. Bruce Peru: "San
Sebastian" Children's Centre
...................................................in
Pamplona, Lima
Volunteer vacancies:
volunteers: 2 longstay |
Introduction
'San Sebastian' CHILDREN'S CENTRE is in the San Sebastian community of the 'Cono Sur' slums on the south side of Lima, Peru. Our aim is to give aid and support to the children of the families (mostly ababndoned mothers) who squatted this sandy mountain over the past 10 years. But there is improvised electricity, no water and too many children not in school.Water is trucked in several times a week. Bruce Peru have agreed to provide basic education to children who could not get into school.
The San Sebastian Children's Centre was founded by Meg Hayden, our
second Lima director, in a small public soup kitchen in a part of Pamplona
called "Chancharia"(Pig Pen) but has since been moved into a
little three room school house, which is perfect for our project.
A marvelous feature of San Sebastian is that (like Villa Maria) most of
the houses do not have locks - in Lima a city famous for its crime rate.
San Sebastian was formed by a group of Andean peasants mostly known to
one another. They invaded a large pig farm in the 1990s, eventually turning
it into the shanty community it now is. It may be a shanty town to the
ourside world, but to its residents it has as much community spirit as
any other community.
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Many children do
not attend school in San Sebastian, due to one or mor of three
reasons: the nearest school is too far away, extreme poverty (even
attending free school in Peru costs about $110 a year), abandonment
or parental abuse (children of poor parents often are made to work
instead of attending school) Our primary goal is to
get as many children into school as possible, and this involves
encouraging learning, talking to parents and in some cases
purchassing uniforms and school books. We also are prepared to
educate those children who cannot get into state
schools. |
What to expect as a Volunteer:Your Job at 'SAN SEBASTIAN CHILDREN'S CENTRE' will involve:
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Accomodation & food costs:We ask a fee from our volunteers to keep our work going. The money goes to pay for the bills, meals, and the cost of the social worker, cook and secretary, as well as maintenance of the Children's Centre- also to promote the opening of other Children's Centres in Peru. This fee includes accommodation 7 days per week and 3 meals a day, 5 days a week.
To read more about Peru click HERE | |||||||||||
Besides these activities, we welcome new ideas to make our project most effective for the children. Volunteering at Bruce Peru Lima can be a tiring but immensely rewarding experience. You should be able to cope with big groups of street children demanding a lot of attention and enthusiasm. You will have to be a team worker, working together with PeruVillan and international volunteers. In the centre you will be a representative of the project and are expected to be responsible and behave as an example for the children. What you do in your free time outside the centre is up to you.
Volunteering at 'San Sebastian' is a fantastic way of getting to know Peru, of improving your Spanish, and above all, of interacting with the community and with the children of the city in a positive and helpful way.
The Region:
More than 400 years ago, the Spanish conqueror
("conquistador") Francisco Pizarro named Lima the City of the Kings ("Ciudad
de los Reyes"). Nowadays, that same city, which rose from the lands of the
native chief Taulischusco, is a metropolis of over 7 million people who
proudly preserve the colonial convents and mansions which are symbols of
their ancient and noble traditions. Lima, capital of Peru, founded on January
18, 1535, is a modern city which, while constantly expanding, has also managed
to maintain the elegance of its Historic Center. Declared a UNESCO World
Heritage Center, due to the large number of artistic monuments found there,
Historic Lima is an enchanting haven of a period long gone.
The Programme:
The Children's Centre is located in a 3 room school house in
the residential part of the San Sebastian slum. It has no running water,
but we built a latrine behind it. We bring in our school materials. Our
international volunteers leave Miraflores at 8:AM and are in class teaching
the children by 9:AM. Children attend the centre between 9 AM and 12:00
PM, (ending with light lunch). Durting the morning volunteers and local
teachers organise a range of classes, workshops and activities: including
English, reading, writing, maths, art, music, science, sport and drama.
Groups are divided up according to age and/or ability. None of these children
go to school, so an important aspect of our program is teaching them group
discipline and study habits. We regularly plan trips outside the centre,
to play football and other games and activities..
The Language School:
In the evenings English-speaking and French-speaking volunteers give English and French classes to adults in our Miraflores campus in Lima (where also our international volunteers live). The small donation our language students make is a contribution to the work of the Satellite Children's Centres.. Our students know that their tuition goes towards our work with the children and enables us to participate in the activities and expenses of the Children's Centre and our volunteers. Volunteers are therefore obliged to give at least one class per night to maintain our Language School.Spanish classes are offered for free to all our volunteers.
