Meet our volunteers
Volunteering overseas is something most people think about doing at least once in their lives and many people try to incorporate it into a longer travelling experience. However the reality of volunteering is often very different to what is expected. Many organisations charge people large amounts of money and volunteers can feel part of a commercial process rather than really helping local people. So many can feel disillusioned and uninspired by their experiences.
This is one of main reasons people want to work for FMA. For a start it was founded by Oscar Cortes, a former street kid from Colombia. This means he really does have a clue what he is talking about. Also FMA is small and run locally - it means there is always tangible and direct results from the work carried out. Volunteers in classrooms can often see a difference in the children they teach in just a few days.
Some volunteers are on gap years and have come to Colombia solely for the purpose of working for FMA, while others have included this work as part of a year off or travelling trip. Here's some info about a few of our past volunteers:
This is one of main reasons people want to work for FMA. For a start it was founded by Oscar Cortes, a former street kid from Colombia. This means he really does have a clue what he is talking about. Also FMA is small and run locally - it means there is always tangible and direct results from the work carried out. Volunteers in classrooms can often see a difference in the children they teach in just a few days.
Some volunteers are on gap years and have come to Colombia solely for the purpose of working for FMA, while others have included this work as part of a year off or travelling trip. Here's some info about a few of our past volunteers:
Megan Neal, 28, from California, USA
Megan has been a professional student, taught for two years in China and worked for various non-profit social science organisations.
She is volunteering for a month with FMA and she said it has totally changed how she sees herself and others.
"I had an idea what to expect from the work," she said. "I was aware the children were underprivileged and from challenging backgrounds so I knew I had to teach them with this in mind.
"I had been travelling for a bit and was starting to feel as though there was no real purpose to what I was doing. I didn't just want to sit on the beach or go out every night - I can do this at home. FMA changed this for me and gave me a greater sense of purpose.
"I love teaching the children, it is hard at times but you get results quickly. Sometimes the classes are crazy but I see it that we are providing a safe place for children to come and with people who really care about them so anything they learn on top of this is fantastic."
Megan said there have been a number of inspiring moments and said teaching has given her an inner strength.
"I would say to anyone thinking of volunteering that it does change your life and your perspective," she said. "Travellers often don't get to see real communities or get the chance to help them and here you do.
"I feel I have a social responsibility to help in any way I can while I am here and FMA is a channel to do that. I think anyone who volunteers here will recognise quite quickly how it it is a life-changing experience and a totally worthwhile opportunity."
She is volunteering for a month with FMA and she said it has totally changed how she sees herself and others.
"I had an idea what to expect from the work," she said. "I was aware the children were underprivileged and from challenging backgrounds so I knew I had to teach them with this in mind.
"I had been travelling for a bit and was starting to feel as though there was no real purpose to what I was doing. I didn't just want to sit on the beach or go out every night - I can do this at home. FMA changed this for me and gave me a greater sense of purpose.
"I love teaching the children, it is hard at times but you get results quickly. Sometimes the classes are crazy but I see it that we are providing a safe place for children to come and with people who really care about them so anything they learn on top of this is fantastic."
Megan said there have been a number of inspiring moments and said teaching has given her an inner strength.
"I would say to anyone thinking of volunteering that it does change your life and your perspective," she said. "Travellers often don't get to see real communities or get the chance to help them and here you do.
"I feel I have a social responsibility to help in any way I can while I am here and FMA is a channel to do that. I think anyone who volunteers here will recognise quite quickly how it it is a life-changing experience and a totally worthwhile opportunity."
Natalia Sudeyko, 19, from Vancouver, Canada
Natalia is teaching children in the neighbourhood of Oasis for two months as part of her gap year and lives with a family in Santa Marta.
She said one of the attractions of FMA as opposed to other organisations was that teachers can use their own initiative and create their own projects.
"There is a lot of independence with volunteers here," she said. "You have to be very creative with a lot of energy. People who work here are self starters and although there is guidance, lesson plans and activities are all our own ideas. That can be challenging but also totally rewarding, especially when a project you have created yourself is really popular and effective with the kids."
Natalia said she wants to create an environment where children want to learn themselves, rather than just have facts and figures thrown at them so her teaching methods involve making everything as much fun as possible while learning at the same time.
"These are children who have had tough lives and often see violence or who don't eat for days," she said. "So they are not going to respond to an environment they see as hostile or boring. I want to emphasise the value of learning for them. I am only here for a month but I aim to make sure they WANT to keep learning into the future.
