Activities counselor in a vital social-community

This organization started in 2007 as a community center and grew into an entire little community with almost 100 families and 250 children living there. It helps poor families in the city by offering them a place to live and (further) support. Many of the families have one or multiple disabled children and have to deal with various problems as a result of alcohol and drug abuse. It’s a busy and hurly-burly place, with dedicated people and a lot of work to do.

There are many opportunities here to help, such as assisting at the local primary school with for example homework, theater lessons or giving English classes. Also a lot of maintenance is needed, on the houses as well as the playing equipment in the area. Moreover, initiative to undertake activities with the children is greatly appreciated; think of playing football, games, cooking together or singing karaoke (a huge hobby of many here!). If you stay for a longer period of time, there is also room to do something in the field of social emotional development. There is a minimum stay of 2-4 weeks as activity support or on construction and a minimum of 3 months working in other fields.

Possible tasks:

• teaching English
•  helping with construction
• free time activities
•  homework support
• gardening, cooking
• sports and arts
•  workshops for parents and their children – depending on your Spanish skills
• social support and many more.

In the morning, after you had breakfast with your host family, you get in the trufi (the common public transport) to your project. As always, there is rush hour and traffic but you get to chitchat with the locals. You stop at hard ware shop to buy materials, because you had a project planned and already gathered a group of volunteering kids around you. You want to paint one of the community rooms. So you prepare it to paint and a father of one of the kids, helps you to clean and get everything out so you can start.

After school the kids drop in and a small group needs desperate help to catch up in English. You play simple conversation games and memory. As you promised you bought some paint you start to paint with the kids, and there is one wall, they can paint as they like. It's getting chaotic because now every one wants to help and paint.

The afternoon passes quickly and at 5PM you take a Bus to the language school, because you decided to continue with Spanish classes in the evenings. There is not much time to grab a bite on the way, but you get there in time, even though its rush hour again. You had the plan to meet up with friends for cinema later that night, but you decide to call it a day, because it is just the beginning of the week and you are tired as hell.

In Cochabamba you can find hospitals and western doctors, supermarkets,  good mobile signal and a vast cultural life. There are National Parks nearby, sportstudios, museums, music-schools and yoga studios. Hiking-trails in the nearby mountains and trips to Villa Tunari and other Bolivian Hotspots.