Books & Articles
We have been visited by writers and editors as well as by representatives of numerous international volunteer providers and sending agents. Below is a listing of resources to know how other organizations represent Aldeas de Paz.
Published articles about Aldeas de Paz
We are truly fortunate to be able to have placed more than
500 volunteers in numerous social development and aid programs in Venezuela since 2004. Aldeas de Paz is not only locally well known but also internationally recognized and promoted through important organizations and the media. However we choose to maintain the status of a small and sustainable local grassroots' Volunteer NGO.
Depending on time commitment and skills, volunteers can work on a number of community development projects¨
∼ Lonely Planet 2007 - Venezuela / Page 324
You need only work five hours a day, doing what you prefer to do, learn a new language if you chooe and, in your spare time, explore some of the oldest terrain on the planet. All while preserving the local ecology and making a difference to the lives of the Pemón indigenouse community.”
∼ Lonely Planet - Code Green / Page 208, by Debra Herrmann
Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others
∼ by Doug Cutchins & Anne Geissinger / February 2006 buy online
“Unterricht im Urwald geben” (if you read German)
∼ by Geo Saison / March 2008 read more
Australian representation
∼ Nomadic Hands read more
Read how other NGOs present Aldeas de Paz
Though things change slowly, I know that PVF will be there to help foment this because the mission here is simple: promote a culture based on patience, acceptance and kindness and the rest will fall beautifully into place.
∼ Sandy Lord / Brighton, USA
Volunteer Testimonials
In addition to what journalists have said, read what past volunteers have thought about their experiences at Aldeas de Paz. You can also visit our cost page to see our financial practices. Aldeas de Paz has an ‘open book policy’ and offers financial transparency to beneficiaries and supporters alike.
Aldeas de Paz Summer Reading list
Life in the Sabana
Doña Bárbara
This famous and hugely successful story was written by arguably the most important Venezuelan author, Rómulo Gallegos. In the story Santos Luzardo, a young lawyer, returns to the home of his family in the Sabana and is forced to deal with the cunning and cruel Doña Bárbara. The book is about dealing with life in the Sabana (the book is set in the state of Apure which neighbors the state of Bolivar where Aldeas de Paz is located) and has twice been made into a movie.
Adventure on Roraima
The Lost World
The Lost World is the most famous book influenced by La Gran Sabana. In order to prove that dinosaurs still roam the planent, academic-explorer professor Challenger leads an expedition into the deepest jungles of South America. The group, consisting of a young journalist, an adventurer and an aristocrat, search for the rumored lost world (encountering hardship and betrayal on the way).Things go from bad to worse as they approach the hidden world they seek. Trapped on an isolated plateau, menaced by hungry dinosaurs, it begins to look as though the expedition may never return.
The German explorer Richard Schomburg was the first European to see Mount Roraima in 1838. Various Europeans then attempted to scale it, until the British botanists Eberhard v. Thurn and Harry Perkins reached the summit in 1884 and discovered that much of the plant and animal life on top of the Tepuy was unique, as a result of millions of years of isolation; like an Island removed from the world below. The news captivated the imagination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of Sherlock Holmes), and the explorers report inspired him to write The Lost World, in which dinosaurs are still living on an isolated plateau in the Amazon Basin.
Traveling in Santa Elena de Uairén
Los Pasos Perdidos
Los Pasos Perdidos (The Lost Steps) was written by the Cuban author Alejo Carpentier. He wrote several of his stories while traveling through and around Santa Elena de Uairén. Troubled by the dependence on new technology in his day, and by the laziness that he saw modern life creating, Carpentier left Habana and fell in love with La Gran Sabana in Venezuela, where he traveled on three separate occasions.
Los Pasos Perdidos is a story about a musician who leaves New York to come to La Gran Sabana in search of indigenous musical instruments to bring back to a museum. He winds up falling in love with the more laid-back lifestyle that he encounters, and with a local woman, and is caught trying to bridge the gap between his former life and his new one. Extremely well received by critics, Los Pasos Perdidos has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Personal Account of Venezuelan Life
Hungry Lightning
Hungry Lightning was written by an anthropology student who lived for two years with the Pumé in the Venezuelan jungle. Primarily a personal account of the experiences of author Pei-Lin Yu, the book also describes most aspects of daily life in the village she lived in.