"I am already dreading leaving because I have become really attached to the children, it is just such a rewarding experience."
She said one of the attractions of FMA as opposed to other organisations was that teachers can use their own initiative and create their own projects.
"There is a lot of independence with volunteers here," she said. "You have to be very creative with a lot of energy. People who work here are self starters and although there is guidance, lesson plans and activities are all our own ideas. That can be challenging but also totally rewarding, especially when a project you have created yourself is really popular and effective with the kids."
Natalia said she wants to create an environment where children want to learn themselves, rather than just have facts and figures thrown at them so her teaching methods involve making everything as much fun as possible while learning at the same time.
"These are children who have had tough lives and often see violence or who don't eat for days," she said. "So they are not going to respond to an environment they see as hostile or boring. I want to emphasise the value of learning for them. I am only here for a month but I aim to make sure they WANT to keep learning into the future.
"I am already dreading leaving because I have become really attached to the children, it is just such a rewarding experience."
Clinton Gaudet, 21, from Vancouver, Canada
Clinton is teaching three to 12-year-olds in a school in the neighbourhood of Oasis for a month. He is travelling in South America for a year altogether and while in Venezuela he started looking up organisations on Google to volunteer with but, like many others, found too many charged a lot of money.
"I am travelling and like many others who are backpacking I don't have a great deal of money so I was appalled that to do something charitable costs so much," he said. "FMA charged 50USD and this seemed totally reasonable to me and you can see exactly where this goes.
"I wanted to make a bit of a difference to a community while I am here. I have a lot of energy and ideas and I can put them all into practice at the school.
"I am a giant to the kids and they love me as I can throw them around and play games with them as well as teach them."
Clinton said although he was aware of what the cultural challenges would be because he had seen different communities in South America through travelling, but he said he was shocked at the children's' total lack of basic knowledge.
"Some of the children's parents leave school and cannot read or write so they have no knowledge to pass down to their children," he said. "I was surprised just how disadvantaged some of them really are. They know they are in Colombia but have no idea where that is in relation to the rest of the world, they do not know how letters even sound and there is a lack of basic knowledge and an absence of positive role models."
Clinton said the work brings countless rewarding and inspiring experiences but one he is the most proud of is having a one to one session with a girl who initially could not even count one on her hand. He spent 20 minutes showing her how to count to five but it appeared as though she still didn't understand it when she left for home.
"However the next day I saw her when I arrived for school and I asked her to count to five. She did it first time and then again and again. She had a big smile and was buzzing from the learning. That, to me, is what it is all about."
"I am travelling and like many others who are backpacking I don't have a great deal of money so I was appalled that to do something charitable costs so much," he said. "FMA charged 50USD and this seemed totally reasonable to me and you can see exactly where this goes.
"I wanted to make a bit of a difference to a community while I am here. I have a lot of energy and ideas and I can put them all into practice at the school.
"I am a giant to the kids and they love me as I can throw them around and play games with them as well as teach them."
Clinton said although he was aware of what the cultural challenges would be because he had seen different communities in South America through travelling, but he said he was shocked at the children's' total lack of basic knowledge.
"Some of the children's parents leave school and cannot read or write so they have no knowledge to pass down to their children," he said. "I was surprised just how disadvantaged some of them really are. They know they are in Colombia but have no idea where that is in relation to the rest of the world, they do not know how letters even sound and there is a lack of basic knowledge and an absence of positive role models."
Clinton said the work brings countless rewarding and inspiring experiences but one he is the most proud of is having a one to one session with a girl who initially could not even count one on her hand. He spent 20 minutes showing her how to count to five but it appeared as though she still didn't understand it when she left for home.
"However the next day I saw her when I arrived for school and I asked her to count to five. She did it first time and then again and again. She had a big smile and was buzzing from the learning. That, to me, is what it is all about."
Martin Ruegg, 28, from Switzerland
He has been teaching at Oasis for the past three months and has incorporated it into a longer travelling trip around South America.
Martin has had previous experience teaching in Thailand and also Buenos Aires but he said this experience was "very different".
"The behaviour of the children is very different to what I am used to," he said. "These children are very lively and boisterous.
"This is fun but can take a while to get used to. I am completely attached to some of the children now and will miss them when I finish here.
"Volunteering is so rewarding at FMA because you can see the progress you are making. After a couple of weeks I noticed a real change in the behaviour of some children and saw how far they have become.
