see a point in going at all. To any parent's surprise, they were taken back and mortified. "If my child doesn't go to university, what other options remain? How will she get a job? Is she crazy?" is what I picked up from the reaction on their faces. Luckily I have parents who give others the chance to speak and state their case, no matter how profound and slightly absurd, so they asked what I'd be doing instead. I scratched my head...I had no idea. Take a student out of school, their only real option is to get a job or study online instead, but neither of those appealed to me. I researched my options and ran a few by my parents..or a lot..in which they heard every drafted idea I had: move to Spain and study Spanish at a university, become an Au Pair in Australia, practice turtle conservation in Costa Rica, move to South Africa and study wild animals. A simple Google search had me all over the place with no direction - the world seemed to be my oyster, but I didn't want to leave school to solely be enjoying myself and having fun, so I was stuck in another hole of uncertainty. It wasn't until I met a guy in Prague, of all places, who gave me clarity and hope with the telling of his life story. Two years previous to meeting him, he volunteered teaching English (for incredibly cheap) in Bali, Indonesia. He ended up loving it so much, he volunteered again a year later in Sri Lanka, Colombo. He showed me pictures, told me why, and how, he went about doing it, and expressed to me how much he loved both experiences wholeheartedly. This was eyeopening to me in multiple ways; I was being shown someone my age who took an opportunity that was avidly available without worrying about school or what society will think. I was shown an option that was extremely appealing to me that I wasn't aware people do often and in all different corners of the world. You could say that meeting him was inspiring to me, and it took me on a pathway I didn't even know I needed. Upon returning from my trip, I went back to school, as it was too late to drop everything and teach English somewhere. While I balanced my studies and a social life, I also spent time researching and finding a volunteering organization that was right for me. To my surprise, lots of volunteering companies charge upwards to $3000 for volunteering for six months - why are we paying so much if we're lending our time and help?! On top of this, there are hundreds of organizations, and all of them offer more than 50+ countries to choose from, so if you don't have a slight idea as to where you want to go, you're choosing from the entire world. I knew I wanted to volunteer with a smaller organization that I knew would be doing some sort of good in the world, even if it's just in a small town. I researched places that need English speaking volunteers moreso than others, and South American countries scattered across the list. Some part of me was drawn to the idea of Peru, so I further researched about how I'd be helping. To my surprise, the government recently made it a law that secondary students need to know English, however public schools don't offer English education, as it's only provided in private schools. This means that most students entering secondary school fall behind. By furthering my research, I found many organizations offering projects based in Peru, but none that were founded and based SOLELY in Peru, until I found Otra Cosa. Otra Cosa is an NGO that costed no more than $300 for six months of volunteer work, and has given me the experience of a lifetime. Huanchaco is a small surf town in the North of Peru, only fifteen minutes from Peru's second biggest city, Trujillo. Here I've spent 6 months teaching English to six different grade levels (1-6) in two different schools four times a week. Waking up at 7am every morning is worth the smiling faces and beautiful curiosity for life that I have the blessing of experiencing every day. The schools often hold events, such as Mothers day or appreciation day for Peruvians, and I've been lucky enough to see Peruvian culture in another light. My Spanish upon arriving was rusty from years briefly learning it before, and now I can say with confidence that I can lead a classroom, run errands in town, and have conversations with only small grammatical or vocabulary problems. This entire experience has shaped me for the better, and words can't describe how much clarity I've gained from doing this. Volunteering in Peru was the first real life decision I've ever made for myself, and I can genuinely say it's been the best decision for my life thus far. I look forward to volunteering again in the future, both through Otra Cosa and elsewhere! <3