General Information

Site Name

Centro Sagrado Corazón
Ideal Period of Service

1 year

Accepts Men/Women

Female

Location

Montero, Bolivia

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Site's Purpose and Objectives

To support the Sister's ministry in education and catechesis of youth and (mostly) young adults. During the week we work in either the Kindergarten, Preschool or Technical Institute teaching English classes or assisting in the care of children. On Saturdays SLMs help the Sisters lead two youth groups (for young children and teens). SLMs also regularly attend the college-age adults youth group, mainly as a participant. On Sundays, SLMs go to church with the girls from the girls' home; SLMs also run a "store" for the Hogar girls after church, where they can "purchase" items in exchange for tokens they've received for doing good acts (not an obligation).

Ministry Opportunities

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Ministry Background

"The Servant Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Polish order, have now been working in Montero for about 35 years. In that time they have built a home for girls (Hogar) with about 100residents (another 20 or so live in a separate home across town with sisters of the same order), a Kindergarten for 300 students, a Preschool/Daycare for 75 children and a Technical Institute that offers classes from hair styling and sewing to electrical work and computer skills, open to all ages. In addition they have a parish center where 6 youth groups meet weekly, first communion and confirmation classes are offered yearly, and first friday masses are celebrated. In addition the Sisters are constantly expanding their ministry to better serve the community with such projects as prison ministry and continued support for the girls once they age out of living at the home. In the past two years, Tom, a VIDES volunteer, created course called Introduction to Multimedia for the Institute (now managed and taught by a Bolivian professor) and Laura, his wife,taught English classes for adults and worked closely with the youth groups and in the Kinder.

The job now requires Vivian, the present SLM, who has taken over Laura's position, to teach in the morning for the Guaderia as well as in the afternoon for the Kinder for computer lab, and English . Vivian also works in the daycare of the Guaderia two days a week where she teaches 3 year old colores, shapes, letter, numbers, some English, and games.

This past year, the sisters asked the SLMs to start teaching regular English classes/tutoring sessions for various age groups, offering different classes based on the school calendar and local interest. In addition, the SLMs have helped train teachers in the Guarderia on educational methods and developmental psychology, which is definitely an area of continued need, as Guarderia teachers have had little or no previous experience with teaching children."

Programs, Activities, Other Projects

Developing new courses, if requested, for the Institute; helping out in the home for girls as needed; helping the sisters with their website http://sagradocorazon.info; offering English classes to girls at the home; helping with educational training and planning at the Guarderia; Sisters are open to fitting projects to the skills of the volunteer.

Area Information

Montero is a medium-sized city an hour north of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the capital of the region. It has mostly paved streets and modern houses with running water and electricity. The primary form of transport in the city is motorcycles which makes for noisy streets but cheap and easy taxi rides. There is a very wide range of income levels and we interact with all levels between the church, schools, and home for girls. Many girls in the home are not orphans but from poor families who can't afford to feed them and send them to school. The children who come to the Preschool tend to be from lower income or single parents. The Kinder, Institute and parish center are from mixed income levels and cultural backgrounds. Students in English classes tend to be of mid or high economic levels. Primary needs of the people are quality employment so they can support their families, education at all levels especially with very basic computing and basic English (for children) or business English (for adults), spiritual development of the youth, and quality childcare. As a note of interest, the site is part of "Villa Cochabamba", a neighborhood in Montero populated mostly by people originally from Cochabamba (as the name indicates), which means the demographic is heavily indigenous and of a lower economic class.

