Volunteer activities
The activities our volunteers are doing at the moment are:
More about teaching
We expect teachers and assistants to use their initiative and work together: for example, to arrange meetings outside the normal volunteer meeting times to swap ideas for classes, activities and worksheets etc, as this really keeps everyone motivated and improves the experience for both kids and teachers. Also please note that as we are a small grassroots foundation with very limited funds, our teaching staff need to provide class materials - pens, pencils etc - out of their own budgets, so you should plan to spend about $20 a week on materials, photocopying, internet and transport to and from the schools. All materials you need can be bought in Santa Marta, we encourage this as it supports the local economy.
My Spanish isn't very good, can I still help?
A self starting, committed attitude and the capacity to work hard and take initiative is more important to us than fluent Spanish. If you are not so confident in Spanish, you can still help out with publicity and fundraising activities such as blogging, updating our website, taking pictures, maintaining Facebook and Twitter etc. We also need people to help out with construction work on our new school, or perhaps you could organise a football match or music jam for the kids? Get in touch and let us know what skills you have, and we'll make a plan for you.
Can I do my own project?
The foundation continues to grow and supports new ideas and projects initiated by volunteers, though we currently cannot provide funding for such projects. The foundation hopes to continue to expand the extracurricular education program to more sites and would like to begin teaching adults (especially young mothers) as well. If you're into sports, music, dance or drama, for example, you could start up clubs for kids to participate in after school hours. Getting together with some other volunteers to organise a class excursion to the beach or a local museum etc is also always popular with the kids.
- Two hour after-school classes mostly focusing on numeracy and literacy, social skills and behaviour, using activities and worksheets for groups of 10-15 kids aged between 4 and 14, each with a main teacher and where possible an assistant. Assistants work one on one with children who need extra help and 'policing' the lessons for the teachers to keep the kids focused and quiet. Classes take place in rooms offered by the community and supplies are basic. See our notes about teaching and assisting classes below.
- One-on-one literacy lessons for young mothers and fathers in their homes.
- English classes for adults in the evenings in the poorer areas of the city
- Community health and development including social work, sexual health, nutrition and parenting workshops and education for older girls and women in the communities.
- Occasional construction work on our existing buildings, and, depending on funding, construction work on our new school/community centre. We have a plot of land and are fundraising for materials to build it.
- Writing, photographing, blogging, tweeting and seeking new social networking and online platforms to promote our work and raise funds. We are looking for someone to take on this side of our work and build it up, let us know if you're interested.
More about teaching
We expect teachers and assistants to use their initiative and work together: for example, to arrange meetings outside the normal volunteer meeting times to swap ideas for classes, activities and worksheets etc, as this really keeps everyone motivated and improves the experience for both kids and teachers. Also please note that as we are a small grassroots foundation with very limited funds, our teaching staff need to provide class materials - pens, pencils etc - out of their own budgets, so you should plan to spend about $20 a week on materials, photocopying, internet and transport to and from the schools. All materials you need can be bought in Santa Marta, we encourage this as it supports the local economy.
My Spanish isn't very good, can I still help?
A self starting, committed attitude and the capacity to work hard and take initiative is more important to us than fluent Spanish. If you are not so confident in Spanish, you can still help out with publicity and fundraising activities such as blogging, updating our website, taking pictures, maintaining Facebook and Twitter etc. We also need people to help out with construction work on our new school, or perhaps you could organise a football match or music jam for the kids? Get in touch and let us know what skills you have, and we'll make a plan for you.
Can I do my own project?
The foundation continues to grow and supports new ideas and projects initiated by volunteers, though we currently cannot provide funding for such projects. The foundation hopes to continue to expand the extracurricular education program to more sites and would like to begin teaching adults (especially young mothers) as well. If you're into sports, music, dance or drama, for example, you could start up clubs for kids to participate in after school hours. Getting together with some other volunteers to organise a class excursion to the beach or a local museum etc is also always popular with the kids.
