It´s playtime (between the sea and mountain)

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Colombia Children Social work Group Children +1 Fixed dates

About the project

📝 Detailed information

🏢 About the local organisation

Notre partenaire colombien est une organisation colombienne à but non lucratif.

L'objectif principal de notre association partenaire colombienne est de promouvoir des opportunités d'échange culturel, tant nationales qu'internationales, à travers des programmes de bénévolat. Ainsi, elle cherche à renforcer la compréhension internationale et la participation sociale comme outils d'éducation pour la paix.

En même temps, notre partenaire local lveut avoir un impact positif sur le développement de l'environnement, du patrimoine, des communautés vulnérables, des personnes handicapées, de la culture et de l'art, entre autres. De même, elle cherche à encourager et à développer des initiatives destinées à l'apprentissage par la pratique.

Notre partenaire colombien est un membre invité de l'Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations, un réseau d'organisations fondé en 1982 et qui échange, à travers ses membres, environ 12 000 bénévoles chaque année.

💼 What the programme involves

This project will be carried out in cooperation with a non-profit organization that seeks to contribute to the social development, sport and educational growth of young people from Buritaca. An award winning hostel situated on the River Buritaca, 25 min walk from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The hostel has a foundation that runs educational, sporting and environmental projects to positively impact their local community.

Some of the activities carried out by the foundation and its volunteers:
- Sports club
- Community school
- English lessons
- Arts club
- Environmental education
- Recycling and waste management programme.

This workcamp will be carried out in cooperation with a non-profit organization which for more than 15 years has been using activities and sports as a tool for community transformation in Colombia, to promote the capabilities of children and teenagers, inspiring them to be agents of change. Your volunteering will be placed mainly in Ciénaga and Santa Marta. Here we offer sport, cultural and recreational activities like football, dance, music and language classes to more than 700 kids and teenagers weekly. Together we achieve a real impact. The foundation believes in the reciprocal exchange of experiences.The volunteer program allows you to contribute to the improvement of the community by giving your time and sharing your experiences, talents and knowledge.

In general, volunteers help organize and develop the different activities of the foundation. Every day, from Monday to Friday, there are classes, sport trainings or workshops for the children of the community.

The work includes:

• Helping, planning, and carrying out regular activities (art, dance, music, English, and French workshops/lessons).
• Assisting in sports training (football).
• Helping with extracurricular events (beach cleanups, board games get-togethers, or community cinemas).
• Support university students in practice of languages, mainly English, in the “Café Bilingüe” on Fridays.
• Sharing time and knowledge with children (play, chat, etc.) and being an example for them.

Our volunteers work around 4 or 5 days a week (5-6 hours daily), depending on the activities.

🏠 Accommodation on site

You will stay in a Culture Center and Hostel in Ciénaga that brings together local people and its guests. On one hand the place offers freetime activities to the kids in its large room of the house, on the other hand it offers space for 8 tourists in total who can stay in two private rooms or in a dormitory. You will stay in a 6-dorm room. The house has a self-service kitchen, dining room, working area, two terraces, balcony, two
showers, bathrooms and a lot of shared spaces to relax or to get creative.

🍲 Food

The local foundation and hostel supports the community and local business and sells local products such as coffee, honey or handcraft art through a local shop. The volunteer program includes 3 meals a day, the foundation is in charge of the shopping and volunteers cook together (vegetarian food option also available).
Please do not expect expensive/special ingredients (olive oil, nuts, etc), but the Colombian cuisine is rich in fruits, vegetables and 3x a week there will be meat in the menu. There is laundry service at the hostel, 20.000 Colombian pesos (4euro) / 3kg.

📍 About the location

The foundation is located in the city center of Ciénaga directly on the Caribbean Sea in Colombia, just 5 min walk from the 2 km long beach and 20 min by bus to the huge mountains and wildness of “La Sierra Nevada”. The city center and the pier at the beach offers a variety of restaurants and cool bars. Ciénaga is a very traditional and typical Caribbean village with around 100.000 habitants (which is small in Colombia).
The Airport “Santa Marta International” is just 30 min by car.

Things to do in and around Ciénaga:

• Visit floating village of nueva venecia
• Thermal waters costa verde
• River Toribio
• Mountains sierra nevada - Pueblo San Pedro de la Sierra
• Visit Aracataca
• City tour in Ciénaga and Santa Marta
• Spanish and dance classes

It just takes 45min by bus to travel to Santa Marta or 1,5 hours to visit Minca, a village in the mountains. It takes around 2 hours to visit the famous National park Tayrona.

It takes around 4 hours to visit the beautiful and touristic city of Cartagena.

Be prepared for a warm/hot and humid weather, with strong sun but you will enjoy the beaches during the freetime.

For more information visit: https://colombia.travel/en/cienaga

⚠️ Requirements

• All participants must have medical assistance insurance, which covers, among others, situations related to COVID-19.

• The volunteer’s participation is confirmed after the extra fee is paid. The payment must be done at the latest 1 month prior to the project starting via bank transfer / Paypal.

• Language: Intermediate English (Spanish is a plus. If no Spanish, we recommend start learning before you come).

🤝 Meeting point

In Santa Marta, 8 May in the morning, the group will go together to Ciénaga. The exact meeting point will be given in the infosheet some weeks before the projects starts.

ℹ️ Additional information

The extra fee must be paid at the latest 1 month prior to the project starting via bank transfer / Paypal.
Interview with our local partner via zoom in Spanish.
Certificate of vaccination or Covid-test to enter the country.
Language: Intermediate English (Spanish is a plus. If no Spanish, we recommend start learning before you come).

Extra fee: 300EUR
(The extra fee can change a bit due to the exchange rates).
The extra fee includes food, accommodation, transport to the activities, and certificate of participation.

Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.