.Bruce
Peru: 'Scoil losa' Children's Centre
... A
school for poor children in La Esperanza Peru, sponsored by Gavin Molloy
and friends.
Volunteer vacancies:3 - 4 volunteers at any given timeSept.05- Dec 05:3 vacancies Jan 06 - June 06: 4 vacancies On line Application |
Introduction
Scoil losa CHILDREN'S CENTRE is part of a non profit organisation operating in the city of Trujillo, Peru, with the aim of giving aid and support to children from impoverished backgrounds living in and around the area. A team of international and Peruvian volunteers provide food, classes and activities to children who would otherwise be in the streets - our mission is to get them educated.
Bruce Peru (Scoil losa)
works at getting all children to attend school and helps with the provision
of school materials; it also fosters good relations within the community.
In Scoil losa itself, a group of volunteers, a trained social worker and a team of Peruvian staff work at the project every week day. Children come in daily for lessons and lunch, remaining at the centre until they are attending school regularly and ready to graduate. Those too old to enter first grade will continue to be taught at the centre (or will join other children at one of our regional centres).
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Many children
do not attend school in Scoil losa, due one or more of three
reasons: 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 have the more
general aim of providing children aged between 6 and 12 with fun
activities to do in the morning, to keep them occupied, together
and away from the streets, and to give extra help to those struggling
in school and with learning difficulties. |
What to expect as a Volunteer:Your Job at Scoil losa 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 - also to promote the opening of other Children's Centres in Peru. This fee includes accommodation and 3 meals a day, 5 days a week.
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next: school uniformsBesides these activities, we welcome new ideas to make our project most effective for the children. Volunteering at Scoil losa 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 Peruvian 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 with Scoil losa 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:
Trujillo is a city of 651,000
inhabitants, on the Paciffic Ocean in northern Peru. It is the site of the
largest city in the Inca Empire, has the largest quantity and best preserved
Inca ruins in Peru. Today it suffers from a range of social problems, including
bad sanitation, lack of electricity and a shortage of food, and was recently
classified as one of Peru’s poorest cities. Like many Latin American settlements,
it is characterised by an attractive and ornate colonial centre, with the
poorest partssprawling along the coast to the north and south, and to the
west toward the Andees mountains. For the visitor it is a safe and lively
place, with good restaurants and bars, an excellent market, all manner of
beach and ocean sports and, as a testament to the great Inca civilisation,
the palaces of Chan Chan and the Temples of Waka de La Luna, which lie just
outside the city. The local inhabitants are generally kind and friendly,
and we have been able to cooperate well with schools and families in the
past.
The Programme:
Our
centre is located in the section of Alta Trujillo, and is comprised of an
open plan adobe building, separated into five tables - for children of differing
learning skills.. Children attend the centre from between 9 AM and 12:30
PM, (ending with lunch). During the children's time in the centre volunteers
organise a range of workshops and activities, including art, music, with
the main emphasisbeing on reading, writing and maths. Groups are divided
up according to age or ability. None of these children go to school, so
an important part of our program is teaching them group discipline and study
habits. We regularly plan trips outside the centre, to play football and
other games. Our international Volunteers do not live in the Scoil losa
centre, but rather on our main campus, which is located in the centre of
Trujillo, a half block from the main square. Scoil losa is a forty five
minute bus ride from the campus.
The Language School:
In the evenings English-speaking and French-speaking volunteers give English and French classes to adults, who pay a monthly contribution to our work. Our students know that their tuition goes towards our work with the children and enables us to maintain Scoil losa and our other centres. 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.
