Our winter is Christmas, their winter is merciless

Living in modern, urban cities means most of us can stay in warm and cozy houses during chilling days. Christmas and happiness somehow became the synonyms of winter. But modernity often leaves us ignorant about the true nature of winter, which is cold and harsh at times. In places where modernity hasn’t quite reached, people are not that lucky. For those who live in Villa Maria, located on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, they experience winter in a very different way from us. And that’s the place I am going as a volunteer.

Hi everyone, my name is Lam Tsz Ho, or Owen if you prefer an easier pronunciation! I am a second year history undergraduate in the UK raising funds for the Villa Maria Project by Quest Overseas. The project starts in the beginning of July and finishes at the end of August and aims at improving living standards of the local population. It provides me and other volunteers an opportunity to visit Villa Maria and provide the citizens our support. Our main duties will include construction work and organizing events for local communities especially for the school children. Though the newly-built houses are not perfect, but they are still many times better than the makeshift accommodation they currently reside.

July and August are the coldest months in Villa Maria, many children become susceptible to diseases and some did not even make it through winter. Our help might be a tip of the iceberg, but our aim is to help as much as we can. By donating to this campaign, you are enabling the charity to step in and assist the people who are in urgent need of help!

- About your donation:

My volunteering program includes a month of volunteering and two weeks of expedition, but none of your donation will go towards my expedition. Part of the donation will suffice my flights and the trip, while the rest of the donation will go straight to the charity. I want to keep things clear as I don’t want my donors, you, to mistake me using your money for leisure purposes. For the amount I am raising, £1100 will go to project payment, £850 for flights, £720 will go for charity. Some of the project payment will also go to charity, see here: https://www.questoverseas.com/costs-explained/

- More about Villa Maria :

Villa Maria was a district settled in the 1970s and is a mere half an hour from the center of the city Lima. Today Villa Maria has a population of about 700,000 people making it one of the largest shanty-towns in the world. Life is hard in Villa Maria and people scrape a living any way they can. This can be endless hours of factory work on a pittance, driving taxis or selling stolen goods. Children and young people are often left alone during evenings, weekends and school holidays. Besides, many families came from extreme poverty. See more information here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8a62866-cc1c-11da-a7bf-...

- About my Choice:

I love volunteering! Being able to make others laugh always bring me so much joy. But why this particular one? To be honest, this isn't my first choice. I initially wanted to go for an ICS programme, but ICS is only suitable for EU, EAA and British citizens, which means I am ineligible. Then I found this charity which was very clear about their costs and spendings, and this project just interested me. That's it!

Somehow I am saying it here(Oops), If you don't find my project good enough for your donation, you can always donate directly to the charities! Or simply pass the messages to other, any help is good, even it's just passive. Or if you have barely enough to spend (my fellow students), emotional support will do the job:)

Any donation is welcomed!

More about the Villa Maria Project here: https://www.questoverseas.com/event/villa-maria-su...