Experience with Proyecto Horizonte

I arrived in Cochabamba in the end of September. During the first weeks I tried to find my place in
Proyecto Horizonte and practice my Spanish. I worked at the kindergarten with two-years olds children. In
the kindergarten the days went through in the same way one after the other. We played with kids and took
care of them. We also taught children the numbers, colours and names of animals, vegetables and fruits. It
was fun because I was also learning Spanish with the kids.
After couple of weeks I started to work in the youth centre, too. It was great because I really like to work
with little bit older children. In the mornings I took part in different groups with children 7 to 12 years old. We practiced circus, arts and dance. We also just played with children or red to them. It was also so much
easier to practice my Spanish with them, because they spoke a lot. In the afternoons we worked with some other voluntaries with the youths. We had a group of aerobic and dance for the youths and a special group of the girls. I also organized a group of culture for children and youth. The idea of this group was to share experiences from other cultures with children and youth together with other voluntaries. So we got to know different cultures through plays, music, arts, and videos.
In the Proyecto we also made several events and trips. One night I helped to organized “La noche de
talentos”, “The evening of talents” event. There were a lot of kids and youth who performed skills they have learned in the Proyecto. There were singing, dancing, theatre, circus, playing drums and guitar and lot of other things. With little children we had a trip to close river, where we ate and played with them. When
holiday started we also had a lot of celebrations in the kindergarten and in the youth centre.  We had some
kind of “school ending party” in kindergarten where the oldest class got their diplomas and other class had dance performers. In the youth centre we had performers of circus and last days we ate cake and fruit saladwith children and youth.
All in all, I have done lot of different things in Proyecto and it has been fun. There were also many other
voluntaries which make the whole thing much easier.  We had a great time with planning and instructing
the activities for the children and youth. We also spent a lot of time together in the free time, so it made
this experience even better.

HIGHLIGHTS OF EXPRESSION

Emma, the volunteer from the UK, writes about being the judge of the dancing competition that took place on Friday, May 9 as part of Proyecto Horizonte's Anniversary Week celebrations:

It is one thing to be in the competition and spending the hours rehearsing for the final performance but it felt very strange to be on the other side of the table. Crowds had gathered and were ready to be entertained.  Score sheet in hand and pen at the ready it was a new experience for me. But I loved it.

To say that these young people have incredible confidence would be putting it very simply. They had smiles on their faces and the shyness that normally accompanies them was nowhere to be found. They love to dance in Bolivia and tonight was no exception. It was so heart-warming to see the level of commitment that these young people and children had dedicated to their dancing. It was a privilege to be able to be watch them perform and have chance to help decide who would be involved in the final grand finale on the following night. Both young and old were entertained thoroughly and there were moments as a judge where I was impressed by the skills of the dancers. In both categories individual and group dance there were highlights of great creativity, flair and expression. It was great to see them shine and perform so well and with such passion.