What is Planeterra?
Planeterra is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable community development through travel. We do this by working with local partners in many different countries to establish development projects while at the same time offering travelers the chance to engage in the projects while on a trip or voluntour. Watch this video to learn more about how Planeterra provides opportunities for travelers to interact with local people in community projects around the world. | |
Peru Children's Project
House of the People of the Sun: Planeterra travels to Peru to visit with the street children of Cusco. Planeterra established the Cuzco Kids Project to give back to the people in the communities where so many travellers visit every year to explore the Inca Trail and Machu Pichu during their travels through South America. Planeterra, with the help of Gap Adventures and hundreds of travellers, have raised over $100,000 USD to purchase a permanent home for the street children of Cusco, Peru & their families. | |
Women's Weaving ProjectSince 2005, Planeterra has been working with the Ccaccaccollo community
to develop a women's weaving cooperative. Travellers are
able to visit this community as part of the Sacred Valley Tour with Gap Adventures where
they meet the women and learn about all the stages of the weaving
process; from hand-spinning the wool, dying the wool using natural
dyes, and participating in a weaving demonstration. This video offers a glimpse into community life in the Sacred Valley and the wonderful ladies Planeterra works with. | |
Project Ecuador
Take a tour with us to Ecuador where we visit Delfin and his family in the Amazon of Ecuador. Planeterra's project here includes a community primary school that travelers can visit as well as take part in activities in the Amazon rain forest and traditional indigenous ceremonies. | |
Tibet Eye CampEach year Planeterra sponsors a micro-surgical eye camp in a rural region of Tibet. Our camps, conducted by our partner Seva Canada, have helped restore sight to hundreds of people with a simple and highly cost-effective cataract surgery. Our support also helps trains local doctors and has been used to purchase surgical cataract instruments for a remote health clinic in rural Tibet. This video shows pictures of the camp and of lots of happy treated patients. Learn more about our project, Give the Gift of Sight, and how you can get involved. | |
Planeterra Does Earth Day in Toronto
Planeterra and Gap Adventures organized a team of 50
volunteers, including staff and community members, to throw a garden
party for Earth Day 2009 at Scadding Court Community Centre in downtown
Toronto. Volunteers planted shrubs, flowers, and trees donated by the
City of Toronto, and prepared an area to be a community vegetable
garden. | |
Holiday Celebrations Around the WorldEvery year Planeterra and Gap Adventures staff, friends and families get together to celebrate holidays around the world with children in local communities. Last year we
had a Christmas party with 300 kids in Toronto near our head office, with crafts, presents, a turkey dinner and lots of activities. In the Sacred Valley of Peru we had hot chocolate, traditional "Paneton" and presents for 400 children from several villages. In Kenya we celebrated by delivering water tanks and having a
big bbq. This year we've got more planned in more countries, so stay tuned! | |
Planeterra at Hillside Festival
Planeterra visits green festivals, street festivals, trade shows and conferences around the world.
This video shows how we educate the public at events about our projects, voluntours and about our efforts to promote sustainable community development through travel. The Hillside is a music festival in Ontario, Canada that draws musicians from around the world. Hillside makes a big effort to decrease its impact by operating with green practices. Check out our Events page to see where we're headed next! | |
Skydive for CharityFor Watch the video of the 2008 event to see what it was all about! | |
Hike of DreamsEach year Planeterra hosts a hike in the Rouge Valley outside of Toronto for people to
experience a refreshing nature walk and
generate funds to for Planeterra's projects. In 2009 we raised about $3000 toward our Tibet Eye Camp, to help bring back sight to hundreds of blind Tibetans.This video is of the 2008 hike that raised funds towards the purchase a permanent home for children in Cuzo Peru - our Cuzco Kids project. | |
Planeterra Projects WorldwideHere is a quick look at some of the many types of projects we are working on with local partners around the globe. Planeterra projects range from health, such as our healing camp in Tibet, to education such as schools in Africa and Latin America, to sustainable businesses such as our weaving cooperative in Peru, and to environmental conservation. Watch to learn more! For more Planeterra videos, see our Community Video page |
