Volunteering at Fundacion Mariposas Amarillas

This was the very first volunteering mission of our trip, and happened to be in Santa Marta, a city located in the north part of Colombia. The whole project is run by Oscar, a Colombian guy from Cali, taking care of two schools alone, with the help of some volunteers coming and leaving…
Our school was located in an unfavoured district called “Los Fundadores”. A district considered so dangerous that five out of six taxi drivers flatly refused to take us there. Some children being at the public school in the morning, we welcomed them each afternoon in the frame of the project. We took care of children from 6 up to 10 years old, unfortunately mixed in the same classroom, which made it quite difficult due to the level difference between them.
 
During our stay, we asked them to draw up a story, taught them English, and geography (having 2 maps for 20 children…).
 
Other striking thing… the teaching conditions… During rainy days, the water is infiltrating the roof, spilling on some tables and on the whiteboard (which had to be constantly dried to be able to write on it…). There was a small locked cupboard to put the pencils and the books (in Spanish and English, given by some friends or associations). It was incredible to see at which point a child was asking to bring home a book or a pencil, for himself or to give to a sibling… Such a simple thing would have made them so happy, but due to the limited quantity, it had to remain in the cupboard for the use of everybody.
   
Oscar and his project need the help of everybody, through volunteering or donations. If you want to help, you’ll find below all the necessary links:
http://fmacolombia.weebly.com
http://fmacolombia.weebly.com/donations.html
Thank you for your support !