Description

Background:
Performing Life was founded in 2005 with the objective of using the arts as a method of improving the lives of children who work or live on the street. Juggling is popular within the organization, and handicrafts are made by children and sold abroad to maximize profits. The money is then invested into micro-enterprise projects run by the children and their families.

Through its efforts, Performing Life has helped over 150 children in need. Each class averages about twenty students and meets for two to three hours per day. The organization provides lunch for the children and also helps them enroll in school. As the children get older, their roles within the organization become more pertinent, as some of them advance to being instructors.

Performing Life is sponsored by the global NGO Hope for the Children.

Objectives:
The main objective of Performing Life is to empower youths through performing and visual arts. The organization hopes that by giving at-risk youth useful skills, such as juggling, poi, and craft making, drugs and delinquency will be avoided. Performing Life strives to find homes and education opportunities for children living on the street. Also, the establishment of micro-enterprises allows families a sustainable income, thus preventing their children from working on the street. The tools of investing are taught via the creation of savings accounts.

Who does Performing Life help?
The organization works with children who come from underprivileged and marginalized backgrounds with few resources. The children are living and/or working on the streets in exploitative circumstances. Most of the children are orphans who have spent their lives committing petty crimes and sniffing glue. Those with families live on the periphery of town and are reduced to working under horrific conditions to help improve the economic situation of their family.

Working conditions:
The main office of Performing Life is located in the city center of Cochabamba. Volunteers would spend a lot of time outdoors, holding workshops in the nearby open spaces.

Performing Life Projects:

Juggling Workshop:
The workshops aim to improve juggling techniques, as more skills would mean better money and less time spent on the streets. In the future, Performing Life plans to use juggling acts as a form of fundraising.

Bracelet Making Workshop:
The workshop aims to develop jewelry making skills and to teach new techniques. The bracelets are then sent to North America and the money generated is put into savings accounts for the children. The workshop also teaches the children basic business skills as they are involved in every step. This year more than 800 bracelets, worth USD5,000 have been shipped abroad.

Investment Project:
Using money stored in savings accounts, the Investment Project creates micro-enterprise opportunities for the families of children working on the streets, The Investment Project helps families become self sufficient, which ultimately keeps children off the street. Projects in the past have included horticulture, construction and livestock.

Qualifications

* Beginner Spanish
* Interest in working with street children
* Artistic skill preferred
* Knowledge in pedagogy, psychology, sociology, law, medicine or business (desired but not required)
* Be flexible, motivate, tolerant and enthusiastic
* Minimum commitment period of one month

Intern Types

Languages

• Spanish

Cost in US$:

450

Program Fees Include:

Long Term Volunteers/ Interns (Monthly Prices)
Shared Room = USD300 a month
Private Room = USD400 a month
Family Home Stay = USD500 a month

Short Term Volunteers/ Interns (Weekly Prices)
Shared Room = USD100 a week
Private Room = USD125 a week
Family Home Stay = USD150 a week

Experience Required

no

This Program is open to

American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants.

Application Process Involves

• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Resume

Sustainable Bolivia's Mission Statement

Sustainable Bolivia is a developmental institution headquartered in Cochabamba, Bolivia. With projects in the Andean highlands and the Amazonian lowlands, our primary objective is to assist local communities in the development of environmentally, socially and fiscally sustainable ecotourism programs. Through the promotion of sustainable tourism, language studies and volunteer placement, our mission is to provide the conscientious traveler a way to experience the immense natural and cultural wealth of Bolivia in a way that is non-intrusive and environmentally, socially and fiscally sustainable.