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ReservationsANDEAN ALLIANCE VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM
We try to make a good fit between the volunteer and the work to be done therefore accepting volunteers is based on need, skills presented by the volunteer, time commitment and language skills. We prefer to have volunteers who can make a commitment of at least 6 weeks and longer for some fields and there has to be at least a rudimentary level of Spanish. Volunteers need to be fit enough to walk to the project areas, some of up to an hour.
Volunteers can stay on site and pay a small stipend to cover their costs and there are sometimes options to stay with local families and pay for your stay there as well. Volunteers are encouraged to fund raise for needed materials or financial donations needed to continue building and training.
If you are interested in volunteering please send an e-mail stating your skills, personal background related to education and volunteer / work experience, and a small text about why you want to volunteer with Andean Alliance. Please note that we accept limited amounts of volunteers at any given time.
E-mail to: Diana Morris dbmorris@andeanalliance.com
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2010 Volunteering Programs with Andean Alliance NGO , Yurak Yacu , Huaraz Peru
Andean Alliance is a family based NGO focusing on supporting community based development planning efforts and implementing programs to strengthen the economic base while enhancing social and environmental conditions. Our range of influence encompasses approximately 54 families or 320 individuals. Our objectives are to support improved natural resource management and conservation practices among the Andean people in ways that provides them with greater economic opportunities, provide training, health and educational services for mothers, children and young adults, and to conserve Andean culture and social traditions and strengthen the cultural pride of Andean people.The principal goal is to bring to fruition the Yurak Yacu Business Center for Human Development. This is a project that has been presented to many funding agencies and financing is still being actively pursued. Some basic work has been done on the physical structure including building a small access road, digging foundation and the making of hundreds of adobe bricks.
However, as the funding has not yet been ascertained, the NGO is implementing some of the projects planned for the Center as well as continuing with present activities. In doing so, the local community has donated a small adobe meeting house in which educational and health programs could be realized. In 2008, volunteers added on 2 more rooms and reinforced the roof and ceiling. Present activities take place in the small, local school.
Present and ongoing activities in 2010 are: the NGO provides a nutritional snack program for 30 children at the Rivas School. Volunteers are recruited to provide weekly classes where we help to develop reading comprehension skills, writing skills, logical thinking and imagination while reinforcing self esteem. Also, volunteers provide computer instruction on small laptops which were donated by a Chinese/Peruvian consortium. Additionally, forming sports related activities using the “Right to Play” model.
Some of the following projects are in developmental stages while others are in motion: local recycling, reading comprehension for local children, a lending library, early childhood stimulation and nutrition and community sports.
Sports / Recycling of non organic material
Andean Alliance hosts a sports weekend each year. Last year with the goal of having more community involvement, we decided to start a community recycling program in which neighbors bring recyclables that can be sold to a series of deposit boxes. These are then sold in Huaraz with the money to be used for prizes or other costs associated with sports. The neighbors basically are looking at two things, to help keep their farm cleaner by not burning or burying the plastics / tins and making a contribution to the event. This needs constant revisiting as they lose site of the objective and need motivation.Although the organized sports weekend is what the kids want, we would like to see sports activities go on throughout the year. It helps the different communities come together for a common goal, to play and it encourages group activities amongst kids who generally do not come together easily.
Early Childhood
Children in the rural areas have limited access to outside influences that we from the western worlds take for granted. Life within their homes is usually a non communicative one where families rarely discuss life events, ideas, thoughts, feelings or engagement in planning. Mothers work hard to raise animals and take care of the fields. Many times they themselves are illiterate or have a grade 4 education meaning that as they take the young children with them in the fields they lack the skills to stimulate their children in areas that help them to enter the school. This can be as simple as counting, colors, animal recognition, questioning, reading to or singing.Classes are held 3 times a week in the local center. Upwards of 20-30 children with mothers have been attending sessions. The children range from 18 months to 5 years of age. The program, although not a pure Montessori model, takes many of the concepts as the base for the educational component. We believe in values that at times need to be taught by example: sharing, care of environment, making choices, responsibility, respect to name a few. The environment should be a safe place for kids to be, one in which they feel comfortable to be there. In this, we also work with mothers to help them to help their children feel safe and teach them how to continue the teaching outside of the class.
The children are divided into 3 groups which are based on age and skill level. A year long skill development curriculum is developed providing the volunteer with a 3 year plan. Themes are used to help develop the skills. Volunteers are trained to lesson plan and connect the activities with the skills to be developed. Volunteers are expected to create activities that are interactive, that support the theory behind the program. The volunteer is present during the class and acts as the instructor.
Reading and Writing Comprehension
Children in the school system receive instructions from teachers that is based on the copy from the board and don’t ask questions model. There is little emphasis on comprehension of what they read or write or the linking to a practical application. Children have learned to read or do basic math but lack the skills to understand what they have read or how to use the math. They memorize well but cannot apply. The children are timid and fearful of making decisions and making mistakes. They lack the confidence to be RISK takers. We endeavor to develop these skills which will benefit them in school and in their lifetimes.We work with up to 30-40 children from 6-14 years of age. In the local center we have classes 2 times a week in the afternoon. The group is divided by age and skill level. Year long themes are used as the basis for skill development. An example would be “The Environment “, where reading, writing and oral skills are developed with this theme.
The volunteer lesson plans for interesting, interactive and appropriate activities that have multiple parts that support each skill. We do not rely on specific text books and instead look for and develop our own materials. Classes can incorporate art, movement, reading, listening, games, group activities, writing and oral presentations.
Rivas School
The above model for reading and writing also applies to the grade 3 and 4 class in this small school which is in session March to December. In November of 2009 the school, which had just gotten electricity (thanks to Andean Alliance Volunteer fund raising), received 20 small Chinese made computers and weekly classes are given to teach them how to use them and to also incorporate other skill development within the framework. This being: reading, writing, research, investigation, reports, forms, questions etc.Lending Library
We are making a small library to lend books to the community. We have less than a hundred and are looking for ways to access more, good quality and age appropriate ones. Additionally to organize them, engage the children in choosing them and how to use them as a told that they will learn to enjoy.Building Goals for 2010
We have needed an outhouse to be built beside the building which hosts the classes, but up until Feb. 2010, we could not get the community to allow it. It has been exasperating watching kids going to the bathroom on the grass and such a contradiction to our supporting health and hygiene. However, as of recent we have received an offer from a a neighbor to build one on land close to it! This will start in March of 2010.We have changed the design for the Community Center which will allow us to build the Educational / Mother and Child Center apart from the rest of the structure and add on as time and money allows. This we hope to start in May/June of this year.