Special Challenges/Conditions

"a. There is no central heating or air conditioning. Most of the year is 80's F but we get 90's F and humid in the raining season and it can get down to the 30's F in winter (July-Aug.). In addition in September, October and November the air quality is very poor when the surrounding sugar cane farmers burn their fields. Anyone sensitive to respiratory illness or with severe asthma would not fare well during this time.

b. There is very little malaria in our area, although we do have mosquitoes that carry Dengue fever and Yellow fever. In addition, Chagas' disease is an endemic disease in a large portion of the human population, particularly in rural areas. To prevent all of these diseases, insect repellent and mosquito nets should be used.

c. Though the sisters care for their pets and request veterinary services from time to time, there are some cats and dogs living in the compound that do not have proper vaccinations, though volunteers are currently working to remedy this situation. In addition, there are many stray dogs everywhere in the city, and regular check-ups and rabies' shots are not common practice among owners. Though there have been no serious incidents involving volunteers, future volunteers should be comfortable with being around pets in the Centro Sagrado Corazon. Although several volunteers have been nipped (without need for medical attention) by pets in the Centro, most pets generally become familiar with the volunteers fairly quickly--however, outside the Convent/Centro, it is a good policy to keep one's distance from unfamiliar animals.

d. Though political relations are strained with the U.S., it doesn't affect our work at all. Despite the normal hoops (there are many) to jump through, none of us had problems getting visas."

Major Duties

"a. Institute San Sebastian Pelczar: Needs vary and the sisters work with SLMs' background and interests. Currently, there is an SLM working in teaching English classes. Very basic computer skills and the ability to teach job skills and english are all valued. Tom teaches 4 hours a day, M-F. Classes are held 10 months a year, Feb.- Nov., but SLMs have offered English classes during two summer months (December to early February) and received a fair turn-out of students of various ages (7-15 per class).

b. Guarderia Childcare: This job involves planning and supervising educational activities for children ages 6 months- 6 years old. We also feed the children breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks a day. After lunch all children are bathed and have their clothes changed. A person could spend their whole day here or half a day, depending upon the current needs. A half day is M-F 8:30-12:30, whole day would be 8:30-5:00 with 12:30-2 off for lunch. The Guarderia is closed from Dec. 15-Feb. 1.

Currently this is a small portion of the daily activities in the Guarderia. The SLMs have started helping the teachers brush the children's teeth once a day, which usually lasts around 1.5 hours from start to finish (11am-1230pm). There is hope to be able to work with the teachers on a more regular basis in planning for and teaching their classes--perhaps an additional 1 hour/day.

c. Parish Center: Youth groups meet on Saturdays from 3pm-7pm and planning for these groups usually occupies part of Saturday morning. There's also an opportunity to help with catechesis of First Communion classes M-F in the afternoons. Excellent Spanish skills are a must here as well as an ability and willingness to share your faith in words and actions with teenagers. Commitment to being a constant presence for them is also crucial, as they have had some difficulties with maintaining strong leadership."

Practical Qualifications/Skills Needed

A minimum of basic Spanish is required, with the openness to learn more on the job. You will definitely find the work much easier with more Spanish skills. For teaching English, it is very helpful to have a background in a foreign language class, linguistics, or ESL training. The most important skills are how to give basic commands to children: wash your hands, get in line, no talking, etc. As mentioned before, computer skills are helpful especially at the Institute and Kinder. Musical skills are also valued highly at the Kinder and with the youth groups - they generally work with guitar and vocals, but they also have access to a keyboard on site. The Sisters would also appreciate any handy-man or mechanical skills to help out around the center as well as domestic skills such as sewing and cooking. Some parts of the job are physically demanding, a volunteer must be open to walking at least a mile daily, lifting children, and energetically leading the children in games and activities. For work in the parish center, a good knowledge of the church teachings, bible, and liturgy are highly recommended.

Helpful Academic Preparation

Any previous experience with early childhood education, teaching Kindergarten, or teaching hygiene would be extremely helpful. In addition, experience leading groups of youth, or leading retreats is very helpful in the parish center. As far as the Institute, any degree in computers, multimedia, education, English or related are useful, other degrees are potentially applicable as well. In the Guarderia, a degree in Education and/or experience with child psychology and development could be helpful in giving the teachers and Madre Ines an additional resource and training assistant.

Helpful Experience

Experience working with children and youth, experience teaching; experience tutoring; first-aid or basic medical training for occasional accidents. Also, some experience in fundraising/publicity would be useful for getting word out about classes.