"That justifies the reason I am here and makes me feel proud of my achievements. Most of these children have a really tough life and big problems at home so anything we can do to teach them in a safe environment benefits them and is very rewarding."
Martin has had previous experience teaching in Thailand and also Buenos Aires but he said this experience was "very different".
"The behaviour of the children is very different to what I am used to," he said. "These children are very lively and boisterous.
"This is fun but can take a while to get used to. I am completely attached to some of the children now and will miss them when I finish here.
"Volunteering is so rewarding at FMA because you can see the progress you are making. After a couple of weeks I noticed a real change in the behaviour of some children and saw how far they have become.
"That justifies the reason I am here and makes me feel proud of my achievements. Most of these children have a really tough life and big problems at home so anything we can do to teach them in a safe environment benefits them and is very rewarding."
Liz Gill-Atkinson, 28, from Melbourne, Australia
Liz is travelling for two years with her husband and has been working as projects and health co-ordinator for FMA for the past six months.
As a projects manager for NGOs in Australia she has been able to use her vast experience to provide workshops to women in disadvantaged neighbourhoods - with subjects ranging from how to deal with pregnancy, sexual health and literacy.
The fundacion undertook community consultation to ask women what they think are the issues in their community, and what their ideas are for creating positive change and that is how the workshops were set up.
"As a team we have slowly built up relationships with people in the community,’’ Liz said. "Some parents in these areas are not able to talk to their children about sexual health or anything because they were not educated themselves.
"Many women left school at 9, 10 or 11 and the average age they had their first child was 15. The good news is they don't want the same for their kids so they have told us what would be useful to learn and that is where the workshops come in to play."
Liz and her team are working in a very challenging environment. Many families are dysfunctional, uneducated, out of work and with no real employment prospects. Living conditions vary, most live in very basic, small shacks. Some have nothing with two or three generations under one roof with up to six children in one room, while others have slightly more spacious living quarters.
There is often violence in the home, child abuse and deprivation.
"We want to give these women a chance to change their situations," Liz said. "We want to work on getting a higher profile for the programmes and to reach out to as many people as possible.
"There are very rewarding aspects such as now some women recognise us when we go into the communities, they feel confident talking to us and are vocal about what they want and what we can do for them."
Having worked with the organisation for an ambitious six months Liz has seen a fair share of volunteers coming and going. She said FMA generally has two types of volunteers - those who have researched the fundacion, have a specific activity in mind and have come to Colombia specifically to volunteer and those who are travelling and decide to stop and stay for a while and help in any way they can. She said both are equally valuable and that the organisation requires a minimum of a week as the children can get attached to the volunteers and vice versa so sometimes there is a lack of consistency.
"Ideally we would have a regular teacher who would be there all the time and then volunteers who will come and go," she said. "But we don't have the resources for that right now. The more money we get the more we can look at doing this.
"The vision for the future is to expand and deepen our activities. We are all about giving people the tools to help themselves and the more volunteers and the more donations we receive the more people we can reach out to."
As a projects manager for NGOs in Australia she has been able to use her vast experience to provide workshops to women in disadvantaged neighbourhoods - with subjects ranging from how to deal with pregnancy, sexual health and literacy.
The fundacion undertook community consultation to ask women what they think are the issues in their community, and what their ideas are for creating positive change and that is how the workshops were set up.
"As a team we have slowly built up relationships with people in the community,’’ Liz said. "Some parents in these areas are not able to talk to their children about sexual health or anything because they were not educated themselves.
"Many women left school at 9, 10 or 11 and the average age they had their first child was 15. The good news is they don't want the same for their kids so they have told us what would be useful to learn and that is where the workshops come in to play."
Liz and her team are working in a very challenging environment. Many families are dysfunctional, uneducated, out of work and with no real employment prospects. Living conditions vary, most live in very basic, small shacks. Some have nothing with two or three generations under one roof with up to six children in one room, while others have slightly more spacious living quarters.
There is often violence in the home, child abuse and deprivation.
"We want to give these women a chance to change their situations," Liz said. "We want to work on getting a higher profile for the programmes and to reach out to as many people as possible.
"There are very rewarding aspects such as now some women recognise us when we go into the communities, they feel confident talking to us and are vocal about what they want and what we can do for them."
