Volunteering at Peru’s Seeds of Hope
By Lauren Welch
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| With approximately 54 percent of Peru’s population living in poverty, many children between the ages of six to 14 work in the streets or the countryside to help supplement the income of their parents and support their families. Seeds of Hope not only educates such children, but it also teaches their parents about the importance of schooling and the long-term benefits their children’s education will bring to their families. |
“Hola profesora!” the children say, as they scamper around the room giving each of us volunteers a kiss on the cheek. I may have limitations with the Spanish language, but I know what the ritual means.
It’s my favorite part of the day at Seeds of Hope in Huaraz, Peru. A non-profit organization where volunteers tutor the poorest schoolchildren in the area, Seeds of Hope was started in March 2006 by an Italian and a handful of Peruvians who wanted to give something back to the children of Huaraz.
Fifty of the poorest children in the area attend one of two tutoring sessions each day. Most of them go to school but need help and encouragement with their homework. This extra attention is crucial, as many of the children from the poorest backgrounds fall behind and eventually drop out of school. Most of their parents work long hours, so they aren’t around to help with spelling or mathematics. Some parents can’t read or write themselves. Seeds of Hope also works with a small number of children who don’t attend school in order to give them the basic skills necessary to get them up to speed with kids their own age.
Each day before the students take their seats to begin working on math, writing, or English, the room is full of energy. The children are bubbly, have bright smiles on their faces, and are anxious to learn. They can suck you in, just like the town of Huaraz, which has so much rugged charm that travelers tend to get stuck there for much longer than intended. I only had the joy of working with these rambunctious, passionate children for two months, but every day was wonderful.
For more information about Seeds of Hope, visit www.peruseeds.org.
Lauren Welch graduated from Connecticut College in May 2007 with a degree in Anthropological Understanding of Human Rights and Africana Studies. She studied abroad in Kenya with The School for International Training (SIT) in the fall of 2005. This past summer she volunteered with Seeds of Hope.