Medium and Long term
Volunteering Program
MEXICO
www.natate.org
CONTENT
Mid and Long term Volunteering
Type of activities
How to participate
The projects
Local Partner Organisations
Fundación Yirtrak – Pingüinos
Sueniños
Pequeño Sol
Marie Stopes
Parque Educativo San José
Jardín de Epífitas
Cooperativa Cotzaselch
Nataté Voluntariado Internacional A.C.
Amisad A.C.
Jóvenes Constructores de la Comunidad A.C.
I. - LONG TERM VOLUNTARY PROJECTS
Nataté proposes voluntary service projects in Mexico with a duration between 1 and 12 months. During this period the volunteers can get involved in different activities with local organizations and they have the opportunity to get in touch with the local community, share experiences, learn the Spanish language and share their cultures with other participants. Within this frame there are individual and collective activities.
II. - TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
· Environmental (cleaning, construction, recycling, awareness-raising)
· Education, working with kids, artistic workshops, environmental protection, animation.
· Support in the setting up of workshops for a sexual and reproductive health project.
· Management and logistical support for the office of Nataté
· Translations
· Restoration, renovation, heritage preservation
Depending on the project, the working hours are between 30 and 35 hours per week.
III. - HOW TO PARTICIPATE
1. - Search for the project that suit you best in www.natate.org
2. - Choose one or several options in which you would like to participate.
3. - Send your inscription form as well as a motivation letter and a CV to an organisation in your country that cooperates with Nataté or that can be potentially a partner.
4. - Once you have been accepted you will get more information about your project.
5. - Prepare your trip
6. - Spanish is the main language in the projects.
7. - There is a participation fee of 1200 Mexican pesos per month (about 60 Euros or 80 USD). This fee covers your accommodation and administrative costs. Food is covered by the volunteer as he/she has the possibility to cook in the volunteer’s house.
Note : In the NAT/LTV11 Tzajalá and NAT/LTV14 Amisad, the participation fee is 2500 Mexican pesos per month but it covers also the food.
IV FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION
1. Nataté provides accommodation for all the projects located in San Cristobal de las Casas in a house located in the center of the city. The house has 6 rooms and volunteers share the rooms with other volunteer. There are two volunteers per room.
2. The house has all facilities at disposal – living room, kitchen, 3 toilettes/showers and a small patio. Volunteers have the possibility to cook for themselves.
3. Mexican food is very rich and meat is quite common. However, vegetarians and vegans should not have a problem finding what they need for their diet.
4. In the case of Tzajalá , Amisad and Parte y Comparte 1 projects the accommodation will be different : In Tzajalá the volunteers will be staying in one of the cabins of the hosting center. It could be shared or individual room. Meals will be provided by the center but volunteers will have the chance to participate in the preparation of them. In Parte y Comparte 1 the accommodation is in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital city and sometimes in San Cristóbal delas Casas or in the communities. In the Amisad project, volunteers will share a room in the center's premises with other two volunteers. Meals will be prepared by everyone by turning teams -2 or 3 people per day.
V. TRANSPORT
1. In order to travel to Mexico it is advised to verify the prices of the flights, since it can be very expensive. Several air lines fly into Mexico such as:
• Mexicana: www.mexicana.com
• Aeromexico: www.aeromexico.com
• Luftahnsa: www.lufthansa.com
• Air France: www.airfrance.com.mx
• Japan Air: www.jal.com
• United: www.united.com
• KLM: www.klm.com
• Alitalia: www.alitalia.com
2. By plane : Arrival airport - Tuxtla Gutiérrez. From the airport it is possible to catch a collective taxi or a shutter to San Cristóbal de las Casas. Volunteers can arrive in Mexico City and take a bus to San Cristobal de las Casas. The trip is long -13 hours- but cheaper than the plane.