Having worked with the organisation for an ambitious six months Liz has seen a fair share of volunteers coming and going. She said FMA generally has two types of volunteers - those who have researched the fundacion, have a specific activity in mind and have come to Colombia specifically to volunteer and those who are travelling and decide to stop and stay for a while and help in any way they can. She said both are equally valuable and that the organisation requires a minimum of a week as the children can get attached to the volunteers and vice versa so sometimes there is a lack of consistency.
"Ideally we would have a regular teacher who would be there all the time and then volunteers who will come and go," she said. "But we don't have the resources for that right now. The more money we get the more we can look at doing this.
"The vision for the future is to expand and deepen our activities. We are all about giving people the tools to help themselves and the more volunteers and the more donations we receive the more people we can reach out to."
Susie Ponsford, 19, from Wiltshire, UK
Susie came to Colombia specifically to work for FMA. She will be here for three months and is teaching children at Oasis.
The had always wanted to come to Colombia and to carry out voluntary work and FMA attracted her fundamentally because it is a grass roots organisation.
She said: “I knew I wanted to volunteer but it is hard to find the right organisation. FMA totally appealed to me and I have loved the teaching.
“The first day in Oasis was overwhelming. I was greeted with this wall of noise and mayhem. But I have seen a real difference in some of the children since I have been there which is really rewarding.”
Susie has experienced a lot of rewarding moments but she said the one that stands out is with four children who at the start of her teaching did not know the alphabet at all but now can enthusiastically read the alphabet back to her with no problems. “Something like that is amazing,” she said. “Their progress has been fast and I am very proud have been a big part of that.
“With Mariposas there are changes like this that make you realise how worthwhile this is, with bigger organisations I think the smaller changes like this would be lost and it wouldn't be as rewarding.”
The had always wanted to come to Colombia and to carry out voluntary work and FMA attracted her fundamentally because it is a grass roots organisation.
She said: “I knew I wanted to volunteer but it is hard to find the right organisation. FMA totally appealed to me and I have loved the teaching.
“The first day in Oasis was overwhelming. I was greeted with this wall of noise and mayhem. But I have seen a real difference in some of the children since I have been there which is really rewarding.”
Susie has experienced a lot of rewarding moments but she said the one that stands out is with four children who at the start of her teaching did not know the alphabet at all but now can enthusiastically read the alphabet back to her with no problems. “Something like that is amazing,” she said. “Their progress has been fast and I am very proud have been a big part of that.
“With Mariposas there are changes like this that make you realise how worthwhile this is, with bigger organisations I think the smaller changes like this would be lost and it wouldn't be as rewarding.”
Claudia Puschner, 26, from Plauen, Germany
Claudia has been working with FMA for almost four weeks and has now stepped into the role of health and education projects coordinator.
She runs “charla” (chat) sessions in Oasis where women are given the chance to learn more about a wide range of subjects including sexual abuse and domestic violence.
She said: “We talked to the parents of children who were identified as the most need of help and identified the topics they wanted to know more about.
“There are women who left school at a young age so are unable to educate their children about certain things.
“We are basically there to talk to them about any health and social matters. Some of them are very forthcoming and some don't want to know but we are making a lot of progress.”
Claudia's previous teaching experience includes working for a school in the middle of the jungle in Ecuador where she said she worked alone and at times felt quite isolated.
“Mariposas is much better than the work I did before because everyone helps each other out, there is a really positive outlook and the bonus is that it is by the coast so you can do other activities while you are volunteering.
“There have been so many moments that I feel are life-changing but mainly I have been so pleased with the positive feedback we get.
“We are going into poor areas and teaching people's children but nobody resents us being there, they are all supportive and that makes it so worthwhile.”
She runs “charla” (chat) sessions in Oasis where women are given the chance to learn more about a wide range of subjects including sexual abuse and domestic violence.
She said: “We talked to the parents of children who were identified as the most need of help and identified the topics they wanted to know more about.
“There are women who left school at a young age so are unable to educate their children about certain things.
“We are basically there to talk to them about any health and social matters. Some of them are very forthcoming and some don't want to know but we are making a lot of progress.”
Claudia's previous teaching experience includes working for a school in the middle of the jungle in Ecuador where she said she worked alone and at times felt quite isolated.
“Mariposas is much better than the work I did before because everyone helps each other out, there is a really positive outlook and the bonus is that it is by the coast so you can do other activities while you are volunteering.
“There have been so many moments that I feel are life-changing but mainly I have been so pleased with the positive feedback we get.
“We are going into poor areas and teaching people's children but nobody resents us being there, they are all supportive and that makes it so worthwhile.”
