Volunteer Reviews of Tena

Partner organisation: Centro Preventivo, Tena
Start date: 08.02.10
End date: 06.03.10

• What were the main tasks you undertook at the project? Did you have any prior experience or knowledge that helped you with these?

We helped with cooking lunch for the kids and mostly did a cake or anything for the afternoon break. Later on there were different activities like sports, computer classes, handicrafts, music etc. I mostly helped out with sports and handicraft. There were no special things to do apart from trying to hold everything together. As there was always a “supervisor” from the program that advised you what to do there was no special knowledge needed. At last we helped with homework. There it helps if your Spanish is at least medium level as this helps to explain stuff to the kids.

I worked with kids before but you don´t really need to. I´d say you don´t need more than a medium level of Spanish and have fun by working with kids.

• Was the explanation and support you received from the organisation adequate to ensure you could carry out your work successfully? If not please explain why.

It for sure was. Everybody was really nice an helpful.

• Would you recommend working with this organisation to other volunteers? What are the main areas of skills and interests that volunteers need for this work? Please give reasons.

Definitely!! People are great and the project gives a pretty good insight in how Ecuador works, what problems they have etc. The kids are awesome and lovely. As I said apart from some Spanish, patience, motivation and fun by working with kids there are no special skills needed.

• Was the communication and support you received from Yanapuma, before and during your time volunteering adequate? Please comment on the initial orientation session, showing you to your site and communication throughout.  If not, please specify why and how it could be improved.

Perfect. I especially appreciated that they actually take you there, show you around and fill you in on everything. Although when we had some problems with our family...you could always call. Thanks so much Fran J!!!

• How would rate your overall experience at this project?

I am glad I did it and would totally recommend it to everybody. It’s not that you will “change the world” by whatever you are doing there...the time is way to short for that and in the beginning it can be frustrating, but...the people there do as best as they can do, the centre is organized pretty well and the kids  - although shy at first – give so much back to you. They really are lovely. So are the people working there. It gave me an insight into the country and its people that I would never had just travelling!

• Any other comments?

There is only one thing that I think would be good to do for other volunteers. What we missed is an introduction into the work of the centre. Like...what families are the kids from, what problems do they have, how would that explain their behaviour and their reactions etc.? That would have helped at times to understand why they behave how they do and stuff. We talked about it to the centre directly and it seemed like they don’t really want to fill in the volunteers into personal stories, what I understand. But some general explanations would do the job I think.

• If you would like, please write a short paragraph summing up your project and experience volunteering, as well as if and why you might recommend this volunteer site to others in the future. We will put this information on our Volunteer Ecuador website, as a direct quote from you to help others learn about your experience.

It’s more or less the same I wrote unter paragraph 5.

Name: 

Email address:
Partner organisation: Quito: Peluchitos (3 weeks). Tena: Centro Preventivo Ubaldo Bonucelli (4 weeks)

Start date: Quito: early June. Tena: late June

End date: Quit: late June. Tena: late July

1. What were the main tasks you undertook at the project? Did you have any prior experience or knowledge that helped you with these?

Quito: hang out with the kids, play with them during the breaks, assist with “keeping the children under control”

Tena: doing different sorts of manual maintenance work at the center. Assisting with the workshops for the children.

1. Was the explanation and support you received from the organisation adequate to ensure you could carry out your work successfully? If not please explain why.

Yes.

1. Would you recommend working with this organisation to other volunteers? What are the main areas of skills and interests that volunteers need for this work? Please give reasons.

Quito: one should be interested with working with kids, being patient and able to having fun around children.

Tena: same as above. Also, quite important to be positive and with initiative to do things.

1. Was the communication and support you received from Yanapuma, before and during your time volunteering adequate? If no please specify why and how it could be improved.

More or less, yes. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t really feel very useful at the projects.

At Peluchitos it didn’t feel like they really needed me. I’m sure they appreciated me, and the kids loved playing with me, but I still feel that I could have been more useful in other places.

