Peru

Each of our projects is designed to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular the following SDGs within Peru.

Peru Project Highlights (2015 - 2022)

70

10

Constructed 10 guinea pig barns

1,000

70 Toilets built 17

Over 1,000 trees planted

14 13 15

Built 17 greenhouses

Constructed 14 cattle sheds

Built / Improved 13 homes for families

Built 15 smokeless fuel efficient stoves

In Peru, projects are designed to make a significant and lasting impact on the region’s most critical issues. Projects typically focus on:

Renovating houses and constructing toilet blocks in each of the houses in the village, providing families and vulnerable elderly residents with proper sanitation facilities.

Community development projects which could include anything from school improvements and construction, to building community centres.

Kindergarten Construction - Anqoto

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The community at Anqoto are in the process of building a kindergarten within the boundaries of the school. However, they have a very limited budget to complete the project and so Camp Peru agreed to help with any outstanding work. We have built a classroom and kitchen for the kindergarten and toilets for the children and teachers and will continue with further developments and maintenance.

2022 Update:

In 2022, our travellers helped with the maintenance of the kindergarten walls and the playground. The sanding and repainting of the playground was carried out, along with replacing deteriorated wooden structures and ropes for the swings. An educational mural, tables, chairs and bathroom doors were painted.

Communal Centre - Pillahuara

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The community surrounding Camp Moray is in need of a community centre. They don’t have a place to gather for meetings so are currently using an open field stadium, which is not suitable. We agreed to build a multipurpose building for all community members.

2022 Update:

The community centre was started in 2019 and was 80% completed. In 2022, our travellers helped render the back walls of the community centre and plastered the inside and exterior walls.

Medical Centre Maintenance/Dental Consultancy – Pinchollo

In every community in Colca, you can see animals walking freely down the street and sometimes they enter buildings. The medical centre requires fencing to keep animals out and a storage room where documents that are currently piled up in the observation room can be moved and catalogued.

2022 Update:

This was a new project for 2022 and the pre-foundation and foundation of the future dental office was completed. The areas destined for the vegetable garden for the elderly was prepared for planting.

Each of our projects is designed to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular the following SDGs within Ecuador.

Ecuador Project Highlights (2011 - 2022)

29

Toilets built

12,000

60

Native plants and trees planted approximately

Octopus houses built as part of restoring the reef structure around El Pelado

12 Worked with over 12 schools to improve learning environments and facilities

1,200+ 1,000kg

Did you know?

Reforestation of 1,200 orchids

Environmental clean-ups resulting in the removal of over 1000kg of rubbish

Ecuador is known as the country of orchids – boasting more than 4,000 different species.

In Ecuador, projects are designed to make a significant and lasting impact on the region’s most critical issues. Projects typically focus on:

Community development through activities such as constructing a neighbourhood recreational area, improving infrastructure at a local high school or sanitation facilities.

Tackle the issue of waste in the natural environment, by participating in beach clean ups and working on rubbish management projects.

Amazon rainforest generation - assisting with important environmental projects, collecting saplings and replanting trees in the jungle.

Camilo Gallego School Maintenance - Costa

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Due to lack of government funding, much of the school is in a poor condition. The playground is dilapidated, there is no dining area and the toilets don’t work. We’ve agreed to help improve the general infrastructure of the school.

In 2014, we started cleaning up the school grounds. Since then we’ve created a new allweather playground, built a dining area, provided sports facilities and constructed furniture. In 2016, we painted the exterior of the school, fixed the existing toilets and started constructing another one for the infants. From 2017 - 2019 we continued to refurbish existing classrooms by painting the exteriors, completed a toilet block for first grades, constructed a roof for a recreational and educational area and reconstructed the playground.

Shiwakucha School Maintenance - Amazon

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The number of children enrolled at the school is increasing and there is currently not enough storage space for all their belongings. Because of this, the teacher has asked if we could build some shelving units in the school so that each child has their own storage space. In addition, the humid environment of the rainforest means that metal rusts very quickly. To prevent deterioration, metal structures such as the playground need to be painted regularly. From 2017-2018, we painted the play equipment and built six large shelving units, installed a roof, laid a path to the classrooms and toilets and built a storeroom.

