Chris Laidler recently returned from a 10-week volunteering trip to Peru, organised by Platform 2. He shares his experience with us:

"I discovered Platform 2, and the experience they had to offer, while studying for a Uniformed Public Services course at Craven College, Skipton. My college tutor, Dave Brien, said it would be a fantastic experience, and just the sort of thing that the public services would look for when considering new applicants. After a little research of my own I decided that I should apply.

My application was successful, and after a pre-departure briefing in Birmingham, I, along with 10 other volunteers, was ‘deployed’ to Peru. Once there we spent a few days in Lima, the capital city, to adjust to the difference in time zones and climate. Our Peruvian company that would support and work with us over the next ten weeks provided various ‘tourist’ trips in and around Lima for the next three days.

After these three days, we moved to our designated home stays, approximately 1 hour north of Lima. The town we were to be staying in was called Ventanilla, and the specific area, Las Flores (The Flowers.) The people living in this area are officially living in the ‘Poverty’ bracket; many of the households survive on less than ten pounds a week.

Here we were introduced to the families we would be living with for the next nine weeks, all of whom had prepared a big community meal to celebrate our arrival. Over the next few days we were also introduced to the area where we would be working, around twenty minutes drive from our home stays, an area called Pachacutec.

We would continue work that a previous group of volunteers had started. The nursery that we would be working on is an ongoing project and groups that will take our place will also continue to work on it. The previous group had constructed a toilet and bathroom area, as the nursery previously had no real sanitation for the children. As this was finished our job was to clear the sand banks around the area and construct part of a tall fence to surround the nursery.

As well as manual labour, we were also expected to do community work. This was orientated more towards working with the children there. All the volunteers worked together to help run English classes and sports workshops, while the other volunteers ran arts and crafts sessions. I ran some guitar classes for the children in the community that wanted to improve their skills.

In the main I enjoyed my ten weeks, but there were challenging times when I was unwell due to acclimatisation and a radical change in diet. I came away from the whole experience with a huge sense of achievement."

Chris has now returned to work at Teesdale Leisure Centre where he trains adults and children on the climbing wall and lifeguards at the pool. He will be giving a presentation of his experiences to students at Craven College and would be willing to do the same for groups of sixth-formers locally if asked. Chris can be contacted on 01833 627421.

Platform 2 is funded by the Department for International Development. Please note - volunteers must be aged 18 or over. More information can be found at www.myplatform2.com