Janna about her eventful Time in Chile
Volunteer Work 2015
In my opinion, November is the most disgusting month in Germany, so me and my boyfriend Stefan were very lucky because to go to Chile, where November is warm and sunny.
Some facts about us: After Stefan and I finished school, we decided to go abroad for some time, before starting university. My plan was to work abroad with children as my career aspirations are in this direction and I wanted to gain some more experience. For Stefan it was important to go to Chile, because his dad is Chilean, and he wanted to know the country better. And how can you know a place better, than by living there for a while?
We decided to combine our plans and go together to Chile for 6 months to volunteer. During our search for an agency who could plan our journey, we found Chile Inside. From the very beginning, we had a very nice contact person who helped us with every question.
To find the right working place, our contact person asked us about our wishes, and we had lot of wishes: We wanted to work with kids around the age of 8 years. It was also important that our workplaces were not too far from each other, because we wanted to live together in an apartment. Svenja was able to follow all our wishes and found a children’s home where we could work together. In two different groups we were responsible for children aged between 6 and 9 years. But I will tell you more about that later. Chile Inside organized also a Spanish course at alanguage school, which I was very satisfied with.
During our first week in Santiago, Chile Inside invited us to a meeting about the culture and the country. They also told us about the must do´s in Santiago and in Chile, about the best places to visit or museums and typical Chilean bars in Santiago.
The first weeks in Chile Stefan and I decided to explore the country. After eventful weeks and many hours on buses, we started our volunteer work in January.
At our first day we met with Esperanza from Chile Inside who accompanied us to our work place. She showed us which bus to take and acquainted us with the person who was responsible for us. The first day in the children's home our colleagues and especially the children welcomed us warm and friendly.
In total there are living 90 kids at this home between the ages of 6 and 14 years. . The children were divided into 5 groups, depending on their age and gender. Our duties were to help the “Tias” and “Tios” (“aunts” and “uncles”, this is how the advisors are calledin Chile) with the homework of the children, help to get them ready for school, to give them lunch and play with them.
When we started working, the children had their summer holidays, so we went swimming with them quite often.
We really can recommend a stay in Chile because it’s a unique country with affectionate people.
You too can show commitment in Chile! Here you can find details on volunteer projects in Chile.