Volunteer Life
One of the most common questions asked by potential volunteers is “What is volunteering really like?” Well, there is no one answer. Each volunteer has different schedules, duties, and preferred Santiaguino relaxation locales! As such, we’ve asked two different volunteers to share their respective experiences.
Pharaoh, a volunteer of the September 2009 class from Scotland, works at Residencia Entre Todas and on VE's Arts, Recreation, and Sports Committee.
Laura worked as a youth group leader at Centro Comunitario Los Navios, and as a writer/translator for VE’s Resource Development Committee.
Pharaoh's Week
Monday
9:30am Wake up still tired after a weekend away camping in a nearby national park with other volunteers. Trip was a nice reminder of all the great places to visit in Chile, and spend breakfast plotting fantasy trips to Patagonia and Atacama Desert.
11:15am Bus ride to metro station accompanied by the sounds of two guitar playing buskers (actually good enough to earn their $100 peso donation!). Manage to get a seat on the metro rail for the ride to ET, arrive in time for afternoon shift. Big highlight of the day was the ¡Vamos a Leer! (VE´s literacy program) reading hour. It was great to see the older girls really enjoying their books and working towards their personal goals. Also pleased to see Porotos Granados (a Chilean bean, pumpkin and sweetcorn dish) back on the ET lunch menu.
Tuesday
10am Take the 20 minute bus ride to the VE office for a Sports and Arts Committee meeting. After a quick round of hellos and a chat with the directors, spend the meeting discussing the upcoming ´Festival de Artes´ and a paseo (daytrip) for kids from all the 8 institutions. As with all VE meetings, galletas (biscuits) are provided!
12pm Arrive at ET for afternoon shift. Carefully planned paper mache activity with the girls unfortunately descends into chaos. Remind myself over and over to be patient. However, one of the more quiet girls managed to find a space of her own and peacefully both create and paint a mask. Think over this as a positive aspect of an otherwise frustrating day.
6pm Meet up with a Peruvian volunteer for a cerveza and language intercambio (half English and half Spanish practice session), its good to be able to practice Spanish in a more relaxed environment than fielding rapid questions from four girls at once! Finish intercambio and head home to plan tomorrow’s cooking workshop. Hopefully the girls will create three delicious Spanish omelets, have fun and behave themselves in the process! Go to bed dreaming of eggs, potatoes and onions…
Wednesday
Enjoy a leisurely morning chatting with flatmates, plowing through the typical juggle between Spanish and English. Later, spend an hour or so answering VE e-mails regarding the various programmes, meetings and social events being planned. It’s always surprising how many there are.
2pm Leave for late-afternoon ET shift, stopping by a supermarket to pick up ingredients for cooking taller, carefully storing the receipt for later reimbursement. 4:30pm Too many eager girls want to participate in the workshop, so we pull names from a hat to decide today’s group. With the group finalized, two and a half Spanish omelets are eventually produced! While the girls appeared to enjoy the taller, cleaning up afterwards wasn’t their top priority.
8pm Quick dash to the metro and an hour long ride across town (realizing again just how big Santiago is) to play for the VE football team. Lose again, and head out together afterward for a commiseration drink. It’s approaching midnight by the time I get back to my flat.
Thursday
2pm Start afternoon at ET with“English in Motion” (VE’s English language program) taller, redirecting questions about Michael Jackson lyric translations to the day’s actual lesson plan. Later, take a small group of girls to a nearby play park. After a few hours of good conversation and pushing the younger ones on the swings, manage to round them up and return to the hogar, feeling great that a full afternoon passed without any major incidents!
8pm Leave ET 20 minutes early to take the metro to Baquedano and attend the VE Reunion General for all volunteers. Catch up and swap institution stories with fellow volunteers before beginning the fortnightly meeting. Sign up to help at an upcoming VE fundraising event and nervously deliver my contribution to the meeting in Spanish. A few of us stay behind afterward for a few games of Ping Pong in the meeting room.
Friday
Spend morning at Museo La Chascona, one of Chilean national poet Pablo Neruda´s three house museums. Sometimes with the busy VE schedule it’s easy to forget that there are so many interesting things to see and do in Santiago. Also see a poster for an upcoming Jazz festival and resolve to catch at least one concert.
12:30pm grab a quick empanada before heading to Parque Bustamante and trying to make some headway with my new Spanish book, then later stroll over to the office to say hello and ask some more questions about the fundraiser. Remembered to grab a volleyball to play with the ET girls on the way out. Apart from half an hour of volleyball, the majority of time at ET spent just chatting, taking meals (a big part of the daily routine) and playing cards with the girls. Pitch in with a spontaneous mass cleaning effort of the patio.
9:30pm Meet a couple of other volunteers and their Chilean flatmates for a drink in the packed Barrio Bellavista. Do Chileans drink any beer other than Escudo? Head back to the flat later that night.
