Ecuador Street Children Care and Education

  Ecuador

• Quito: 
Quito

Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: First Monday of the month.

Description: As a volunteer on this programme you will be helping out in the poorest areas of Quito, making a difference in the society. We work with three different projects in the south and countryside suburbs of Quito. These focus on child services such as outreach and school support. Your placement to one of these projects depends on availability, the time of the year and the length of your stay. You will receive information during your orientation about the specific project to which you will be placed.

Highlights: Street Children Outreach

The outreach programme is an important project, which assists children and their families, who live or work in the streets and who are socially disadvantaged. Most of the parents time needs to be spent selling products in the street markets of Quito to generate a very small income for their families. As a consequence the children become neglected and have little attention. Volunteers are essential to the success of this project, as you have the ability to give the children the care and attention that they really need.

Through activities, such as teaching moral values, painting, playing games, and providing medical support and education, you will provide the children with the chance to play and develop to their full potential. Some of your time will also be spent communicating with the children's parents and informing them of their children's rights and the obligations that they themselves have as parents. The aim is that eventually the children and parents will have a better relationship.

Volunteer Responsibilities:

    * Collect the children from their parents market posts
    * Ensure all children wash their hands
    * Take attendance daily
    * Provide care and support for the children and make sure they stay with the group
    * Plan activities in advance and ensure all materials are ready on the day of the project
    * Participate in activities and help children successfully complete projects
    * Make sure all children get returned to their parents market posts

School Support Programme

This programme offers education services to under-privileged children. Classes, homework supervision sessions, educational activities and more are offered to children of marginalised areas. Volunteers will be planning activities in areas such as art, painting, music, English reading and writing. You will be playing an active role in these activities.

The programme has been created to provide the children with strong educational support, which many families cannot provide themselves.

A lot of the families are not even aware of the importance of education. Many live in poverty and face problems, such as illiteracy, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, violence and migration and are therefore incapable of providing proper care for their children.

You will help to give these children a chance to enjoy learning and to keep up in school. This will also show the parents that there are positive results from their children receiving a good education.

Responsibilities:

    * Take a daily attendance
    * Improve hygiene by ensuring all children wash their hands and brush their teeth
    * Ensure the children adhere to the programme rules
    * Help children with assignments and homework
    * Choose and create activities for children to do once homework is complete
    * Supervise children during break time and ensure they do not distract other children who are still working
    * Organise the children to clean up at the end of the day
    * Communicate with parents about the progress of their children

Please note: itineraries and activities are subject to change.

Qualifications: Minimum 18 years, maximum decided on potential participant's health.

Cost in US$: USD 879 - USD1,749

    * Accommodation
    * Breakfast and Dinner
    * A detailed orientation on arrival
    * An airport pickup and drop off on arrival and departure
    * 24 hour Emergency help
    * Full support prior to departure from your personal travel advisor
    * Detailed information pack prior to departure

What's Not Included in the Program

    * International flight
    * Lunches
    * Personal travel insurance
    * Visa extensions
    * Items of a personal nature
    * Additional activities over and above the planned itinerary inclusions

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Real Gap Experience's Mission Statement: We are ambitious for our company, our partners and the communities in which we work. We take our responsibilities seriously - understanding that the development of our business impacts directly on our partners, the communities that we visit and work with and that ultimately, our success is their success too.