. Bruce Lima: "Villa
El Salvador" shanty school
Volunteer vacancies: volunteers:
1 longstay |
Introduction.....................Villa El Salvador Photo Album
'Villa El Salvador' CHILDREN'S CENTRE is in the Villa El Salvador 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 in MAy 2006. The squatters were ejected twice before they finally overcame resistance from the Limal authorities and are now foriming a makeshift community on the sandy lot which now houses four thousand souls in tiny woven reed & plastic 'homes'.. In the ensuing years their improvised houses will be improved to adobe and then brick houses. But there is no electricity, water or school. Some electricity is rented privately from a nearby houses, but water has to be trucked trucked in several times a week. Bruce Peru have agreed to provide basic education until a school can be built, and eventualy al our students will be transferred to the national school system.
The Villa El Salvador Children's Centre is housed in a reed &
plastic shed which we built ourselves with the help of the community.
A marvelous feature of
Villa El Salvador is tht the houses do not have locks - in Lima a city famous
for its crime rate. How can this be? Villa El Salvador was formed by a group
ofAndean peasants all known to one another. When they finally succeeded in
posessing the land they bonded into a community; everyone looks out for
everyone else. It is isolated from the rest of Lima, the only road
climbing up the mountain to Villa El Salvador has a gate and a guard. It may be
a shanty town to the ourside world, but to its residents it has as much
community spirit as any community on earth.
 Community Director w/Nana our VP Bruce Peru Villa El Salvador |
Many children do
not attend school in Villa El Salvador, 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 'Villa El Salvador 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 |
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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 'Villa El Salvador' 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 reed hut at the centre
of a poor people's township. It has no water or electricity, but classes
are in the mornings when there is always light, and we bring in buckets
of water. 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 lunch). Durting the morning volunteers and
local teachers organise a range of classes, all designed to prepare the
children for a future in the National Curriculum. Groups are divided up
according to age 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.
