Volunteer diaries: An average day at HOOP!

In this week’s blog Misha Zala from the UK gives us an inside look at an average school day for HOOPsters staying at the volunteer hostel.

Like most HOOPsters, I’m staying at Home Sweet Home, a relaxed hostel in the centre of Arequipa. A ‘typical’ day at Home Sweet Home goes like this:

Breakfast is on the roof terrace from 7.30am to 9.30am… guess what time most of us aim for! It’s great here: pancakes, fresh juice and a fried or scrambled egg… probably the best breakfast we’ve had in a Peruvian hostel! Then we fight over the showers before getting ready for the day.

Interns head to the office to start work at 10am. Teachers (like me!), can hang out together at the hostel and plan our lessons – or we head to the office (a 10 minute walk) to print things – but mainly just to distract everyone at HOOP HQ with questions!

On the way, we stop for a chat with one of my favourite people in Arequipa, or maybe the world...  the ‘Pare Man’ on Calle Santa Catalina. He’s part of the tourist police and he stops the cars so we can cross. The journey isn’t the same without a high five or quick song from this guy!

Next, it’s time to grab lunch at a local restaurant or nip back to the hostel. Here, restaurants offer a really good value set menu for lunch! Honourable mentions to the fabled ‘Six Fifty Place’ on Puente Bolognesi (loved by our volunteer Philipp for the lomo saltado and well... it only costs 6 soles 50). The great thing about staying here for a while is that we get to discover all the best secret food places.

After lunch, it’s time to gather the troops to catch the combi bus to school. Always an interesting experience - the first rule of the combi is that... there are no rules! It’s got as many people as they can squeeze on.

We get to school around 2.30pm and set everything up. At 3.15pm, we greet the children, who play and do warm up exercises together. Class begins at 3.30pm where we engage the children in English lessons. Our aim is to show our kids how fun learning can be, through play, games and crafts. The hour usually flies by!

Then the older kids stay back at the school to get help understanding their homework from their morning school. For everyone else, it’s Cancha time at a local playground where we play games and sports. At 5.45, we pack up, marvel at the gorgeous sunset and get back on the combi. We always hope it’s the route that stops near the ‘Churro lady’ on Puente Grau, so we can pick up our favourite snack for one sole!

For dinner, there are tons of great choices like ‘The Chifa Place’ or ‘El Misti grill’ which fellow HOOPster Tom thinks is the best restaurant in Arequipa. But if we’re cooking at Home Sweet Home, that’s when the best comedy moments occur. There’s a kitchen, but with so many volunteers it can get chaotic. I’ve got a Facebook photo-series called ‘Cooking with HOOP’ (Rule no. 1: always use a bread knife to chop onions). Sometimes local volunteer Evaldo likes to cook for us and we love trying local specialities!

In the evening, we might watch a movie in the living room, hang out on the roof or go out for a drink together. The hostel is always happy to let us have guests over if we want a little fiesta on the roof terrace. By the end of the day, everyone is pretty exhausted and heads to bed. For me and my roommate, Amina, that usually involves playing silly games or telling late night stories!

I’m really happy living at Home Sweet Home, and definitely recommend it to future volunteers!

Curious to find out more? Check out our 'Day in the Life of a Volunteer' video.

All about happiness

Why does HOOP exist? Sure, it’s about improving education. Yes, we want to help our students and families create better lives for themselves. And yes, we absolutely want this generation to be the last to ever experience poverty in Flora Tristán. But what HOOP is really all about, is happiness.

 

Every single person on the planet wants happiness, so it must be important (right?). But how do we get it? Well, better education can help by leading to better futures, more financial security, better health, and better opportunities...

But of course, it’s not that simple. And to make happier societies, it’s useful to know where we’re starting from on the happiness spectrum. But how do you work out how happy a society is? It’s not straightforward, but the 2015 World Happiness Report has given it a go. As well as getting serious about happiness from all possible angles, the report ranks countries based on the happiness of their people.

