Emma tells about her experiences and the impact the project and the volunteers have on the local community in Bolivia and how volunteers are needed here.

Can you describe what your overall experience is with volunteers?

We notice that the first week can often be overwhelming for the new volunteers. The children are all asking for your attention and almost no one of the local people speaks English . After two weeks or so, the volunteers are feeling more at home, they understand how everything works, the routines and activities. What also gives them a positive feeling is that they start to realize that the volunteer work they are doing is very helpful. For us it is important that they stay at least one month or longer, because too many change of faces will not have a good effect on the children. But, many of our volunteers decide to extend their stay. We are very often inspired and moved by our volunteers, and we really appreciate it that they are willing to share their time and talents with us. Their presence really creates true benefits for us and also for them. They do great work in our childcare center and they can improve their Spanish language skills while volunteering here in Bolivia.

How do you see the future of the project? Is there an ultimate goal you are aiming to reach?

Our ultimate goal is to give the children the chance to reach their potential in their community, and promote and support them in their rights to do get and keep this potential. We would really like our nursery to grow and also start after-school activities. This would be for the children of 5 year and older, who are going to school instead of our center. They still have the same risks as the other children, because school finishes at midday and for some children there is still an empty home waiting for them when they come home after school. Also, they do not get help with their school work. A risk for our center is the fact that the work in the center is very exhausting for the local women, because they work with many children every day. If they getting sick or becoming exhausted, we will not have other teachers to replace them. This is why we are aiming to create more activities and excursions outside the classrooms. This is good for the children but also for the mothers, teachers and volunteers. These activities include for example yoga, art classes and dance or aerobics lessons. Also volunteers take a part of the pressure these women feel of taking care of so many children.

What can you say about the social implications of volunteering in Bolivia, for example to explain this to a irresolute volunteer?

Volunteering gives you a completely different perspective of getting to know a country, you can get an insight in the real country, in this case the real Bolivia. Tourists almost never get to see this side. During the years, many volunteers, from all over the world, came to discover and learn more about their world, their belonging in society and maybe also about themselves. We have welcomed them into our community and family. During the time they spend in their volunteer work, they were growing sense of belonging and enjoying their discovery of the country at the same time. This is what Bolivia has taught us, a concept from the heart of the Andean culture, namely ‘’reciprocidad’’. This word, reciprocity in English, is about enriching both the giving and receiving person; it is all about giving back. Volunteering is all about this concept too, it can truly create positive impacts on the lives of local people, and can give the volunteers unforgettable memories and learning moments in return.

Here at Dos Manos Travel, of which Volunteer Work Latin America is a brand, can truly recommend volunteering at this project. It is a leading example of a social service that serves as a solution to the problems of poverty and oppression of the indigenous inhabitants in Bolivia, and doing this in a sustainable and charitable method. It has one of the best empowerment and service excellence and is not just practicing an outside-in solution for the previous mentioned problems. Since the opening of the center, the municipal government evaluated the centre two times. The nursery scored really high, and it obtained even one of the best scores of all childcare centers in La Paz. The centre was evaluated by the quality of security, participation of parent committees, the nutritional status of the children, education and hygiene. In 2004 the score was 90 out of 100 points and in 2005 the score was 98 out of 100 points.

The post Volunteer at children’s center in Bolivia (part II) appeared first on Blog - Volunteer Work Latinamerica.

The center is situated in a beautiful location at approximately 15 km. from the city of La Paz, surrounded by the Andean mountains, in a semi-rural valley. One of the founders of this project is Emma. We asked hare some questions about her project, that she affectionately calls ‘’the Nursery’’. The project has had a truly meaningful impact on the majority of the indigenous population. The impacts include pulling the people out of the social, economic and political exclusion, and very vulnerable situations. Below you will read Emma’s answers to our questions about the volunteer project and the importance of the volunteers for this project in Bolivia.

What is your role in the organization?

In the first two years I was very much involved with managing and raising the project. At the time when the project started, there were 30 children, and we started in my house. A real child care center was build and now we give home to just under 90 children, between 6 months and 4 years old. My role changed to a more fundraising role now. This is important because it ensures the sustainability of the project. The volunteers are very important as they provide vital support for the care of the children and also in the classrooms. My role also contains coordinating the work of the volunteers. The centre itself is now run by local women, many of them indigenous Aymara. They make sure the children are well received in the center to be nurtured, learn and play.

Can you tell is some more about the inspiration behind this project?

The main inspiration to start this project was the fact that in the village, more than 70% of the children were undernourished. Their parents didn’t simply have enough time, knowledge and money to give them the right and regular meals. Because there were no child care facilities in the village, when the parents needed to go to work the children were often left in the houses, or in the care of other young siblings. This is why the kids were easily exposed to malnutrition, abuse, hunger and accidents. An example of this is a little child that got badly burnt when his brother (7 years old) tried to heat water during lunchtime. This shouldn’t be like this and there was a real need for a center to take in the children to protect them from these kind of situations.

At present, how is the project running?

The centre has a wider function than just being a place where parents can drop their children off and pick them up and the end of the day. It is a place where they can learn more about early education, rights, nutrition and receive vocational training. The centre is operated by 10 ‘’tias’’, locally trained women who take care of the professional development of the centre, as well as improving the attention to the kids. They were part of the local Mothers Club, that designed and built the centre. We really hope to continue supporting these women in their work, and the developments they create for the centre. The building is located in a green parkland in the centre of the community. Thanks to their work and the work of our volunteers, the centre can be seen as a reference point for community-led child empowerment, focusing on promoting their culture and rights and encouraging the poorest families to make use of our services. The centre is a community on itself now, and can provide services to children with special needs that no one else is willing to accept.

When talking about the tasks assigned to volunteers, can you give us a few examples?

The volunteers prepare activities for the older children that involve reinforcement of the learning goals in language, social skills development and math. Furthermore, our volunteers help with the medical care and nutrition programs. They help when there are festivities and cultural activities. This happens quite often, and the end up helping the kids to sing and perform in traditional dance shows in front of their family and community. In addition to this, we recently have received a donation of baby-gym equipment which the kids really love. However this is only possible in small groups, and unfortunately this is regularly outside the scope of teachers. Other volunteers in the past have done music classes with homemade instruments, playing games and giving dance lessons. Overall they truly inspire the local educators and the children’s families with their creativity and new ideas.

(to be continued here …)

The post Volunteer at a Day Care for Kids in Bolivia (part I) appeared first on Blog - Volunteer Work Latinamerica.