FUNDECOIPA

Accommodation

Volunteers live in the Shuar community Arútam, which also is the headquarters of FUNDECOIPA. Volunteers are accommodated in a volunteer house close to the community center. The volunteer house has double rooms, bathroom, kitchen facilities, a fireplace, and washboards for laundry and open space for with hammocks.
Food

Volunteers will be provided with three meals per day and free drinking water. Furthermore biscuits, sweets, beers and soft drinks can be purchased in a small shop in the community. Meals consist of a traditional Shuar diet supplemented with rice, pasta and vegetables. The main stables are manioc, plantain, sweet yam, rice, pasta, vegetables, chili and meat. Another stable part of the diet is the chicha. Vegetarians can be accommodated.

Requirements
There are no specific skills required to participate in the program. Those who have a passion to assist others, flexible and positive attitude as well as capability to live under basic conditions can join the project. There are no age restrictions but young and elder volunteers should note that they will be living in tropical conditions with basic facilities. Volunteers under 15 years have to be accompanied by their parents.

Language skills
There are no Spanish level requirements for volunteering. We receive volunteers without any previous Spanish skills to volunteers with advanced Spanish skills and native Spanish speakers. Basic Spanish skills and active effort to learn will, however, improve your experience as the working language is Spanish and villagers speak little English. That way the project is also a great way of enhancing your Spanish skills.
Villagers are bilingual with Shuar as their first language and Spanish as the second – some understand some English. All villagers are both fluent in Shuar and Spanish. The working language is Spanish, but villagers will often talk Shuar among each other. Villagers are very keen on teaching Shuar to any volunteers interested.


Project availability and commitment
There are no set arrival/departure dates for the project. When you apply and pay you just need to inform us about your proposed participation dates. The project is available year round. Although we accept volunteers for short periods of time (2 week minimum) we encourage volunteers to make a commitment for 4 weeks in order to gain more thorough insight knowledge about the project and the Shuar. The arrival date is also flexible and your stay first starts once arrived in the community.