The Northern Coast

The Northern Coast
The Northern Coast--photo by Zack Thieman

My Peace Corps Assignment



















I volunteered as a Youth Development Facilitator in the department of Lambayeque in the dry coastal desert of northern Perú. (On the map on the right, Lambayeque is the small pink department in the north on the coast). I was in training near the city of Lima from June 2011 to August 2011, and served in my site from August 2011 to July 2013.

As a youth volunteer I had quite a bit of freedom with what topics I worked on with kids in my community, but the program has three goals:

Development of Healthy Lifestyles

  • Nutrition, exercise, self-esteem, sex education, hygiene, you name it. 

Development in the World of Work

  • Vocational orientation, goal setting, thinking about the future, all that jazz. 

Leadership Development and Community Participation

  • Getting the kids involved in their community and realizing they have the power to make a difference.


I am in group Peru 17, which consists of Youth Development and Small Business volunteers. Odd numbered groups are youth and business, and typically arrive in Peru the first week of June. Even numbered groups consist of Water & Sanitation, Environment, and Health volunteers, and they typically arrive in country the second week of September.