Volunteer

MySmallHelp Peru (MSH ) is currently looking for volunteers to work on a variety of projects in the Sacred Valley and Cusco including:

1. Running a school bus for a group of 12 children with special needs from the Ollantaytambo region, so that they can have their first ever opportunity for an education and attend the amazing Arco Iris Special School in nearby Urubamba.

2. Visiting individual disabled children in their homes to help with physiotherapy, homework, teaching English and improving the home situation for the family.

3. Organizing specialized medical campaigns with groups of visiting professional volunteers.

4. Raising funds and awareness of MySmallHelp Peru for providing specific medical needs of the children (hearing aids, wheelchairs, procedures, etc).

Minimum volunteer period: One month (but shorter periods are sometimes available depending on the skills of the candidate and work available).

Volunteer Program 2013

MSH Peru always welcomes volunteers to get involved with helping to grow the projects. Volunteers can be based directly in the volunteer house in Ollantaytambo or can help remotely from their home outside of Ollantatyambo, in Peru or from abroad!

MSH Peru needs to manage the transportation of 12 children with special needs who travel from Monday to Friday from Ollantaytambo to Urubamba on a daily basis. The children attend the amazing Arco Iris Special School, run by the NGO Kiya Survivors. Without this service, many of these children would have no access to education, and many would spend the entire day alone in their homes. Many of these children are seen as an embarassment to their family and MySmallHelp is working together with the disabled children and their families to destroy this myth.

The Arco Iris school provides disabled children with a social environment where they can interact with other children, and be under the care of teachers and staff trained to care for special needs children. MySmallHelp is therefore committed to continue providing this transporation service but needs volunteers to accompany the children each day, ensuring that all the children are picked up, that everyone stays safe on the bus and that the children are left with family members at the end of each day. The volunteer is also asked to keep a register of which children are using the bus service each day.

Kiya Survivors also give MySmallHelp volunteers the opportunity to accompany the children during the school day in the classroom (between 8.45am until 2.45pm). Volunteers that wish to volunteer at the Arco Iris school must pay 60 GBP per week directly to Kiya Survivors to do this. Accompanying the children during the school day at Arco Iris is not obligatory as MySmallHelp understands that many people don´t want to pay to volunteer. However, MSH appreciates that Kiya Survivors need volunteers to help out at the school and they need to charge volunteers to volunteer at the school to enable them to cover the administration costs of running the school and their volunteering programme.

A typical day for a volunteer working with MySmallHelp that is not volunteering in the classroom at Arco Iris school would be:

7.45am Pick up the school bus in the Ollantaytambo square

8.30am Drop children at Arco Iris school (helping children off bus with walking difficulties, wheel chairs etc)

9am Walk with some of disabled children to their work placements in Urubamba

9.30am Drop disabled children off at work placements

11am Pick disabled children up from work placement and drop back at Arco Iris school

11.30am until 2.30pm Work on marketing, fundraising and administration or teaching placement at family or local school

2.45pm pick up children from Arco Iris school

3.30pm Back to Ollantaytambo school with last children

WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS WHO TICK SOME OF THESE BOXES!

1. Flexible and willing to learn and help wherever they are needed by MSH

2. Experience or enthusiastic about working with children with special needs

3. Reliable, patient and pro active.

4. Interested in helping out with fundraising/marketing and administration including updating website, grant writing etc

5. Able to work effectively and respectfully with people from different economic/cultural/linguistic backgrounds.

6. Good communication and people skills

7. Experience in teaching or interest in teaching.