A.Most of our volunteers work at one of our projects (eg Casa Hogar Luz Alba Orphanage or Chachani Community Project), a few may work in the office. Whichever project you are working with, we encourage our volunteers to devise and execute their own mini projects. These are projects which are run by volunteers (either one individual or a group who have pooled their skills and resources) and can involve a wide variety of things. We encourage our volunteers to do their own mini projects as we feel it is a way in which they can use their own skills, support networks, resources, creativity etc to best benefit the people we work with. It also means that the volunteers leave with a special sense of achievement. This is by no means compulsory but we are here to support you if you do choose to do one. To help illustrate the idea better, here are some things our volunteers have done in the past:
Melissa, Post Cards
Melissa ran a drawing competition with some of the children at the school we used to work with and made the winning pictures into printed postcards which the school now sells to visitors to raise funds for food, teachers salaries etc.
Isael, Books
Isael helped the children to write and illustrate their own stories and then made them into little books which the children then took home. Obviously this gave them a real sense of achievement.
Pat, Dental Campaign
Pat was volunteering with us when Luis' dentist said that he and some of his friends would like to help the people of Chachani, the community we work with. The dentists gave their time for free and Pat donated the money to pay for the equipment and medicine etc They pulled out over 40 teeth that day, saving a lot of pain and suffering.
Louisa, Murals
The school we used to work with was looking a bit sad because all the walls were made of bare brick. Louisa, with the help of some other volunteers, painted all the walls white and then painted beautiful murals on all of them. The children and teachers are all really happy and the school is a much brighter place!
Angela, English Curriculum
Angela is a teacher so she sat down and compiled a couple of wonderful folders for future volunteers to follow. This means that the children get some consistency and don't get taught the obvious topics over and over again. She even included lesson plans and resources for some months.
Nienke and Joris, Speech Therapy
Some of the children at the orphanage have speech difficulties and Nienke and Joris just happened to have a friend who works in that area so they got some tips from them and started a program with the children which is now being continued by other volunteers.
So, as you can see, the projects don't have to be wildly expensive or time consuming. Just what you feel you can give in the time you have. Obviously it is great to have ideas before you get here but as things change so much we prefer that you wait until you get here and have seen the projects before you decide what you would like to do and then discuss it with us to ensure that there are no cultural or logistical problems.
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