The years are going by and the groups are increasing, what first started out as a fun hobby is starting to turn into a proper business. But despite the accountants, paperwork and facts and figures we're now having to worry about, our students, staff and projects are still giving us the inspiration to keep on and on. This year saw the introduction of the "champagne moments" - every time a new student was offered a place turned into an excuse to crack open the bubbly, wholeheartedly recommended to any organisation!

This year also saw our introduction to one of our most successful projects to date, the Children of Villa Maria in Lima, Peru. With more teams keen to go away with Quest, the orphanages where we had initially started working in Lima were starting to become a little overwhelmed by the number of extra hands available, and as such we were looking for other areas to support. Word travelled fast in Lima, and before long a certain Peruvian social worker by the name of Alejandro Menendez approached us and invited us to visit a shanty town in the outskirts of the city.

This district - Villa Maria - had recently been the HQ for the left wing "Shining Path" terrorist group and as such the area was extremely divided. Gun crime, gang warfare and drug abuse were rife, but so was a strong desire to move on from that. Also, since the trouble was very much localised in certain areas, it was possible, with local knowledge, to establish a project which didn't put our volunteers at risk. So our first Villa Maria team arrived there, with a bag of crayons and a sack of footballs, to try and reach out to the younger generation and cut out the trend that had been set by the terrorists. Following the wonderful reception they received, we knew this place would very quickly become a home from home.