Media Centre for Volunteer in Ghana

Helene Barrette

I spent the month of June volunteering at one of the two schools sponsored by GVI. Since I was only in Arequipa for 4 weeks, and since my Spanish language skills were already sufficient for teaching at the school, I decided to forego the Spanish School option and spend all four weeks teaching at the school. At first, I was a little intimidated at the prospect of teaching every subject (including Math, Communications, Arts & Crafts, Social Sciences), in Spanish. But within the first week, I was able to start teaching various things on my own, and quickly picked up the pace. With the help of other volunteers who were already there, of Carla (GVI project manager), and of the Peruvian teachers at the school, I was able to create lesson plans and execute them. I taught Grade 3 on my own -- since there were only 4 students in Grade 3, it was not too difficult.

My favourite "teaching accomplishment" is that I taught Fractions during Math class, in Spanish! The children at the school are absolutely wonderful. They range in age from 5 to 14. Most of them have difficult familty situations and come from poor homes. But they are ALL very affectionate, and love the volunteers. Every morning, I was greeted by happy shouts of "Señorita! Señorita! Buenos dias!" which never failed to put a smile on my face. They are eager for an education, and appreciate what the teachers and volunteers are doing. Sometimes, they need a little bit of extra motivation to learn -- they don't always believe that "they can do it!". In response, the volunteers offer a lot of positive feedback. My goal when teaching the kids was never to ask for perfect scores, but to look for improvement from day to day. I was very proud of their accomplishments, and I could see just how excited they were at their own progress.

On a daily basis, the volunteers meet at the Casa de Avila in the morning, from where they leave for the schools. They get dropped off at the schools around 8:20, and teach lessons until recess at 11 (sometimes by themselves, or in some cases, jointly with other volunteers, depending on the grade and number of kids). At recess, the volunteers help distribute milk and bread rolls, and fruit, to the kids. Then at lunch, the volunteers also help at the "comedor", or dining room, while the kids eat the hot lunch provided by GVI. After lunch, the volunteers help the kids wash. The kids have learned to wash their hands, face and hair, and to brush their teeth. It was actually one of my favourite times of the day -- the kids loved to wash up, and yes, they could sometimes get into mini-water fights... :-) The rest of the afternoon was spent helping the kids do homework (at school). After a bit of cleaning up and planning for the next day, Rene came back to pick us up at 4pm. The days flew by -- it was hard work, but I found it very rewarding.

It was very difficult to say good-bye to the kids when I left... My homestay family was fantastic. I stayed with a wonderful couple whose children were no longer living at home. The house was very comfortable, and I had my own room and bathroom. I had breakfast and dinner at home every day, and found that my Spanish improved very quickly. I had my own set of keys and could come and go as I wished. The city of Arequipa is quite beautiful, and has many interesting sites to visit, including the Santa Catalina Monastery, the Cathedral, the Plaza de Armas and the museum of uanita the Ice Maiden. It's also close to Colca Canyon, and three mountains, El Misti, Chachani and Picchu Picchu, surround the city. There is no shortage of fun activities to do in the city and nearby. The Colca Canyon hike is included in the GVI "program", and it's excellent. I also climbed Chachani with another volunteer on one of the weekends, and it was spectacular. Another GVI excursion took us to Picchu Picchu and the Las Salinas salt flat -- amazing...

I wish I could have stayed longer, and I would go back in a heart beat! GVI (with Carla at the helm) was fantastic -- the organization offered great support, and provided a lot of resources to help with the teaching, not to mention with occupying one's spare time in the most entertaining of fashions. The Casa de Avila hostel serves as a great central meeting point - not only before going to school in the morning, but for internet access, help with coordinating activities in the city, BBQs on the weekend etc.

GVI and its local partner Armando offered many resources there, and often the volunteers would meet to plan lessons, use the computer, find school books and other teaching aids etc. In short, I found that the volunteers were very well supported, and that help was available whatever the question or problem.