Volunteering in Cusco

March 5 - April 15

Since returning to Cusco, I've been spending my weekday afternoons volunteering at WaaW, an after school programme for children aged 5-12 in a poorer part of Cusco. It's been an extremely rewarding experience; the kids love having the volunteers there and the volunteers love being there!

WaaW was set up by the same people as the FairServices Spanish school about a year ago, when they wanted to do something to help kids in poverty in Cusco. Generally, the 20-odd children who come each day:

• Are from families that don't own a fridge
• Usually only eat rice, potatoes or other carb-based foods
• Have parents who often have to work all day or night
• Have parents that can't help their kids with even basic homework
• Go to schools with 40+ kids in one class
• Have very poor basic hygiene

The above list isn't complete... These kids and their families really are struggling with day-to-day life.

So, this is what we do:

We help them with reading & homework.

We feed them a snack soon after they arrive.

We also cook and give them a nutritional dinner before they leave at night.

We organise craft activities in the classroom.

The activities have something to do with a monthly theme. For April we are teaching them about other countries in the world and on one day they got to make Chinese rice field hats.

We play sports with the kids at a nearby court.

On Fridays, those kids that have behaved well enough get to go on an excursion. This week we went to a playground and had some fun acting as "horses" for the children - "Cargame!" ("Carry me!").

Another week we went to a jam factory, where we were lucky enough to get free samples!

Last month's theme was "The Circus", and performing in general. At the end of the month, we dressed them up in with hats, red noses, facepaint and other decorations...

And they performed a short show that they had learnt over the course of the month...

The show was at the nearby court while the volunteers and several others watched!

We also do a small fiesta for the kids who have a birthday in the past month and they get a bit of birthday cake!

The afternoons are a lot of fun (and a bit of hard work as well sometimes!) and we all really enjoy spending time with the kids, giving them high-fives after sports, and hugs when they arrive and leave each day. It's nice to know we can give them an enjoyable time. It's also a good way to practice the Spanish that I've learnt - a great way to learn the "imperative" verb forms!

A photo outside the classroom with all the volunteers and kids. 

Me with one of the students after making hats for an activity one day.

I'm going to put on my advertising hat now... WaaW is, after all, a not-for-profit organisation that relies on donations to stay afloat. The volunteers pay a small fee each week to cover administration costs, but we need money to pay for the rent of the school's classroom, food for cooking each week, materials for the classroom, dental costs for the children, and many other things.

You can read more about our project here:
http://fairplay-peru.org/en/Volunteers/Volunteer/

If you want to make a donation, take a look at this webpage that has a link to a site for donations:
http://www.fairplay-peru.org/en/Sponsors/Ways_to_Help/

There's also a Facebook page about fundraising, which describes some fundraising "goody" bags we're selling if anyone is interested. The total bag is full of artisanal crafts that in total are worth US$100. If enough people donate I get one to bring one home! Search for "WaaW goody bags fundraising" on Facebook.

Thanks everyone!