3. By Bus : Arrival bus terminal: OCC in San Cristóbal de las Casas. From there walk till the office (see the map below)
Emergency phone numbers
Office of Nataté : 01 967 631 69 18
Nicolás Aguilar : 0044 967 1025947
V. LEISURE ACTIVITIES
There many opportunities for volunteers to enjoy their stay in Mexico. Only in the state of Chiapas the possibilities to visit places and have an enriching cultural experience are many. Guatemala is also nearby and volunteers can take advantage of this geographical situation.
V. DRUG USE
The drug situation in Mexico is quite complicated. While most of the violence occurs between the drug cartels and drug dealers, volunteers must be aware of the risks that imply the use of drugs. In any case the use of any type of drugs is prohibited in Nataté's house or any of the projects' premises. Nataté will not be tolerant with anyone using drugs in the house or in the projects. Not abiding to this rule will be a reason for spelling.
VI. SAFETY
When traveling, volunteers must inform Nataté with information about where they are going, how they get there and for how long they will be away. Volunteers have to consult with Nataté before leaving. For security reasons it is important during the stay to know exactly where the volunteer is.
V
The projects
Its name comes from the word “Yirakia”. La Yirakia ( = to turn) happens when several people have the same goal and are capable to make turn around many people and by doing so producing a Change.
Www.fundacionyirtrak.org
Objective: Creation and Development of an Educational, Ecological, Productive and Integral community.
NAT/LTV01. Pingüinos school
Activities:
Educational center for 1 to 8 years old children coming from marginalized groups where basic education is given with a holistic approach. Organisation of recreational activities and workshops and assistance to educators. Volunteers will participate in maintenance of the center as well as in the permaculture sector of the school and they will work with other long term volunteers. Working hours will be in the mornings and sometimes there will be activities in the afternoons or weekends.
Duration of the project: 6-12 months
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
The school provides: Food, breakfast and vegetarian lunch.
Places: 2
Starting date: 18/01/2010
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers
NAT/LTV02. Sustainable Development and Eco-technologies
Objective : Use and sustainable handling of the Woods and Water to better preserve and improve the availability of these resources
Activities: The volunteers will participate in the implementation of Appropriate Eco-technologies such as construction of capturing cisterns of pluvial water, furnaces savers of firewood, hydro-sanitary reservoirs, systems of water purification. They will have the possibility to set up projects with the responsible of the Foundation participate in other environmental and sustainable projects in local communities in Chiapas.
Duration of the project: 3, 6 or 12 months
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
Places: 2
Starting date: Any time
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers and they might have ffod in some of the communities where the work is conducted.
The vision of Sueniños is the desire that underprivileged children, living in an under-served area of Mexico, be able to break the cycle of poverty in their lives independently and self-sufficiently through learning vital life skills and receiving assistance in their educational pursuits. Therefore we offer educational programs which promote healthy growth and development for these marginalized children which ultimately strengthens their mental, physical, sociocultural and educational opportunities going forward in their lives.
We are working with children daily, after their regular school classes, in the afternoon. Sueniños is not a “school” and does not replace the schools these children attend but we support the educational programs by promoting school attendance. Sueniños offers different educating and training projects that promote the autonomy and independence of indigenous children who live in the marginalized outskirts of San Cristóbal.
Sixty (60) children attend our Educational Center Sueniños in the afternoons Monday through Friday. The children participate in various activities in the different work areas and participate in our projects which are focused on promoting personal and social skills as well as the talents and interests of the children.
Besides the work in the Educational Centre Sueniños we also offer our different educating projects for children in their communities (colonias) where they live. These activities take place in the schools of these colonias after school. Presently, we are working in two colonias on the outskirts of town.
Volunteers at Sueniños: Our organization welcomes all interested persons and offers our volunteers an interactive work experience which allows for a “mutual learning” experience. Sueniños has benefited from this positive exchange of valuable hands-on knowledge and new ideas from the organization’s motivated and effective team.
