I saw a very interesting youtube interview with Emma Redfoot (Credit: Lainie Liberti from  www.raisingmiro.com). Amongst other things, Emma, who is researching Volunteer Tourism in Cusco, Peru, was discussing the areas that volunteers preferred to work in, compared to those areas that are in most need:

ER: “The group that most people (volunteers) want to work with is with kids, especially young kids, however *single mothers* are absolutely the group than needs the most support: 24% of Cusco is impoverished and of that group 75% are single mothers. Very often, single mothers are seen as an economic burden by their families, who are unwilling to support them, they are then drawn to large cities like Cusco, that have seen rapid growth in recent years. As a demographic, single mothers generally work 7 days per week, in poorly paid jobs, they are transient, have no social circles and lack any kind of ‘support structure’ that could help in bringing up their children.”

Rather chillingly Emma adds:
“A lot of single mothers become pregnant due to rape which is a huge problem in Peru, one thing about Peru that is absolutely stunning is that for women aged 18 or over, rape is called *seduction*. Women don’t think of it as being rape so much unless they become pregnant.”

“Familial rape is also a significant problem, one of the organisations I like and support is Casa De Mantay, a centre for women who have been raped and become pregnant. Most of the women in the Casa had been raped by family members.”

Watch the full interview here:
www.raisingmiro.com/2013/01/04/volunteer-tourism-in-cusco-video/

Casa De Mantay (aka: La Casa de Acogida Mantay) :
www.mantay.org
Related:
www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/volunteer/articles/volunteering-with-children-and-mothers-in-peru.shtml

Other organisations that work with single mothers:
www.fairplay-peru.org
www.ahnh.org
www.gruporedes.org