If you're reading this blog, you're probably a prospective volunteer entertaining the idea of coming to work with us or a past volunteer rehashing memories of their time with Proyecto Horizonte. Disclaimer: This post is catered to the former group, so everyone else is gently advised to take their nostalgia elsewhere.
My name is Keah Lonergan and I'm a volunteer from the States here for a gap year between high school and university. I've been here for four and a half months (which seems an impossibly long time) and will be here for another three months (which seems an impossibly short time). I had little experience or training before I got here and I've still managed to have an incredible experience, so odds are you will, too. That said, professionals in any field are also always welcome additions to the team.
THIS IS WHAT I DO
One of my favorite aspects of Proyecto Horizonte is how much leeway it has allowed me to experiment with different work areas--but just in case that answer wasn't vague enough for you, here's the short list of the past four months:
Giving lessons in English while receiving lessons in patience.
Since I arrived in early October, my day-to-day work has been as an aide in the English classes working with grades 4 through 11. I help the kids with pronunciation, correct their spelling and grammar mistakes, help with classroom control, grade quizzes and tests, and spend hours upon hours pondering the absurdity of my mother tongue when the students ask questions like, "But Profe, why do 14 and 40 sound exactly the same? That's stupid." (Valid point, Sergio.) As stimulating as the above duties can be at times (ha), my real motivation for working with the classes is getting to know the students, which has allowed me to move forward in other projects I find myself more suited for.
Adding flavor with the mothers of Mineros San Juan.
When I began working with Proyecto Horizonte, another volunteer was trying to start a women's group with some neighbors in the community. I took over organizing the group when the other volunteer left and have had an incredible time getting to know these amazing, hilarious women. Once a week for two months, the women came together to learn about a topic of their choice. At their request, we arranged for a nutritionist from another part of the city to come teach the women strategies for healthier cooking. In presenting recipes or food samples, the nutritionist's favorite question was "What's missing, ladies?" The participants always eagerly volunteered answers: "Salt?" "Sugar?" "Pepper?" "Oil?" The nutritionist shook her head. "No, ladies," she answered, "Flavor! It's missing flavor!" The women laughed and agreed. "Oh, flavor!" offered Doña Aidée. "Of course. Let's add flavor!" So has been my task here in Bolivia--adding flavor, both to the diets of the ladies in Mineros San Juan and to my formerly way-too-vanilla gringa lifestyle.
Invading--I mean, visiting--homes in the community.
After numerous complaints about having to "travel" too far for workshops and classes offered by Proyecto Horizonte (usually less than five blocks), since late November I've been working to organize in-home learning opportunities for the residents of the community. To do so, I teamed up with other volunteers and psychology interns for the grueling and persistent work of going door-to-door attempting to form groups of neighbors interested in similar topics. Much as I feared negative reactions from the community members, almost everyone we met was willing and interested in discussing our offers; the only real protests we got were from the extremely protective canine population of the community. Some people were so interested they didn't even wait for us to knock on their doors, but instead approached us in the street to ask what we were doing. One particularly interested woman took time from her sheep-herding to talk to us. She animatedly asked me a question, but unfortunately I understood about as much from the sheep as I did from her. Luckily, I was accompanied by a Bolivian psychology student who translated her Quechua for me.
The workshops began in four separate homes in late December, and as slow-going and frustrating as this initiative was at first, the progress I saw in those first workshops justified all the work I had done and all the work I have yet to do. These groups of neighbors can be used as platforms to promote the work Proyecto Horizonte is doing in other areas as well and helps the organization gain vital demographic information about the community it serves.
THIS IS WHY I CAME
1. Because Proyecto Horizonte does not exist solely to serve a community; it's a community in its own right and it welcomes new members with open arms.
2. Because Proyecto Horizonte is not a volunteer organization, it's an organization of Bolivian professionals, workers, and residents who genuinely want to improve the quality of life for a tiny slice of Cochabamba. They graciously welcome foreign volunteers to work amongst them, but we volunteers are not the priority. The priority is reducing poverty, and that's the way it should be.
3. Because Proyecto Horizonte is multi-faceted and diverse. Its holistic approach to community development allows volunteers to work in and learn about development in a way that few other organizations offer to lower-skilled volunteers.
4. Because Proyecto Horizonte is not a parasitic, leech-like money-sucking organization. We don't exist for volunteers and we don't rely on volunteers to make money. You can pay mountains of money to work at other organizations, but odds are you still won't find what we have to offer here, which is freedom, flexibility, and a caring community for those who are prepared to work hard and give back.
5. Because Proyecto Horizonte is in Cochabamba, where the average annual rainfall is 19 inches and the average temperature is almost 70 ° F. It's called the City of Eternal Spring, and they aren't kidding.
THIS IS WHY I STAYED:
1. It's fun. I laugh every single day I go to work. I'm constantly amused by my students' funny English mistakes (Answering the question "What time is 6:30?": "It is sex and half of a clock.") or the 4-year-olds asking my blue-eyed colleague questions like "Did you paint your eyeballs?"
2. It's flexible. I can work in the English classes and the computer room and with women's groups and in the health center. I can work on 25 different initiatives at a time if I want (I don't). I can start my own projects or carry on someone else's work, or I can choose to simply pick one focus and stick with it. Volunteers are allowed a lot of freedom and autonomy. Each volunteer's experience is only limited by his or her own motivation. That sounds like something out of a fortune cookie, but it's completely true.
3. It's challenging. Working with Proyecto Horizonte has been a constant test of my willpower and patience. Things almost never work out they way I pictured them, but I keep trying new things until something works. It isn't easy, but few worthy things ever are.
4. It's loving. I've made so many friendships and relationships here both with members of the Proyecto Horizonte team and with members of the community and students in the school. I've been constantly amazed by how open and welcoming the community has been since my arrival.
5. It's the only place I'd want to be. I can't imagine volunteering anywhere else long-term at this point in my life. Volunteering here has been satisfying and fulfilling, and I believe it can be for anyone with the right attitude.
If you've read all that and you're still thinking about coming--stop thinking. Just come.
Contact me at keah20@gmail.com with any questions and I'll be happy to answer them.
No comments:
Post a Comment