Helpful Personal Qualities

Persistence, self-motivation, independence, PATIENCE, a desire to love those around you, FLEXIBILITY, creativity, resourcefulness.

Accomodations

With religious community:

No
If "no", where:

There is a separate volunteer house adjoining the convent with two bedrooms and a kitchen/living room area. The house is really nice and we can cook whatever we want and have a couch to relax on. Also it has wireless internet.
Private/Shared room:

Private
Private/Shared bathroom:

Private
Daily Mass/Eucharist

Yes
Launder method:

The volunteer house has a sink for hand-washing laundry and clotheslines for drying. There is also a washing machine at the convent but the Sisters prefer you only use it for sheets and towels. Because sheets and towels do not require as much work, nor as much time to dry, some SLMs prefer to handwash all items. Also, the centrifuge is a wonderful machine and using it before line-drying will help your clothes dry much more quickly.
ATM access:

Yes

Involvement with religious community

We eat lunch with them once a week, attend first Friday mass in the chapel, and occasionally join them for rosary.

Involvement with greater community

SLMs have been invited to watch the Carnaval parades by a fellow Guarderia teacher, and SLMs are making efforts to invite other coworkers to get to know us better over group dinners. Working as an English teacher and sometimes at the Guarderia may allow SLMs to establish some casual contacts with the parents of the children. Aside from religious feasts, we don't usually participate in local festivities. SLMs have also played soccer on a number of occasions with a group from the Centro (on Sundays).

Local medical facilities

There are multiple clinics in town that provide mediocre service at an affordable price. These are fine for parasites (including amoebas), travelers' diarrhea, skin infections. For more serious problems, there are high-quality hospitals in Santa Cruz and Okinawa, both an hour taxi-ride away.

Local diet

Breakfast is bread with jam or oatmeal with fruit. Lunch is soup, usually some sort of protein or meat paired with rice. We eat meat almost 6 days a week, though meat is either chicken or low-quality beef. Dinner varies, but is usually lighter--bread, leftovers from lunch, or some vegetables we've gotten in our grocery supplies.

Other information

Things change here rapidly. At the Hogar children come and go. At the schools, teachers go on strike, or the government cancels classes due to lack of money. At the Kinder and Institute classes may be cancelled for various festivities or postponed for meetings. However, as volunteers we find it very hard to stay in the loop with all these things. So frequently asking questions about what is going on and forcing communication with the Sisters is necessary. There are few 'meetings' for the purpose of communication and people won't go out of their way to make sure you understand what's happening. A go-with-the-flow attitude is an absolute must. Also, you may show up to teach and find out there is no class that day - or you may be asked to be the photographer for an event instead of teaching. There may be many things you wish to change or improve, but be prepared to encounter either no progress, or very slow, incremental progress towards systematic improvements.

Contact Information

Community Rector/Director

Sr. Clara Merida
Contact E-mail

kindersa@hotmail.com
Religious Congregation

SSCJ
Phone

591 3 922 1849; 591 766 79131

Centro Sagrado Corazón Verified listing

General Information

Accepts Men/Women

Location

Site's Purpose and Objectives

Ministry Opportunities

Print

Ministry Background

Programs, Activities, Other Projects

Area Information

Special Challenges/Conditions

Major Duties

Practical Qualifications/Skills Needed

Helpful Academic Preparation

Helpful Experience

Helpful Personal Qualities

Accomodations

Involvement with religious community

Involvement with greater community

Local medical facilities

Local diet

Other information

Contact Information

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General Information

Accepts Men/Women

Location

Listing Author

Site's Purpose and Objectives

Ministry Opportunities

Print

Ministry Background

Programs, Activities, Other Projects

Area Information

Special Challenges/Conditions

Major Duties

Practical Qualifications/Skills Needed

Helpful Academic Preparation

Helpful Experience

Helpful Personal Qualities

Accomodations

Involvement with religious community

Involvement with greater community

Local medical facilities

Local diet

Other information

Contact Information

Add a review