"If anybody is looking for a place to volunteer in South America, look no further than Proyecto!" - Kathryn, United States

My final day of volunteering has come to a close and I leave for the United States tomorrow night. But before I finish this journey, I wanted to write one more post about the amazing organization that I have been volunteering for. 

That organization is Proyecto Horizonte located in Ushpa-Ushpa. They focus on healthcare, education, and local development.  I have been working with the education aspect by teaching English classes at a local school to students between the ages of 11 and 17. What amazes me about Proyecto is their dedication to improving the lives of the people in the community.  They want everyone to be educated and not just on science and math but also on living a healthy lifestyle. I have enjoyed getting to know everyone that works in the physiological department, the youth club, and the educational department. 

Another aspect of Proyecto is the volunteers that work there. During my time here there have been volunteers from the United States, Cananda, Germany, England and Bolivia. Volunteers travel from all over the world to work with this organization. Some stay as long as a year, while others volunteer for the summer. Each person has a different story but also comes from a different culture. During one conversation I am likely to hear English, Spanish, and German. One of the things that I will also remember about Proyecto is the chance to meet people from all over the world. 

I loved Proyecto ever since reading about them online before I came and when I was talking to the volunteer coordinator.  Although my first two weeks in Bolivia were an adjustment, the people at Proyecto supported me every step of the way.  Because of this organization, I have been able to learn about and appreciate the culture of Bolivia. If anybody is looking for a place to volunteer in South America,  look no further than Proyecto. Just do me a favor and know more about Bolivia and the city of Cochabamba than I did to try and prevent culture shock. 
The link to their website is below if anybody is looking for more information about this amazing organization. The website has information about volunteering, donating, or buying products from the local women's group. Feel free to email me or let me know if you have any questions as well!
http://www.ushpa-ushpa.com/

- Kathryn, United States

A British volunteer , Michaela, looks back at her 3 months of living in Bolivia and working at Proyecto Horizonte

After being recommended Proyecto Horizonte by a family friend who volunteered for the organisation a couple of years ago and loved it, I decided that I was going to complete the next four months of my year abroad volunteering for the project. I started off staying in a homestay with a wonderful host mum, however I had planned to stay in a flat with other volunteers but unfortunately the flats owned by the project were not ready to move into straight away. Luckily there was a girl from Alaska staying in the same house who was also in the same situation so we decided to go searching in the city for a flat to rent out together. After just two days of looking we moved in, it was really easy to find somewhere.

Having traveled for almost 30 hours from London to Cochabamba at the beginning of March 2015, I headed straight into the project the next day.  On my first day I was shown around the whole place and was amazed to see for myself all the different ways in which they help the community, having read about it online.  I started working in the medical center for my first month and now work with the children aged 3-4 at the nursery in Inicial 2.  All of the children are so sweet and I love being greeted in the morning by the kids coming up and hugging me saying, ‘Hola profe Mica’ it really is the sweetest and the best way to start the day.

It is not all work and no play, I have been fortunate enough to visit the beach city of Iquique in Chile for five days, the beautiful city Sucre (another city in Bolivia) and Villa Tunari, which I can best describe as a tropical jungle.  I am also planning to take a trip to the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni) and hopefully La Paz and many other places.  I have now finished my third month here and cannot believe just how quickly the time has gone, with just one month left I know how quickly it will fly by and I am not ready to leave.  I have really enjoyed my time here, everyone who works at Proyecto Horizonte are so lovely and welcoming, I definitely want to come back. Cochabamba is one of my favourite places I have visited, there is so much culture and diversity here that I will never get bored of this amazing city. 

- Michaela, UK

The Day-Care Centre’s Day Out

Fiona shares her adventure with the babies from the daycare and how their day at the park was. 



If you walked into the day-care centre on Tuesday this week you might have

wondered where all the children had gone. The answer would have been: to the

Parque Del Bicentenario, a beautiful park in the north of Cochabamba. At about

9:30 on Tuesday morning we bundled about 60 children into two buses and

made our way happily to the park.

I was very apprehensive about this little excursion. I had only just gotten used

to looking after the little ones in the safety of the day-care centre, and now I had

to be responsible for them out in the big, bad world. What if I lost one? What

if they hurt themselves somehow? Of course, I wasn’t solely in charge of them

and there’s always someone who knows exactly what to do, but I was still pretty

nervous at the thought!

But all this apprehension was for nothing, and it turned out to be a very

relaxing, very enjoyable day (apart from having to chase after three 2 year-olds

simultaneously every now and then). The day pretty much played out in the

same way as it would have done in the day-care centre; the only difference being

that we were outside enjoying the glorious sunshine all day. We had a snack,

played on the slides a little bit, we went for a walk, had some lunch, and then my

favourite part: naptime. In the day-care centre we hang the babies up on the cots

using awayo blankets and we did the same in the park, except instead of cots

we used trees! I thought it was so adorable and we all found it pretty funny that

everyone that walked past us stared and pointed at the hanging babies!

While the babies slept, we relaxed under the trees and chatted about various

things and it was nice to get to know the ladies I work with at the day-care centre

a bit better because there’s usually not much chance to chat with 20 babies in

need of attention! We finished the afternoon by cleaning the children up and

making them presentable for their parents and, after a little ride round the park

on a trensito, we made our way back to Ushpa Ushpa for 4:30pm.

All in all, it was a really great excursion, and the children seemed to really enjoy

themselves, which is the most important part. I hope I can be a part of more

outings with the day-care centre and maybe next time I won’t feel so nervous

beforehand!