Las Tunas Community Organic Garden - Costa

This community garden has been running for several years producing a variety of plants and trees, many of which are native. The plants grown here are then given to people who are in need, either to forest or reforest their land, or enable them to grow crops such as coffee. The garden does not charge any fees for harvesting the produce but instead relies on donations. We are supporting the community in their endeavours by helping to expand this amazing community initiative. Between 2016 - 2019, our student travellers filled more than 2,950 bags with potato seeds, peregrinas and more than 100 tangerines. They have also planted 2283 native plants such as crotos and palms.

Clean Beaches Initiative - Costa

The beautiful beach at Puerto Rico is an important nesting site for endangered turtles. However, it’s also heavily polluted by vehicles illegally driving on the beach, oil spillages, and littering. There is also seafood waste from fishermen and refuse discarded from boats offshore. Millions of birds, turtles, fish and marine mammals die each year due to marine refuse; either drowning by getting tangled in fishing nets and debris, through poisoning, or by ingesting plastics. All student travellers that spend time at our camp get involved in at least one beach clean-up with the local community.

Galápagos Conservation - Galápagos Islands

In the Galapagos Islands we work closely with the Galapagos National Park (GNP) by working in their plant nursery to aid future reforestation of the islands. We also work with a local school to improve their gardens. Due to the high plastic pollution accumulations in the Galapagos, partly due to the influence of the ocean currents bringing plastic litter from other continents, we carry out several beach clean ups on the sea front.

2022 Update:

Our student travellers walked the beaches and sifted through the sand to find micro plastics, glass, wood, bits of fishing nets and other pieces of rubbish littering the area. They also helped with the reforestation project and planted Otoy.

What is Otoy?

Otoy is crop that is sometimes eaten by humans but is more commonly eaten by the Giant Galapagos Tortoise. Farms that grow otoy are able to sell the huge leaves to the tortoise raising facilities so that tortoises can eat a native plant that is a part of their traditional diet.

Reforestation Projects - Amazon

Ecuador is the eighth most biodiverse country on Earth, with more than 20,000 plant species, 1,500 bird species, more than 840 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 341 species of mammals. Yet it also has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, where up to 200,000 hectares of forest are destroyed illegally every year leaving less than 15% of primary forest intact. Most of this is due to the expansion of pastures and pressure from oil and mining companies. The Shiwakucha community are very concerned about the deforestation and are keen to preserve the forest by planting indigenous trees. As the community expands, they cut down more trees to sell the wood and make space for crops. The Shiwa palm (native to the amazon) has suffered the most from this deforestation.

Since 2017, we have around 2000 Shiwa palms have been planted in the Amazon.

About the Shiwa Palm

The Shiwa palm is from the Amazon and has multiple uses. The palm leaves are used for the roof of temporary houses/structures, the fruit is turned into drinks or oil to use in cosmetology and cooking. It is also within the palm that the chontacuros, a delicacy for the indigenous people of the Amazon, grow.

Chontacuro is a worm that lives in the chonco or shiwa palm. Chontacuros is Quechua word meaning “Worms of the Chonta”. This small insect, similar to a caterpillar is said to have nutritional and medicinal properties. They can be eaten roasted, cooked or fried, accompanied by onion sauce, tomato, lettuce and cooked yucca.

The Camps Foundation provides vital financial support for the wide range of projects that are developed and run by Camps International Group every year. At any one time, Camps International may be working on more than 100 different humanitarian, environmental and conservation initiatives worldwide, delivering impact through responsible tourism.

As a registered charity, the Camps Foundation relies on essential donations from crowdfunding through Justgiving, businesses, organisations, private donors, staff fundraising efforts and our family of committed volunteers and friends to ensure we can deliver on our ambitious promises to each community and region that needs our support.

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