NAT/LTV03. SUENIÑOS:
Activities:
Project in 14 colonies, where activities are realized to put into practice the children’s rights to education, health and nourishment. To support school education through diverse activities.
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
Duration of the project: 6-12 months
Starting date: February 2010
Places: 3
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers
Prerequisites: Experience and/or training in working with children
Proficient Spanish (50-60%)
Completed application form with Letter of Motivation
Center of Development “El Pequeño Sol”
The School " Pequeño Sol" was created in 1984 by family mothers who wanted to create a new educational alternative center where all the children regardless of their culture, social class, could coexist and respect their identities, a School at the service of the community and for the community.
Since then, a Civil Association was constituted without ends of profit, directing all their efforts to the construction of a school that offers an education balanced between the academic performance and the human integral formation in Maternal, Pre-school, Primary and Secondary. We are incorporated into the Secretariat of Public Education and go 23 years of being working.
Our Mission: To form autonomous and responsible persons with him/herself, with the others and with his/her environment.
Since 1994 we belong to the PEA, Plan of Schools Associated with the UNESCO, for what we include inside the activities and development of the topics of the academic program, the topics related with:
· World problems and search of solutions
· Comprehension and appraisal of other cultures
· Human rights and democracy (Education for peace)
· Environmental education
Nowadays we are 54 collaborators: teachers, administrative and intendant staff. We host more than 300 girls and children of between 2 and 15 years old.
www.pequenosol.org
NAT/LTV05 – Pequeño Sol 1 - Environmental actions
Activities:
· Maintenance work on the school’s center of collection of reused and recycled materials.
· Help on the awareness-raising and information of parents of the center on the functioning and the importance of separating waste in order to favor a culture of preservation of the environment.
· Participation in school activities that favor the protection of the environment, both with pupils and with mothers and family parents: actions of reforestation, cleanliness of river, out-of-school campaigns with the topic.
· Participation in the care of a school fish-pond.
· Participation in the care of organic composts.
· To give follow-up to the construction of gardens, fish-ponds and ecological paths inside the school in collaboration with teachers and students.
Duration of the project: until 10 months (one school year).
Starting date: Immediately.
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Places: 1 o 2
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers
NAT/LTV06 – Pequeño Sol 2 - Pedagogical actions
Activities:
· School diverse events: about activities that our school community wants to realize link to the academic, social or affective development of our students (day of the family, day of the infancy, days related to the care of the environment, to the promotion of democracy and the UNESCO’s values, before emergency humanitarian, Christmas, etc). The volunteers will help on questions of logistic organization and promotion of the events.
· Care and maintenance of school facilities: the volunteers will work on labors of cleanliness, gardening, repair of buildings and materials, with intendant workers and pupils.
· Help on reception and in the administrative area : replacing personal who cannot attend occasionally for reasons of illness or emergency, in functions such as receptionist and procedures of registration...
· Educational participation: substitute or help teachers in academic or recreation activities.
Duration of the project: Up to 10 months (one school year) .
Starting date: As soon as possible
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Places: 1 o 2
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers
NAT/LTV07. Marie Stopes 1 - Parteras
We travel to communities to locate midwives. We offer them information about our project and qualify them in how administering modern medicines to reduce problems that they carry to the mother mortality.
Actividades:
- Administrative support of the project
- To be the intermediate person between the team of the project and the team in London (to support contact, to translate relevant documents)
- To take part in the weekly meetings to capture information (helping in the monitoring of the project).
- To help in the organization of workshops with midwives in the communities
Duration of the project: At least 6 months
Location: San Cristóbal de las Casas. With travels to communities.
Starting date: Immediately
Place: 1
Participation Fee: 1200 pesos
Food: To be covered by the volunteers
NAT/LTV08. Marie Stopes 1 - Marketing and Communication
Marie Stopes manages 6 Sexual and reproductive Health centers that need continuous marketing, promotion as well as update and innovative communication material and tools.
Activities
• Support to the coordination of Marketing and communication as well as to the Management department: