Humanitarian organizations: Cielo Azul

Currently we are volunteering with an organisation called Cielo Azul. They work with about 15 rural communities around San Pablo Lake in Otavalo, Ecuador. The volunteers usually live with families in the communities during the time they work at the schools, and teach English or art for a school year. Most of the time, they end up doing other activities as well, like building projects or organizing activities such as a theatre groups or day trips with the kids. Cielo Azul also collaborates economically with the schools in renovation or building projects and buying or donating material. With the last big donation, two schools received computers, so that children who have never seen a computer before could start learning how to use them.

You may think that Cielo Azul is a big organization, but the truth could not be more different. The founder does most of the work in Switzerland in her spare time ("It´s my hobbie", she says), finding volunteers and raising donations (although she does have a group of collaborators there). There are also two people managing the volunteers in Otavalo. The founder, Monika, created the organization after volunteering in the area for three months. With a lot of effort and energy, over the years she has created a network of local help in the area. This shows that you don’t always need a lot of money or people to start “saving he world”.

You can find more information about Cielo Azul on their website: www.cieloazul.ch

Behind the book

Behind the book is a literary arts nonprofit organization that promotes literacy among students in schools in poor neighbourhoods of New York City.
I think organizations like this do such an important job. We often forget that the best thing we may do for children in hard situations is to help them and encourage them to use their imagination and be more creative. That way, we´ll be giving them the tools they need to escape the world they live in and imagine a better life. Because, how would they work on a better life for themselves if they can´t even imagine it?
Do you know any similar organization in England?

Voluntary work

Voluntary work in Ecuador is probably one of the most important things I've ever done to try to "save the world." I always wanted to do volunteer work. I know that many people believe that "with everything that needs to be done at home, why go so far to help" (an opinion that I do not share at all, but let´s talk about that another day). At home, I simply could never find time. But this year, whilst traveling around South America, I did have time and, so far I have worked with three NGOs. I worked sporadically in Buenos Aires with LIFE (http://lifeargentina.org), which helps children in poor neighborhoods of the city, and Leer (http://www.leer.org.ar), which promotes literacy in Argentina, and I have worked full time for two months at CENIT (http://www.cenitecuador.org), which helps working children in the markets in southern Quito.
Volunteering has definitely changed me. On the one hand is a very satisfying experience personally. In this type of organizations (usually not very organized), you need to use your initiative, and so I've learned a lot about organizing programs, planning classes, how to engage with the children ...
But working with children and closely watching their reality has been the biggest shock. Of course you realise before you start that they live in poverty, they have to work and so they don´t go to school, their parents or relatives do not pay attention to them, or worse, they mistreat or abuse them ... but you don’t realise what these things really mean until you see them closely and put names and faces to these problems.
In these two months, I feel that I have achieved many things and I have helped many people (or so I hope). I will work with another organization in Otavalo, also in Ecuador, for another two months, this time with adults ... so I´ll let you know how that goes! And when I return, I want to try to raise money for these organizations that help so many people.