Now they are hoping townspeople will help support the development work they are doing - and even volunteer to come and help them.

Juany and Peter Murphy first heard of Otra Cosa in 2005 when Mr Murphy took early retirement and the couple decided to move to the fishing village of Huanchaco, in Trujillo, northern Peru, where Mrs Murphy grew up.

They began volunteering for the agency, which was started in 2004 by Dutch couple Peter den Hond and Janneke Smeulders, and took the agency over when the Dutch couple returned home in April 2007.

Mrs Murphy said: "It was something we had a dream of doing and it came true. We have fulfilled many of our ambitions."

Mrs Murphy, 43, has a background in sociology and human rights and worked as an education officer at Warwickshire County Council.

She said the poverty and corruption she saw when she returned to her homeland inspired her to "give something back".

The mother of three said: "Poverty is a big issue in Peru. It is a very beautiful country with a lot of resources but there is a lack of goodwill and some very selfish political motives.

"It broke my heart when I saw children of four picking up rubbish."

The couple started a school and a library in the village and now educate 250 children.

Mr Murphy, 53, was an accountant and later financial controller at Land Rover. Together the couple use their expertise to help keep the agency running, bringing volunteers to work at projects all over Peru.

Its name means 'another thing' from a Peruvian phrase that translates as 'if it's not one thing it's another' - in this case the 'other thing' may be teaching English at environmental education and awareness projects in mountain or Amazonian rainforests, helping at an organic coffee and sugar farm, teaching English in a mountain village or working in the south Peruvian desert.

The couple, both Catholics, work with local government and the church are keen to receive help wherever they can.

Mrs Murphy added: "We wanted to work with the poor people here. There is a lot to do."

www.otracosa.org