📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Shanti Sahara was founded to support people of Sahrawi ethnicity and face the sanitary crisis affecting the Sahrawi refugee camps, where each year more and more kids are born with disability.
Within the framework of the project “Young Peace Ambassadors” the organization welcomes a small number of disabled Saharawi kids over the summer allowing them to receive medical care they wouldn’t otherwise get access to in the refugee camps.
Over the next summer, in July and August, Shanti Sahara will host 11 disabled kids.
The kids are affected by different types and degrees of disability.
The organization will grant medical care to each kid, together with improving their awareness of hygienic practices and allowing them to follow a complete and balanced diet.
💼 What the programme involves
Each volunteer will work 5/6 days a week – morning (8:00-15:00) or afternoon (15:00-22:00) shift. On top of this each volunteer will be on night shift (22:00-8:00) once or twice a week. The volunteers will have 1/2 days off a week (to be defined according to the needs of the organization and upon volunteer's request). All volunteers will be responsible for: looking after the kids, going along to the hospital and medical practice (doctor’s appointments, hospital stays, blood tests) but also taking part to recreational events (playing with the kids, trips to the swimming pool, to the beach, parties, etc). Volunteers will also be responsible for the kids’ hygiene, for preparing meals for kids and other volunteers, and cleaning the residency (rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, doing the laundry).
🏠 Accommodation on site
International volunteers will share a mixed room with other volunteers, everyone will sleep on matresses (no beds are available). They will have a dedicated bathroom and other spaces to be shared with all volunteers. Some spaces might need to be shared with the kids as well. No Wifi connection.
📍 About the location
CERNUSCO SUL NAVIGLIO: Located in Northern Italy. All amenities including shops, supermarkets, restaurants and pubs, parks and swimming pools are within walking distance. Milan can be easily reached by underground, while cities such as Venice, Verona and Bergamo can be reached by train.
⚠️ Requirements
Volunteers are not expected to possess any prior knowledge or skills. All we ask for is an hard working attitude, and an appetite for learning and openness to other people and cultures.
Must have: (1) Ability to adapt; (2) Socio-cultural awareness; (3) Flexibility.
ℹ️ Additional information
It’s essential to keep in mind that:
1. Kids are between 6-15 year-old and have different needs according to their age;
2. Some of them will have never been apart from their parents and families before. Therefore they might be quite vulnerable from a psychological point of view, and might need special care, attention and support.
3. Kids will be finding themselves in a very different context: used to living in the extremely poor and precarious reality of Sahrawi refugee camps and inadequate hygienical conditions, kids will need guidance from volunteers to learn the basic hygienic practices. Their routine is also different from the routine of kids raised in the West (for instance they are used to spending quiet days, praying 5 times a day) and as such must be respected.