Volunteering with Camino Seguro

In order to read an essay on the history and services of Camino Seguro, click here. The program has asked Shine a light to find volunteers with the following characteristics:

Skills: Educators. People with a commitment to children. Doctors, Teacher trainers, Teacher assistants in the classrooms, Residential counselors and teacher assistants for our 3 residential homes, Volunteers to help lead sports activities, Volunteers to help work with the mothers club, Volunteers to help with carpentry, Volunteers interested in enhancing the arts at the project...drama, music,
art, Volunteers to help lead talleres, Volunteers who want to help in the office

Length of Service: Eight weeks is best, but briefer times can be arranged.

Language: None necessary. "When there is little Spanish, we find it is more frustrating for the volunteer than for the children."

Age and Education: None. Most volunteers are over 18 years old.

Personal characteristics: Camino Seguro is a volunteer-based program. The program is loated in the dump, so volunteers should be able to deal with tragedy and illness. Camino Seguro asked us to post the following letter to volunteers:

Thank you for inquiring about our children at Camino Seguro. You may wish to check out our website www.safepassage.org and the photo gallery at http://public.fotki.com/safepassage/ for more information.

Volunteering for Safe Passage is very challenging as the children we serve live in difficult situations. The projectrepresents as effort to help children attend and remain in school. Many of the children in the program are the first in their families to attend school.

Volunteers are an important part of the program. We are seeking volunteers with enthusiasm, maturity, and flexibility. Language experience and experience with children are not prerequisites to being a volunteer. A few of the areas needing assistance are helping children with their homework, assisting local Guatemaltecos in the classroom, supervising athletic programs, participating in the teen boys´and girls´groups, and more.

We accept long and short-term volunteers. Short-term requires a minimum one month commitment. Long-term volunteers (1 year or longer) receive assistance with housing. We can not provide housing for short-term volunteers, but housing costs Q750 a month or more (approximately $100). Volunteers commute to the project daily. Transportation costs ($1 per day) and food are not included.