Peru is a country of contrasts. While tourists admire Machu Picchu and the Pacific coast, just a few kilometers away people live in a reality where access to basic healthcare services, such as physiotherapy, is not a given.

We were there as well—two teams of physiotherapy students and recent graduates from Alma Matter Europaea University, under the banner of Physiotherapists Without Borders, traveled to northern Peru, to the coastal city of Talara.

Each team spent three weeks working in Peru. The first mission took place in January 2025, and the second in May of the same year. It’s already confirmed that the next group of students and alumni will return to Peru next year to continue the work we began and to help build lasting bridges in healthcare.

Our task was clear, yet challenging: to offer help where the system had failed. Physiotherapy in Peru is not free, and for many it is simply out of reach. Those who need it most—people suffering from chronic pain and children with special needs—are often condemned to live without professional support.

Practice and the Teams’ Challenges

The first team, led by founder and certified physiotherapist Mag. ZV Lana Ritlop (AMEU alumna, specialized in neurological patients), together with certified physiotherapist Katja Bertoncelj (AMEU alumna, specialized in orthopedic patients at the Fizis clinic), students Pia Katarina Kremžar and Timeja Čerenak (AMEU), and Tara Zemljarič treated more than 50 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain over three weeks and provided therapies for children with neurological disorders.

The second team—comprising Tara Gantar and Manca Mohar and Gregor Bukovec – continued the work and delved into the challenges faced by children with special needs, where both professional staff and equipment are in short supply.

Although, as volunteers, we lived in a beautiful setting overlooking the ocean and witnessed stunning sunsets, we were confronted daily by an ethical paradox: how is it possible that in a country attracting millions of tourists each year, so many people never receive even basic healthcare? That contrast is painfully stark.

Lessons for the Future

This experience also taught us humility. We discovered that people often need less than we think—perhaps just someone to listen, to offer a gentle touch, to show them a few exercises, or to remind them they’re not alone. Sometimes physiotherapy is not just about moving the body, but about human connection.

For us, as future and already established professionals, it served as a reminder that physiotherapy carries a profound ethical dimension. It’s not enough to master techniques and methods. We have a responsibility to ask ourselves who even gains access to this care and who remains overlooked.

Humanitarian work in Peru showed that knowledge alone is not sufficient. Only when we pair it with compassion, adaptability, and a critical view of societal conditions does it become a tool for genuine, equitable change.