Dear True Travellers,
I have come across your website – congratulations, it is a great initiative – I wish something like this had existed many years ago when I was first searching for volunteer opportunities in South America!!! I wondered if you could help me share a volunteering opportunity with a local community run nursery which I have been involved in for the past 5 years. I am British and have lived in La Paz, Bolivia, for the past 11 years. This project is run and managed by local aymara women in the village of Mallasa about half an hour from the city centre of La Paz.
My role is voluntary too, helping with fundraising, mainly through friends and family back in UK and also by helping identify volunteers. We have only been working with volunteers in the past year of so and most of them have come by word of mouth, however, we now have 100 children in the nursery and we really do need some more hands! The experience for the local women and the volunteers to date has been very positive, so this is why I am now casting the net out further in order to actively seek more volunteers.
We have just started up a web site and the volunteers we have right now are getting a blog up and running
http://boliviavalleymoonchildren.org/
I think this web site will give you most of the information you need but here are some more details….
Type of Volunteer work:
- The nursery runs from 8am to 5pm. 5 days a week. Monday – Friday
- Volunteers can work full of part time. It is flexible as long as the coordinate with the women who are working in the nursery and are reliable.
- Volunteers will give classroom support to local women who take care of kids 0-6 years but we really need more creative extra curricular activities – ecological education, sports, dance, art etc. We need people with ideas. Obviously working with children we need mature and very responsible people too.
- Also volunteers who can help me keep in touch and send updates to supporters who send money via web page maintenance.
Fees / Costs:
There are no admin costs. This is a free programme and run by local women. We will need volunteers with initiative as we are not a professional volunteer organization – our objective is to work with vulnerable local families first and foremost and we do not have the resources to direct all our energies into managing our volunteers. Therefore, whilst we will help you all we can, we really do need mature and responsible volunteers that can take care of themselves and need minimal hand-holding. There are local home stays available. Ball park costs of nice furnished shared house with DVD, TV,internet etc, 5 mins away from nursery is USD$180 / month / person but cheaper and much more basic options should be available with local families or in the city centre.
Volunteer Requirements:
Medium level of Spanish required as the local community speaks no English
21 years and above no upper limit
Minimum period we accept volunteers for: 3 months and onwards
Skills needed. Imagination, educational experience, Creativity and people who can help us keep our webpage updated
What is life like for the volunteer?
Mallasa is a semi rural village and has a very strong sense of community – perhaps the most enriching aspect of the experience of the volunteers to date has been living in this small community and getting a very real flavour of Aymara culture and participating in community activities. It is 30 mins by bus to the city but is a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. To live surrounded by the mountains and with several places for trekking and exploring in the valley, I think it may offer a less “full on” city experience for some of your volunteers who would enjoy a more community based lifestyle.
Home stays can be arranged in nearby village which is 5 mins away by bus. This project is an excellent example of a truly grassroots initiative, it is well run and administered.
La Paz has a bustling night life and if volunteers want to make the most of this they will have to factor in time and costs of transport which would have to be in taxi after 10pm ( about 3.50 GBP by taxi). There are small local shops but again supermarkets and other big shops are 30 mins away. Locla people speak no Spanish ( this may be a pro if you want to improve your Spanish!)
Contact me: Emma Donlan emmadonlan@hotmail.com in either Spanish of English
Please send details about:
- what motivates you to participate in this project
- any ideas of how you could contribute to this project having read our web site
- some background on your life so far – education, experiences, travels, similar experience working with children
- personal references from someone such as a teacher, past employer – this is because you will be working with children – an email address would be best so I can write to them directly
- how long you can stay for
- your level of Spanish
- if you need help finding accommodation in la Paz
- how much time you can give to the project e.g how many hours/ days a week
If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Best wishes
Emma
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