Volunteers in Peru: Educating Street Kid & Eradicating Poverty: Bruce Organisation
Bruce Organisation.
Education, Poverty Reduction
Volunteer
2 GREEN
Latin America
Volunteer Peru Videos
Educating Street Kids
Eradicating Poverty
Volunteer Info
[from  237 pr mo - Free Internships after first year]
Who qualifies
Volunteer  Peru  - volunteering at Bruce Peru
2008 VIDEO
Anyone who is positive, works well with others, has something to contribute and possesses a natural affection for the people we are trying to help (poor children and abandoned mothers). Age, sex, race, religion and nationality make no difference. Although it is not part of our entry criteria we strongly recommend that you have a basic level of Spanish before joining us. This will help you to get the most out of your experience as none of the children and very few of the teachers you will be working with in schools speak English. You will therefore be teaching and/or helping their mothers to become financially independent: in Spanish. The minimum term of volunteering is one month. We welcome your questions.....info@bruceorg.org

Types of work Available


Volunteers often come to help as teaching assistants in one of our many shanty school classrooms; whilst some have teaching experience, most do not. In addition to teachers, Bruce Organisation also needs Project Directors, fundraisers and people with public relations experience. Our largest project is getting extremely poor or street kids educated. Other projects include community development, poverty eradication, helping abandoned pregnant teens, technical development (such as sustainable rural energy), hands-on animal protection., public and individual health care, gardening, construction and physical labour..

Accommodation and food

For photos showing typical accommodation click here

Insurance

Free Spanish
Lessons

We offer our volunteers accommodation during their stay with us. We also provide three meals a day, five days a week (weekends, holidays and days when we are not preparing meals for children not included). All international volunteers must live in the Bruce Organisation centre or in approved accommodation, although some long term volunteers have the option of living in a Bruce apartment outside of the Bruce Organisation centre. It is assumed that all volunteers have come to work only with Bruce Organisation and not to take on outside work or assignments.

All volunteers are urged to come with their own travel insurance..


We offer volunteers three hours of Spanish lessons per week.

Cost of Volunteering
(in Euros   )

*First 3 months -  360 Euros per month, Next 3 months -  290 Euros per month, Thereafter -  150 Euros per month. (*Or any part of a month)
.[Note: reduced prices apply only when entire payment is made in advance].
FREE all-in Internships available for 2nd year. So far all volunteers who stayed
a second year received a free internship for the second year.

There is no cost to register as a volunteer with us, (we are a charity, not an agency).. All volunteers pay  360 per month (or any part of a month) for the first three months, after that the price decreases for those who have paid in advance. We are self sustaining, everyone other than local professionals is a volunteer and we do not rely on government or institutional support [Note:some Teachers, Psychologists and Social Workers are also volunteers]. Your entire donation should be paid well before your arrival. If you are a couple and would like a double room please indicate this in your application.. Few double rooms are available.

Helping locals converse in
your language
Bruce Organisation also runs "TheEnglish Club", which is an opportunity for local local university students and young professionals.to practice foreign languages (and receive help with grammar etc.) from our volunteers. If you are in a centre which has a conversation club, this will take place weekday evenings, usually from Monday through Thursday.[It is a great way to meet nice locals]. There are reference books and teaching aids to help volunteers who have never done this sort of thing before. TEFL/TESL qualified volunteers usually run this and help inexperienced volunteers with this project..

A typical day in the life of a volunteer

For photos of volunteers in action click here

In the morning volunteers make sandwiches for the children before eating their own breakfast. Volunteers then travel in teams to our shanty schools, where they either teach or assist one of our professional teachers. In some cities children come into the centres for lessons, in other cities the schools are located both in the city centre, but more often farther away in the barrios (the poorest parts of town). The morning is spent teaching literacy and maths to the children; plus subjects a volunteer excels at: art, drama, and weekly sports day. Some volunteers help generally with all the children in the class, others will have a specific group or child of their own to teach, depending upon the needs of the class. The local teachers decide what the volunteer needs to do within the classroom but often volunteers are left to teach the children for whom they are responsible as they see fit. At least one day a week the children also play sports. At the end of the morning the children have lunch. In some centres volunteers eat lunch with their children, in others they return to the main centre to eat with the other volunteers.

During the afternoon, depending on the centre

...· volunteers will do the following
...· More teaching of the children
...· Participating in a Bruce Organisation Club for children already in state school
...· Spanish lessons ·
.. · Promotions· Free time

Evening meals are usually ready around 5 or 6pm, after which most volunteers teach English language classes (mostly to young adults and people of low income). Classes last for one hour and run during the evening from 6pm - 9pm. The students of these classes pay a small tuition fee for their lessons which helps to fund our programers with the children.

