Taking the Initiative

Arriving at Ushpa a little over a month ago, I was impressed not only be the scope of Proyecto Horizonte's activities (supporting a school of 540 students, a kindergarten with 150 children and a health centre, amongst other things, is no mean feat) but also by the efforts of volunteers in pursuing their own initiatives, alongside helping with the day-to-day running of the organisation.

Flexibility and open-mindedness are two great strengths of Proyecto horizonte - volunteers will often arrive, work for some time, recognise an are for improvement, and then simply set about improving it. Nowhere has this been more apparent than with the SODIS initiative implemented by volunteers Sarah and Hanna, who were here last year.

The SODIS Inititative

So, what is SODIS? To quote Charlie, a recent volunteer, "amazing, that's what"!

In slightly more detail, SODIS is a method of purifying water which involves leaving a clear plastic bottle of water in the sun for 6 hours (or a day if it's cloudy). The sun kills all the bacteria and means that the water is ready and safe to drink. It really is that simple.

Since introducing the method, volunteers have been working hard to continue teaching children and their parents how they can produce drinkable water for free by running workshops and setting up 'ferias' on the streets.

Another element of the the initiative was to stress the importance of good hygiene, particularly hand-washing using running water and soap. Again, it's very simple to do using a recycled-bottle taps ('pilas') which the kids are usually really enthusiastic to use, jostling into lines to have a go at washing their hands during the workshops.

It's really encouraging to see that volunteering with Proyecto Horizonte leaves lasting results, and that initiatives like SODIS will be continued by the staff and future volunteers. At the moment, for example, we're developing ways of making hand-washing a part of everyday routine for kids at the kindergarten and school, by working out how we can make pilas a permanent fixture in the bathrooms and outside the classrooms.

New Initiatives

A number of current volunteers are also working on implementing their own projects, such as Keah who is enjoying running a Leadership Programme for a group of children at the school. Jule also recognised a need for dental hygiene education at the kindergarten, and is working on an initiative to provide toothbrushes and toothpaste for each of the children, along with lessons on keeping their teeth healthy!

As Keah wrote in her last blog post, taking on such challenges is not always easy. Especially here, where things are ofen very unreliable, and may change at a moment's notice. That said, I find the enthusiasm of volunteers at Proyecto Horizonte hugely energising, and success stories like SODIS prove that motivation and commitment really will pay off.