Yampu’s Mission To Give Back:
Yampu Tours is always looking for opportunities to give back to the local communities in Latin America. At Yampu, we believe that responsible travel is a means of not only experiencing other cultures, but supporting these destinations and sustaining their environments and communities. Yampu Tours employs only local expert guides and local personalities who are equally committed to their communities and the quality of the client’s experience. By using local guides, Yampu’s clients receive firsthand knowledge of the communities and are able to truly interact with the locals.
Yampu’s ‘Give Back’ Programs
Yampu offers several different opportunities for their clients to give back to the communities they visit in ways that are most needed in the region.
The new ‘Give Back to Peru’ program brings each Yampu Adventure Tour client to the Sacred Valley. Here clients have the unique opportunity to support the local community of Cachiccata. In Cachiccata clients are given a tree that they can plant in order to help the ongoing reforestation process in Peru. If the client does not have the ability to plant the tree on their own, a member of the Yampu team will do so for them. During their visit in Cachiccata, clients will enjoy lunch at a charming and locally operated restaurant. The money the clients spend at lunch is put directly back into the community in order to complete projects such as: the Vilcanota river cleanup, environmental education, resident training, and assisting the continued reforestation and protection process of the Qeunua relict forest.
If the client wishes to stay longer in the village Yampu can arrange other volunteer opportunities such as working in the local organic gardens or participating in the regional education programs. Volunteer opportunities range depending on the clients interests and the needs of the community at the time of the visit. For example, clients who wish to work in a local school will be provided a list by Yampu of what the school needs specifically at that time. Client wanting to help construct new houses will receive an individualized budget that stays within the client’s means; Yampu will arrange the logistics at that time.
Yampu clients visiting the Peruvian Amazon can arrange for visits to local schools and communities brining donations that are requested directly from the community. “Things we take for granted like pencil sharpeners, colored pencils, and erasers can be a treasure for a child from an Amazon village”, says Monica Irauzqui, co-founder of Yampu Tours. “I remember once seeing a group of kids happily playing with a bicycle with only one tire. The village is a two week walk from the nearest town so a new tire is not something you just run out and get.”
All of Yampu’s volunteer efforts work to support the areas of the community that need assistance. Yampu works hard to ensure that its volunteer efforts do not diminish the community or take away any jobs from the locals.
OUR COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS:
Pack For A Purpose
We are proud members of Pack for a Purpose, an initiative that allows travelers like you to make a lasting impact in the community at your travel destination. If you save just a few kilos of space in your suitcase and bring supplies for area schools or medical clinics in need, you’ll make a priceless impact in the lives of our local children and families. Please click the Pack for a Purpose logo to see what supplies are needed for our project. If you are going to Peru, Yampu has adopted a school there called the Phiri School; you can bring things for these kids and we will get the supplies to them or you can go yourself to hand deliver them. This project is near to our hearts and hope it will be to you also.
IGTOA
Yampu is a proud member of IGTOA, the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association. The IGTOA and Yampu are dedicated to responsible travel in the fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands. Clients traveling to the Galapagos Islands with Yampu will have a donation of $7 given to the IGTOA in their name from Yampu. These contributions help create benefits and educational opportunities for the locals, strengthen the drive towards responsible tourism management, and promote high professional standards for the industry.
Reforest Patagonia
By traveling to Patagonian Chile with Yampu Tours, you will be making the choice to travel responsibly. Working with Reforest Patagonia, Yampu Tours will donate one tree for every client booked to the Chilean Patagonia, towards the reforestation efforts in Torres del Paine. Reforest Patagonia is a non-profit, public-private alliance with a single objective: to recover one of the world’s most important ecosystems.
MEDLIFE Volunteer Intern Sponsorship, Ian McHale
Yampu-sponsored MEDLIFE student, Ian, studies Biology and Community & International Development at the University of Vermont. He is also a UVM Medical Center volunteer and veteran MEDLIFE volunteer intern who headed to Lima, Peru for the summer. With the help of Yampu Tours’ Give Back initiative, he has pursued his dream of working in community development and applied his community and international development and medical volunteer skills to help those in need in the outskirts of Lima.