Volunteer days will vary slightly according to the centre in which you are volunteering. To read a description of a typical day at each of the centres, go to the ´Centres in Peru´ box at the top of the page and click on the relevant centre from the drop-down menu.

Upon notice to the volunteer coordinator in the centre where you serve (usually another volunteer), you may take time off to travel and sightsee. In Trujillo our volunteers and staff often have their own football (socker) and surfing teams, in Huaraz: mountaineering.


Present and past volunteers at
Bruce Organisation

we normally have between 20 and 45 International Volunteers and 30 to 55 local volunteers serving at any given time
(in spite of the large number of volunteers who have served in our programs, we remain a small organization).
In fact we are mostly volunteers; doctors, dentists, three economists, lots of social workers, even more university students (medicine,IT systems, education, psychology, communication, architecture), cooks, lots and lots of teachers, child minders, psychologists, attorneys, engineers, a biologist, nurses, musicians, artists and laborers. The longest time anyone has volunteered so far is two years. The list below includes former and current volunteers.
Demographics
Austria 4
Australia 93  
Belgium 17 Japan 27
Brazil 8 Korea 2
Canada 131 Lebanon 1
Check 1 Lithuania 1
Chile 1 Netherlands 40
Carnal 2 New Zealand 21
Cuba 2 Norway 5
Denmark 6 Panama 5
England 241 Poland 5
(Expat) Peru 3 Local People 696
Finland 2 Scotland 22
France 58 Singapore 3
Germany 35 South Africa 2
Hungary 4 Slovakia 2
Iceland 1 Spain 35
India 9  
Sweden
15
Indonesia 1   Switzerland
.10.
Ireland 65   UAE
1....
Israel 15   U.S.A. 295.
Italy 14   Venezuela 2
  Wales
1
       
Total .1,940
How to volunteer
Begin by filling in the VOLUNTEER APPLICATION FORM and we will respond as soon as possible.
Useful Information Click HERE for useful information before coming to Peru

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

...· Can I choose the centre I work at?
If you have one of our locations in mind, do let us know about your preference in your application. We do our best to accommodate everyone, however some centres may already be booked for the time you wish to come. Also, each volunteer has particular skills and experience which we learn about through the application, and apply to what we know about the needs and opportunities of particular centres. When an applicant is accepted we normally let you know in our first message if you can get into the centre of your choice; or make alternative suggestions in it is already booked. If you are a couple and would like a double room (no extra cost) full payment must be made upon notification that a double room is available in the centre you have applied to, for the dates you have requested. Double rooms are available on a first come first serve basis

...· Is there a minimum length of stay?
Usually 1 month. [There is no maximum stay - the record stay so far is 6 yrs. 6 months]

...· What type of accommodation is provided/how many people share a room?
Accommodation ranges from dormitory style (4 to 6 people) to individual rooms for long-term volunteers and couples. Photos of accommodation can be seen by viewing the relevant Bruce Organisation Centre pages.

...· What hours do people work including evening teaching?
Volunteers work on average a 6-7 hour day excluding preparation time for the lessons with the children and for their English classes in the evening.

...· Are there breaks allowed for longer term volunteers?
Breaks are allowed for longer term volunteers but we would ask volunteers to give as much notice as possible so that we can plan in advance how to cover your work while you are away.

...· How do you renew your visa if you stay longer than 3 months?
After 3 months you have 2 options. You can either leave the country and reenter (sometimes in the same day) to gain a visa for a further 3 months. Alternatively you can extend your visa for 1 month at a cost of  20 plus 26 soles administration fee. You can pay to extend your visa twice but after that you must leave the country and reenter to renew your visa.

...· Is there an Information Pack available to volunteers before they arrive to help prepare them for their work with Bruce Organisation?
Yes. When an applicant has been select we give you a web address where you can read or download the Welcome Pack for the centre where you will be serving.

...· Do you have a refund policy?
Yes, we give refunds when it is clear we have made a mistake and a volunteer has therefore been denied what he or she rightfully expected..

Finding out more  If you would like to speak to a current or ex-volunteer of Bruce Organisation then please email us at: info@bruceorg.org and a volunteer will contact you. If you are interested in speaking to someone in particular e.g. male/female, a volunteer at a particular Bruce Organisation centre, particular nationality etc, please let us know in your email.