Heywood teen's "trip of a lifetime"

Kiefer at 4771m

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A Heywood teenager recently spent a month in Peru, sightseeing, exploring, working and teaching English.

Bury Grammar School Boys pupil, Kiefer Heatherington, 16, visited Peru in July on a school trip. He was the youngest member of a group of twenty boys from his school but was desperate to be involved and go on what he has described as the “trip of a lifetime.”

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild caught up with Kiefer to find out more.

“I became interested in the trip about two years ago, the opportunity to sign up for Peru was for the year above me at school but I had waited so long to sign up so I was allowed to go,” said Kiefer

“From signing up I spent two years fundraising. It cost about £3,500 to go and then on top of that there was the cost of the kit and the injections, so in total it was around £4,000.”

Kiefer’s father, Ged, is a member of the Rotary Club of Middleton and lots of Kiefer’s fundraising was done through or with the help of Rotary.

The twenty boys on the trip were split into two groups of ten with each person taking turns at being the leader.

Kiefer continued: “Lima, the capital of Peru, was where we spent our first few days, in the relative luxury of a youth hostel. Lima was not dissimilar to Manchester, and KFC and Pizza Hut were a welcome sight. There was even a Peruvian version of Selfridges.

“We left our hostel, by taxi, which I had ordered in fluent Spanish, and boarded an internal flight to Iquitos. Iquitos was the part of Peru I had been expecting. The humidity of a jungle, street vendors and moto-taxis.

“The next day, we embarked from Iquitos on a small motor boat, complete with straw roof, and incredibly hard wooden benches. But it was only for 6 hours or so, it would be bearable.

“14 hours later, in the pitch black, we docked in a small clearing, in the rainforest.

Kiefer and his team helped to make a boat house for the locals on the first day they were settled; the gruelling temperatures put the group under pressure. “It was a big change, it was very humid. I think they realised we were rubbish and then they gave us smaller jobs to do. We made a football score board. Football is a big part of life there.

“We taught the children English and helped to prepare their meals.

“I think teaching them English was more important that the boat house. We hadn’t been expecting to teach, we didn’t know we would be so rubbish at the building, so we used the Spanish book and would go through conversations in Spanish and then English. Our teacher had some coloured balloons too so we taught them colours.”

“They weren’t under privileged, they could get by, but it was very distant from the luxuries we are used to.”

Kiefer said: “It was a life changing experience, everything was completely different, I missed the little things like a flushing toilet.”

Part of the trip saw the team trek in the Andes for five days. At the highest point the team were 4771 metres high.

“Every step was so hard; when we got to the top we were all so proud.”

Although Kiefer was the youngest on the team he knew many of the people on the trip from extracurricular actives he takes part in at school.

“We took turns as leader, I thought I might struggle but I have taken part in leadership through Rotary. We all got on well and it wasn’t that hard.”

On the last night the team enjoyed a church service where the locals sang songs and played the drums.

“We sang back Western songs, like Hey Jude, it was a nice way of exchanging cultures.”

Summing up the trip, Kiefer said: “I know it is such a cliché but it was a once in a life time experience. When I looked up at the sky I could see every single star it was incredible.”

When asked if Kiefer would recommend Peru he said: “Absolutely if you ever get the opportunity to go to South America or somewhere different then take the opportunity. I would love to go straight back.”

Now Kiefer is back home he said: “It is strange not sleeping in a sleeping bag. I appreciate everything a lot more.

“This is the longest I have been away and I did miss my family but I am so glad I went, it really opened my eyes.