So the big question is… is Peru a happy country? Well, on the world rankings, it comes in as the 58th happiest country, about a third of the way down. But when you compare it to the rest of South America, Peru is the least happy country on the continent. So what’s going on here? After all, our friends over in Venezuela come in at 23rd – happier than France, Germany, Spain and Japan.

But happiness isn’t a competition; it’s something we’re all entitled to. So to help shed light on this joyful but elusive human condition, I asked some of my ever-happy co-workers and friends here in Arequipa about happiness in Peru…

The response from two born-and-raised Arequipeñans, plus a long-time resident here, is that yes, Peruvians are generally happy. But at the same time, no, they’re not. One friend explained to me the happiness balancing act taking place in Peru. An optimistic bunch, Peruvians can appear to be content with their lot. But the flip side is that despite many people living in adversity, there is a general air of acceptance – if you can’t change things, why not at least be content with what you’ve got?

It’s an attitude that’s hardly going to have the population jumping with joy. And the kind of long-term, sustained happiness that people aim for comes from things like financial security, good healthcare, good education and a good social support network. These are the kinds of measures included in the World Happiness Index, and they’re the kind of things more readily available to a privileged section of society in Peru.

So to say Peru is a completely happy country wouldn’t be true – after all, what country is? But you only have to live here for a few months to see that there is plenty of happiness around. After all, all Peruvians share an unreserved love of dancing. Every taxi driver in the country will glow with excitement if you start talking about Peruvian food. And if you get a chance to go to one of the many carnivals or festivals, it won’t be long before you’re sharing a drink and a laugh with a group of strangers you just met.

These moments of happiness are great, but improving overall life-long happiness is the bigger goal. And if HOOP can help the Flora Tristán community achieve that then, well, we’ll be pretty happy.

Words and images by Tom Hornbrook

Our first HOOP Hero!

Every so often, someone steps up and proves themself to be a real hero. At HOOP, this could be someone who has made sacrifices to personally help the Flora Tristán community, or someone who has gone to great lengths to support HOOP through fundraising or simply spreading the word about what we do here in Arequipa. So, to celebrate the heroic deeds of some of HOOP’s best and most dedicated supporters, we’re delighted to be launching our new HOOP Hero Award for people who have made significant contributions to the Flora Tristán community.

Our first winner is so awesome that if you gave him the power of flight, it would probably only be his fourth or fifth best superpower. He has made sacrifices in his medical career to set up HOOP as an official charity and has gone to remarkable lengths to help give the people of Flora Tristán better opportunities in life. He has even published a book to spread the word about HOOP in his home country (oh, with 100% of the profits supporting HOOP!).

I am of course talking about Li Shang-Ju from Taiwan. I don’t want to go into too much detail about all the great things Dr. Li has done, since (as such a great hero) he is super humble. Li has accomplished some inspiring feats for HOOP. He once sat outside San Fransisco church here in Arequipa writing down the names of HOOP’s kids in Mandarin on paper to raise awareness and donations from passers-by. He also hosted a Taiwanese camera crew in Flora Tristán to document his endeavors, and once travelled to Lima to seek support from the Taiwanese Embassy and a Taiwanese company, which is now donating a whole new building to Flora Tristán.

Fellow HOOP co-founder, Teresa recalls some of his other heroic deeds: “Li started the HOOP Scholarship Program and raised the money for it on his own. He would prepare and teach the first three scholarship students before and after school or even during the weekends to make sure they weren’t falling behind. If we couldn't solve a math problem, we would sometimes take it home, figure it out in the volunteer house and then Li would go to school in the early morning to explain it to one of our kids before their class started. No one is as respected and loved by the community as he is!”

As songwriting legend Bob Dylan once said, “A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with freedom.” Li understands this and has shown it through his heroic powers of kindness, dedication and an infectiously positive attitude. So we are delighted to announce him as our very deserving and gracious recipient of the first award. Thanks, Li, you’re our HOOP Hero!

Seven months of HOOP!

All good things must end eventually, and we’re sad this week to be saying goodbye to one of our long-term volunteers. After seven months with HOOP, Catherine is heading back to the UK. But before we let her go, we thought we’d ask her some questions for our blog:

What did you do before you came to HOOP?

