News from Project CORASON (the mountain project) – April 2009

I returned from England in March and was pleased to find the afternoon children’s club had been running for the whole 3 months that I had been away, thanks to a good number of volunteers from the language schools.

Easter activities: A film and card making

Some new developments at the club this month:

1. We have now divided the afternoon club into 3 sections to cater for the different age groups we have: Pre-school (up to 6 year olds), Juniors (7-10s), and Seniors (11+)
2. We have also made the roles and responsibilities of volunteers clearer. We aim to have the following staff each week:

Supervisor

Pre-school coordinator and assistant(s)

Junior coordinator and assistant (s)

Senior leaders for both girls and boys

3. We are very encouraged to have received some funding from the UK which will enable us to employ a part time Peruvian project worker for 2 years. So in addition to the support that Mary (the Pastor’s wife who lives at the project) and myself are able to give, we will have someone working with the volunteers and kids everyday and doing some of the administration.
4. We have some new games and toys at the club room and work on a sports pitch above the house is progressing well. We are continuing to offer art and craft activities to support our English programme and are looking at ways to provide more structured sports activities and craft workshops for our older kids.

A work team helping with the sports area

A note for language school coordinators and prospective volunteers:

We are very grateful for the various gifts volunteers bring for the children. However, we are asking that people don’t bring sweets up to the project. The kids are very happy to receive fruit, if volunteers want to give them a snack. Otherwise, particularly useful items for the project include items of stationary (pencils, paints, paper, glue, etc.), wool and material scraps for art and craft projects, balloons, books (either in Spanish or very simple English), toothpaste and toothbrushes, and sports equipment.

Finally, I have a volunteer, Robyn, who helps regularly at the club on Friday afternoons who also does some hospital visiting. If coordinators at language schools have any longer term volunteers for Club CORASON (a month or more) who would also like to visit the children in one of the hospitals one or two mornings per week, they could go with Robyn.