Santa Elena de Uairén, Venezuela; January 2007
First of all we want to introduce ourselves. We are two girls from Germany;
Sofie 22 years old and Lena 23 years old. We arrived in Santa Elena on the 13th
of September 2006 to work with Peace Villages Foundation. For four months we
planned to work here as part of our studies as Social Workers.
With the mobile school we are out on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoons,
in two different areas of Santa Elena. Included with us there are three
teachers, additionally there are several other international and Venezuelan Volunteers.
One day with the mobile school:
It's Tuesday, three o'clock in the afternoon. We, Angela, Sofie and Lena, are on
the way to Kewey II to teach in the “Casa Communal”, one of the community centers
around Santa Elena.
Arriving at Casa Communal we are received by an excited crowd of at least 40
kids waiting to be taught. It's such a nice picture to see all of them
anticipating what they will learn, making our efforts worthwhile.
After a five minute break we finally start the work. First we begin with some
physical games, to get them at least as exhausted as we are, so that they can
concentrate on the school afterwards.
We realized quickly that there is not only one way to work with the kids.
It's interesting to see the different needs of every child and the different
ways of how to work with every single pupil.
On one hand, for example, you are working with only one child - nine years old,
not able to count to ten – it takes about 30 minutes to teach the numbers. And
on the other hand you can be involved with four kids concentrating on a
mathematics competition.
It's not that only the kids are getting taught, even for us there is something
new every time. Every single week it is a new challenge for us trying to teach
in different ways; to catch the different needs of every single child with his
or her special personality and the actual mood of the day of Tuesday the 24th of
November.
Another experience of the last 3 months is that a schedule of two to three hours
working with the mobile school is a perfect span of time.
For the last 30 minutes it seems as if the concentration of the kids is getting
less and also the volunteers, who are not always blessed with perfect Spanish,
are running out of their powers.
Moreover if there are approximately 40 kids, in three hours of work you are
usually able to pay attention to every child to get through at least one task of
the mobile school, even if its in a group, or individually or to go through a
special planned project with all of them.
Working as a assistant teacher with the Mobile School and
the "Tucusito" special need kids school is one of the most rewarding volunteer
work I have done here with the Peace Villages Foundation in Santa Elena.
Sofie Kapsberger and Lena Ender