I was finishing my second year at university. I’m studying a degree in International Development at the University of Portsmouth, and volunteering can be taken as a year abroad to get experience. So in September I’ll go back to university for a year and graduate!

Why did you decide to volunteer at HOOP?

I liked the idea of what HOOP was about and the idea of coming to Peru for half a year sounded really exciting.

What have you been doing at HOOP?

I first started at HOOP in September 2014 as a volunteer English teacher in Monkey class. Then In January I started working in the office as an intern, which has included editing videos, managing our social media and newsletters and building relationships with universities so more people like me can come and do the same thing!

Which do you prefer?

They are both very different and doing part of my placement in the classroom and part in the communications team has given me the best of both worlds. If I had to pick, I think it’d be being a teacher as everyday was completely different!

So would you say your experience with HOOP has helped with your university course and what have you learned along the way?

Yes, I have a better understanding of how an NGO is run and I have seen all the different sides to the charity. I studied charities at university so being able to see the organisation in real life has helped a lot.

What have you enjoyed the most about your time at HOOP?

Getting to know the children in my Monkey class and meeting all of the other volunteers.

What was the worst bit and did you face any difficulties while volunteering?

Well, it would have to be falling of a mountain bike on the slopes of Chachani, a nearby volcano, and breaking my collar bone! I had to have surgery...which isn’t nice when you’re so far from home, but I had support from HOOP and the other volunteers. But don’t worry I don’t think this has ever happened to anyone else at HOOP!

Did you ever miss home at all and what do you miss the most about the UK?

Not really minus a little over the Christmas period, as I was having such a good experience in Peru...The thing I miss most about the UK except my family and friends has to be the food!

So would you recommend volunteering with a small NGO abroad?

Yes, even as someone who had never volunteered abroad or even been out of Europe, I think it was a great experience. I feel like I have managed to experience all aspects of how a charity is run which is an important aspect of my university course. Also everyone I met during my seven months here has been friendly and welcoming, making for a great experience and if I could, I’d stay a few more months!

Written by Catherine O’Gorman

World Health Day : How are we helping?

I have decided to focus on an important and timely topic this week, seeing as World Health Day took place just this Tuesday! Good and easily accessible healthcare is something that a number of us take for granted (myself included.) For the families of Flora Tristan this is something they could only dream of. Healthcare in Peru for those with little money does not have a great history; with those with money seeing a much higher standard of healthcare. We are however seeing a number of positive strides taken throughout the country. 

Giving Aid

Making the water safe for drinking!

In our last Health Report, HOOP parents expressed concern mostly about the access to clean water and nutrition which is still a problem for a number of Peruvians.

At HOOP we use the support of a number of doctors, dentists etc. to help out when possible, and in 2014 we received aid from a variety of sources. Through our collaboration with Dentists without Borders, 240 individuals were treated, providing 329 free dental procedures.

Additionally, 63 health checks were made by a doctor. The most common problems of the HOOP kids are fever, dental and eye problems and stomach pain. Due to donations, we were able to provide stomach medicine to 103 different people. Every donation is so important to the community!

We also helped arrange six workshops, conducted by nurses in 2014. Nutrition is so vital for the members of the community since a number of health issues can arise from a poor diet. 

Dr Chihhao Chen, helping one of the HOOP kids

Throughout 2015 we hope to continue to support our HOOP families in ways that are most helpful to them.  

Just a few weeks ago we had a great doctor from Taiwan come out to Flora Tristan. He made a number of check-ups on the children and then followed this up with recommendations for the parents. We really appreciated him helping with our project and would just like to thank him again for his help!

Physical AND Mental well-being.

Mental health is just as important as physical well-being, so having someone to be there for the families regarding a number of issues is a vital part of what we do.  Marisol, who is our HOOP resident Psychologist knows the community really well and has a wealth of experience. As we begin our programme next week, our collaboration with her will be an important part of this.

If you are reading this and you like the idea of coming to Arequipa to volunteer your time and skills, we would be really glad to hear from you! Your help would be truly appreciated out here by the families and us. Keeping the HOOP families healthy and happy is truly our number one priority.