Nutritionist

Superlearner is an Italian NGO operating in Lima (Peru). It’s a volunteer association founded in 2017, that aims to empower kids to achieve their dreams through education. We believe all children should have the opportunity to grow into whatever they want to be. Our goal is to show them that this is possible.

We are convinced that a good education can be effective only if it’s supported by a balanced psychological state and a healthy nutrition. That’s why we don’t limit our services to educational activities, but we also collaborate with the medical clinic of Pamplona Alta, the district where we realize our intervention. Our staff is also composed by psychologists and nutritionists who attend the families living in the area, providing free medical examinations, that wouldn’t be available otherwise.

Our volunteer project is developed in Lima (Peru), in the sector of Pamplona Alta belonging to the district of San Juan de Miraflores.

Since the 1950s, this district has been the location of a series of migration waves from remote Peruvian regions. Many thousands of poverty-stricken families have chosen to relocate here and began to build houses of wood, cardboard, and plastic tarp. In particular, Pamplona Alta was primarily developed due to families who lost their houses in a large fire in 1963. After this fire, more families immigrated from surrounding slums in Lima. Additionally, the Nueva Rinconada neighborhood is located at the height of the hills in Pamplona Alta, and was chiefly developed in the 1990’s. This is both one of the poorest areas and most difficult to access. Nueva Rinconada lacks running water, basic infrastructure, and at times electricity.

With Superlearner, we don’t just want to bring meaningful education to some of Peru’s most vulnerable children. We want to empower them to build resilience with the confidence that true education provides. We don’t want to simply “help” communities with short-term projects. We want to collaborate with them to build a long-term, self-sustaining program that fits the community’s needs and continues to benefit local areas long after our volunteers leave. To reach the goal, we need to learn from each other and train local teachers or community leaders, who can keep Superlearner in place. We are trying to put together an excellent team to make our pilot project effective, efficient and successful. Every volunteer can give a personal contribution according to their abilities, skills and availability, becoming part of a large community.

Our curriculum is meant to supplement the education that our children are already receiving. Our students all attend their local public schools. While it is great that they are going to school, their educational path is substantially behind that of expensive Peruvian private schools. We aim to close this gap by offering reinforcement in the subject areas in which they are lagging behind. We believe our students are as naturally talented and worthy as students from wealthier areas and backgrounds. And in order to realize these talents, they need more individual attention and more comprehensive teaching.

Mission: the volunteer is responsible for the assistance of community members at the local health center. The volunteer will also organize workshops at the educational center and activities for children and adolescents.

The volunteer is expected to adapt to a different cultural background, be able to work in a team and be punctual for meetings. It is essential to bring a personal device like a laptop or tablet, have a certification as a psychologist and talk Spanish fluently. 

We don't ask anyone to pay fees for volunteering with us. The only cost is the subscription fee (10 Euros). We use it to pay the insurance that is mandatory as we are a registered NGO in Italy. Anyway, as we are a little NGO working on a low budget, we can't offer free accomodation and food, all our funds are used to realize the educational activities. Eventually, we can help volunteers to find a cheap solution (sometimes a free one). 

Basically, the volunteers will attend the medical clinic every morning (Monday - Saturday) from 8 am to 2 pm. The nutritionist will evaluate the dietary needs of the patients, offer counseling and suggest positive alterations in nutrition. As many families live on the top of the hills, every month the volunteers will take part to health campaigns: with other members of the medical staff, they will visit their patients at home or inside a facility made available by the communities. One day per week, the volunteers will also be involved in educational activities for children, teenagers and families in the communal local of the different communities or at the local schools. The volunteer could make a research on food habits in the area of Pamplona Alta and help us to develop new projects about nutrition.