For the first two weeks at the center in Tena, there were no kids there, which was disappointing. Therefore I did mostly maintenance work, which was not very necessary. I felt that they assigned me these tasks partly just to “have me do something”. The last two weeks there were lots of kids and I felt that I contributed a lot, even though these kids were “normal” children, rather than children with particular needs/problems.

My general feeling is therefore that I could definitely have been more useful in other projects. My goal with volunteering was to be able to contribute my time and resources to people that might need assistance. That I could be a useful help to people living in difficult conditions. There are many people in Ecuador who could need this kind of volunteer assistance, and my feeling is that the people/children I worked with weren’t necessarily among these. I think my volunteering time could have been better used somewhere else. This might be caused both by bad research on my part, but also perhaps by a lack of better communication between Yanapuma and the projects.

All this said, I had a very good time in Ecuador. I met a lot of interesting people, had many great experiences, and also felt that the volunteering, if not perfect, still gave me a lot. Few things in life turn out the way one thinks, and I am very glad that I chose to do this. I was also very happy with the way I was assisted by the staff at Yanapuma, always helpful and nice. Thank you for giving me this opportunity!

1. How would rate your overall experience at this project?

See above.

1. Any other comments?

As regards the center in Tena, I think it would be useful for Yanapuma to establish a better communication with the administrators of the center. Some times there are many things that need to be done, with lots of children around, while other times there aren’t. The result is that volunteers are much needed in some periods, while in other periods they can be quite superfluous. I guess it would be useful for Yanapuma to know this better, so that volunteers do not risk staying there without much work to be done.

Muchas gracias!!!

Volunteer Ecuador Evaluation

Name:
***(please provide email only if it is ok for other volunteers to email you about project)
Partner organisation:  Centro Preventativo
Start date: 1/6/10
End date: 1/29/10

1. What were the main tasks you undertook at the project? Did you have any prior experience or knowledge that helped you with these?

Tutored children with learning disabilities. Cared for youth. Supported cook in preparation of food for 50 children. Supported director in administrative duties. Supported leadership of programming in computation, science, and homework help.

I’ve had experience working with youth on their homework and leading activities with youth.

1. Was the explanation and support you received from the organisation adequate to ensure you could carry out your work successfully? If not please explain why.

Yes.

1. Would you recommend working with this organisation to other volunteers? What are the main areas of skills and interests that volunteers need for this work? Please give reasons.

Yes. Centro is very well organized and employers are extremely kind. Volunteers that haven’t worked with kids before might need to be trained…there was no training given. Skills include tutoring, confidence when directing students, patience when working with youth at all times.

1. Was the communication and support you received from Yanapuma, before and during your time volunteering adequate? Please comment on the initial orientation session, showing you to your site and communication throughout.  If not, please specify why and how it could be improved.

I appreciated that Yanapuma made contacts with the host family and found a good organization to work at. Shanti was open to my questions, and answered most of them, but not to the extent that I was hoping. Aside from finding placement sites, I did not feel adequately prepared for my trip. I never received any site-specific handouts that would have been very helpful to share emergency contact information with family members before I left. The packet that was sent from Yanapuma is a good start, but lacked a lot of details that is crucial for first-time travellers to understand. I felt the orientation was rushed and too general…it would have been helpful if we could have had a site-specific orientation.

I would recommend that Yanapuma gets in touch with Center for Global Education, an organization that plans study abroad trips if Yanapuma would like to better prepare their volunteers. If not, Yanapuma is helpful in connecting independent travellers with host families and placement sites, but not a comprehensive resource for preparation for travelling abroad. (Food safety, cultural awareness, logistics of homestay etc.).

1. How would rate your overall experience at this project?

I am very thankful to have connected with the organization and family that Yanapuma found. Thanks much. As mentioned above, I would rate the quality of the family and organization high and preparation for the trip low.

1. Any other comments?

I made my own packet of information based on emails that was sent to me regarding site-specific information. I could sent it to whoever is interested as a  model for use with future volunteers.

1. If you would like, please write a short paragraph summing up your project and experience volunteering, as well as if and why you might recommend this volunteer site to others in the future. We will put this information on our Volunteer Ecuador website, as a direct quote from you to help others learn about your experience.

Muchas gracias!!!