.Bruce Peru: 'Casa Blanca' Poor Kid's Centre
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Volunteer vacancies:
4volunteers at any given time |
Introduction
CASA BLANCA CHILDREN'S CENTRE is part of a non profit organisation operating in the city of Chiclayo, 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.|
Three
brothers in Casa Blanca
who want to learn to read |
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Bruce Peru (CASA BLANCA) works at getting all children to attend school and helps with the provision of school materials,registration fees and uniforms where needed; it also fosters good relations within the community. Children too old to be admitted to regular school, we teach in our little shanty town schools..
In CASA BLANCA 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 CASA BLANCA, 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 CASA BLANCA 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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Besides these activities, we welcome new ideas to make our project most effective for the children. Volunteering at CASA BLANCA 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 CASA BLANCA 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:
Chiclayo
is a city of 560,000 inhabitants, on the Paciffic Ocean in northern Peru.
It is the site of one of the richest remaining treasures in the Inca
Empire, the gold and bejeweled tumb of the Lord of Sipan. 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. Unlike many Latin American settlements, it is
characterised by an attractive modern city centre, with the poorest parts
sprawling along the coast to the north and south, and to the east into the
plain leading to 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. 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 Chiclayo's outskirts called Asentamiento Humano, Casa
Blanca, Sector 3, and is a good sized 2 story house. We will use the large
reception room, furnished by tables and benches - for children of differing
learning skills.. Children will attend the centre from between 9 AM and
12:00 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 CASA BLANCA
centre, but rather on our main campus, which is located in the centre of
Chiclayo. CASA BLANCA is a twenty 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 CASA BLANCA 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.