Saturday
12pm Meet other volunteers and kids from ET and other institutions at the gimnasio for our monthly Liga de Deportes sports league. Help run the karate station which largely consists of stifled giggles and falling over before joining the energetic football game. Take the ET girls back to the hogar then head out to some street markets to look for more summer clothes; I really didn’t expect it to be this hot!
8pm Head to a rooftop asado at the VE volunteer apartments. Marvel again at the incredible mountainous view, spend the evening throwing water balloons, eating slightly burnt veggie kabobs and laughing more than I have in a very long time. Share a taxi home with other volunteers at 4am.
Sunday
Some volunteers are going up Cerro San Cristobal for the afternoon but decide to have some alone time and take a run along Parque Forestal instead.
5pm Head to a nearby internet cafe to print off the instructions for next week’s taller, skype the family and, dictionary in hand, send off a few emails in my best Spanish to enquire about free zoo passes for the Children´s paseo.
8pm Day of relaxation is complete by having a leisurely meal with flatmates. Drift off to sleep after only a few pages of spanish book, note taking book and pen still in hand.
Laura's Week
Monday
10.30am Meeting with Committee at VE office to discuss assignments for new website. 12pm Return home and get to work translating past volunteer testimony into Spanish. Drip avocado and pebre salsa into laptop keyboard while eating lunch; curse Santiago for introducing me to this delightful yet, well, drippy tomato, onion and coriander concoction. 8pm Email completed translation into Lauren and head out to meet volunteer friends for cerveza in Plaza de Armas. 12am Fall asleep flicking through tomorrow’s lesson plan.
Tuesday
9.15am Take metro to work. Marvel once again at transport authority’s decision to spend money on flat screen TVs playing dodgy nineties music videos to weary metrogoers instead of on providing trains that runs after 11pm. Arrive work 10.30am, attend equipo meeting to evaluate last week’s group sessions, then prepare art activity for this afternoon’s group. 4.30pm Angelitos arrive for their session; all seem to have great fun despite the usual fallings out and mild misbehaviour. 6.30pm Catch micro home, feel proud that my planning paid off and was able to lead whole session in Spanish without having to ask other tía for too much help. Spend evening chatting with Chilean flatmates.
Wednesday
10.00am Arrive early at Los Navios, attempt to decipher garbled modismo laced Chilean excuse for Spanish and make small talk with coworkers. Little to some success. 11.00am Go on family visit to invite children to attend sessions at the Centro. Family live in nearby campamento, a huddle of wood and corrugated iron shacks built illegally on wasteland, where children play amongst the rubbish and you can’t walk five steps without tripping over a mangy dog: a world away from the wide tree lined streets and elegant buildings of Providencia, where I started my day. Spend afternoon doing paperwork for yesterday’s session until kids arrive at 4.30. Head to mall after work to grab some food before VE General Meeting at 7.30pm. Finally get home and tumble exhausted into bed at 10.30pm.
Thursday
Spend morning visiting kids’ homes to hand out authorization slips for Liga on Saturday. Learn more about the problems in their families from my co-worker: drug abuse, domestic violence and incest are not uncommon here. 2.00pm Lunch drags out into almost one and a half hours, during which staff complain how they’re rushed off their feet. Only in Chile. Kids turn up late for their session so we send them home; use time to write donation request letter for VE Vamos a Leer book drive instead. 6.30pm Visit volunteer friends at Domingo Savio after work to meet their kids and hang out.
Friday
11.30am Arrive at work feeling extra cheery after being serenaded by dodgy mullet sporting guitar player on bus. Attend meeting to plan activities for next month’s group sessions based around the UN Declaration of Children’s Rights. After lunch help local woman with her English studies, then take group session with older kids from 5.00pm until 6.30pm. Get home 8.00pm and head out to Barrio Brasil with assorted volunteers and Chilean friends to drink pisco, eat too many papas fritas and display total lack of latino heritage in horribly embarrassing attempt at salsa dancing.
Saturday
11.00am After blissful lie-in, catch metro to Los Navios to pick up kids for Liga. Arrive sports field at 1.30pm and assume position as Mama del Equipo, in charge of making sure everyone on my team is happy, healthy and having a good time. Lose voice spurring team on to glory in final match, but was worth it to see so many smiling faces. 5.00pm Liga draws to a close, help tidy up and take kids back to Los Navios. Spend evening curled up with Isabel Allende’s Casa de los Espiritus and get early night to prepare for fortnightly shift at baby house tomorrow.
Sunday
9.30am Start shift at Baby House, playing with 6 toddlers and 4 babies while the full-time tias get on with their never ending cycle of changing, feeding and bathing. After the umpteenth rendition of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and telling little Pancho for the hundredth time ‘las lapices no se comen’ it gets a little wearing, but it’s nice to have a change from structured work with older kids, and the guaguas are irresistibly cute. Head home around 2.00pm to Skype family and friends, blog about my week and take well earned siesta before once and movie with friends later in evening.