Community Welfare and Development - Colombia

Sitting 4,000 feet above sea level on the eastern slopes of Colombia's Cordillera Central (central mountain range) lies Ibague, a place known as the 'Musical City of Colombia' famous for its music education and the number of festivals held throughout the year. But this city of under a million inhabitants is home to a number of poverty-stricken neighbourhoods where you can help make a difference to local children. The ultimate purpose of this program is to prevent children from spending their time on the street and educating them in human values.

The organisation you will be working with was launched to provide educational, nutritional and emotional support to small children from the marginal neighbourhoods in Ibague . The children cared for at its centres come from homes with working parents or single female providers who do not have the time or the resources to give them the care they need.

In eight years the organisation has extended the number of children's centres to four. This means you can actively help improve the lives of over 500 local disadvantaged children every day.

As a volunteer you will work with our fulltime teaching staff in both morning and afternoon sessions. You will help the children with homework, provide counselling, play with them and participate in our 'Future Leaders' program. Through activities such as art and crafts, sports, reading clubs, games, and movies you will help teach the children values such as honesty, solidarity, responsibility, respect and tolerance.

Each centre also prepare lunches for around 120 children every day who would otherwise not receive a well-balanced diet. Our volunteers are heavily involved in the preparation of the food, serving the meals to the children as well as providing an example to the children in the importance of healthy eating and basic hygiene.

You will get involved in the following activities:

* Helping the teaching staff implement planned activities
* Planning and implementing educational activities for children: helping them with their homework, leading educational games and arts and crafts, coaching them in sports and teaching conversational English.
* Helping in the feeding program for less fortunate children; cooking, wash the dishes and help in the serving of meals.
* Helping in the 'play programme' in which children are taken to the park, play sports, watch movies, read, and just have fun!
* Mentoring children and becoming role models for them.
* And most importantly loving the children, by taking time to get to know them and showing them that there are people who care!

You will be given easy to follow instructions on how to get from Bogota International Airport to the Project location. Alternatively you can arrange to be met at the airport, given a tour of Bogota and transfer to the project location for an additional $150.

You will be staying at the volunteer centre, which is fully equipped with a kitchen and bathroom facilities (cold shower), internet with Wifi, TV, DVD player, an outdoor area and laundry services. You will be stay in dorm rooms with other volunteers, sleeping in bunk beds. The centre is a short taxi or bus ride to the city centre, where you will find bars and restaurants for your time off.

* Min age 18 - Max age 80

* Minimum 1 week commitment - 20+ hours a week.

* Enthusiasm and interest to work with children and communities

* Conversational English or Spanish (lessons available)

* Full travel & medical insurance

* Necessary vaccinations 

* Necessary flights & visas 

Fee: 

$400 USD Project Fee for the first week ($50 per each additional week) + £249 GBP Placement Fee
 

What's Included:

Project Fee includes all food (except breakfast), accommodation, laundry, internet, 24 hour support and project activities.

We charge a flat, one-off Placement Fee of £249 GBP per person per project. This covers our costs for promoting the project and providing our services. We offer full pre-departure support (for all necessary flights, visas and vaccinations) and ongoing assistance throughout your placement.
 

What's not included:

Flights, insurance, airport pickup, visas (if applicable) and vaccinations. Full assistance will be provided in getting all these sorted.