So I have started my volunteering work (and have stopped
going to Spanish classes).
Remember that apart from an old dream of living in and exploring
Latin America and exploring the relationship with a girl that would change my life, I also
came here to work as a volunteer.
Don’t ask me why or how exactly, but somehow I ended up with
this project called VENTANAS ABIERTAS (http://openwindowsfoundation.com)
and after a few weeks, I really feel like this is the project I was supposed to
end up working with.
VENTANAS ABIERTAS (VA) is essentially a dynamic learning center for children from low income families in
the little town of San Miguel Dueñas, ten miles from Antigua, Guatemala. With
its many activities, it provides an educational support environment to more
than 250 kids every day and a total of approximately 2,500 registered children
from the area.
Seven permanent staff members and many volunteers provide
the children with learning services and programs to help improve
their options in life and to increase their self confidence and self sufficiency. Here, the children
find a friendly and encouraging environment to help them be successful at
school, so they can follow their dreams of a better life in the future.
VA have a reading room with a library that currently offers around 10,000
(donated) books, including picture books, fiction / non-fiction, and reference
books as well as school text books that support the local school curriculum. Many
of these children are first generation readers, so access to books is
essential. The kids need to develop a sense of value for the book and its
content and they need to find excitement in reading and learning… something
that is not given in their families or communities.
reading room / library
two teachers preparing an afternoon activity at the library
Complementing school work, VA also offers educational support like tutoring and
homework support as well as reinforcement classes in math, languages, accounting, etc. Furthermore, there are opportunities to participate in activities introducing motor skills, basic reading, writing, handwriting and spelling skills and
most importantly ‘critical thinking skills’.
improvised classrooms in the garage and in a tent just in front of the garage
A few years ago, VA initiated a computer lab here at the center with a few donated computers. Now,
this lab has become an essential and very important part of the activities
here. Many of the kids are using computers for the first time and it’s been
opening up an entirely new world of opportunities for them. Children have
access to basic computer classes specific to age groups as well as more
advanced classes for older children, like MS Office courses.
Every day, there are a number of activities here.
In interactive literacy
activities, teachers bring books to life and children learn how to explore
the story and content of a book through reading, writing, interpreting, etc. In related activities, the little ones can express the
stories they heard through arts and crafting.
Other activities include guest presentations on
different work areas, jobs or on important topics, like for example ‘how to
recycle?’, which have the potential to initiate cultural changes or at least changes
of perspective.
VA also provides an afternoon snack for the kids
every day… because many of them do not necessarily receive regular food at home, so they suffer from
malnutrition or are at least underfed.
this is where the kids put their bikes ... 250 kids, how many bikes?
kids taking a break
kids enjoying the afternoon snack
here you can see how the kids get their afternoon snack.
this snack is called 'atol', a thick warm drink with lots of nutritious stuff in it...
Finally, VA is committed to send selected, talented and
motivated children from low income families to middle and high school (in Switzerland: Sekundarschule). The
idea is to break the cycle of poverty and allow children to pursue an education
that will allow them to have a better job later and hence a better life in the
future.
However, since the costs related to going to such schools
are usually too high for the families here, they need sustainable financial
support, otherwise they will prefer to send their kids to work.
So, we currently have around 50 children on a scholarship
every year. A scholarship includes inscription fees, school uniforms, books and
transport expenses to get to those schools and are around USD 500.—per kid, per
year.
Again, you can find more information here:
the kids also learn basic social skills
And what does Patricito do in all of this, you ask?
Well, as unlikely as it may sound :) every afternoon I am giving math reinforcement classes to a few kids that really need it. This has been an interesting experience, because some of the things are so basic that I have issues explaining them to someone that doesn't have the capability to imagine the abstract idea of numbers on a line or why numbers can be positive and negative. But it's been a fun challenge.
Also, I am helping the center with fundraising. You might get
contacted by me about that sometime soon. ;-)
Furthermore, I am helping to further develop the computer
lab.
Up until recently, VA was using (very old) donated learning
software programs with the kids in some of the classes. A very generous
donation earlier this year allowed for a replacement of most of the (old) computers,
but now we are facing a challenge. The new computers are all running Windows 8, and some – actually most – of the learning software we use are not running
properly anymore.
So, one of my projects is to fix that.
Another one is the following: ..since the internet access here and in most places in Guatemala is very moderate at best, we are
looking to bring a lot of offline content to the center using the Raspberry Pi
technology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi). To do this we work with an NGO called World Possible (http://worldpossible.org/) that has
compiled a lot of content (e.g. the entire Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/) video
library or the entire Wikipedia in Spanish) and put it onto Raspberry Pi’s so
as to make it available offline.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, we are basically making a lot of very cool stuff available offline for the
kids to access it here at VA. Another fun project.
And since I wasn't exactly made to be the perfect math teacher, I think this is also more the kind of stuff that I feel comfortable with and can actually add value…
Hopefully, this has given you an idea on what keeps me busy.
It’s a different type of busy than I had been used to in the
last few years, though. And you wouldn’t believe it, but I really needed to get
used to the very different pace of living and working here.
To this day, I feel like I am not doing enough and things
are not moving fast enough.
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