Cáritas Madrid

Hello!

This Monday is going to mark the third week of my volunteering work at Cáritas Madrid. I was supposed to start the following week after I got here, but some reason or the other, the organization just gave me a place to volunteer a month ago, and then that center took another week to contact me. But honestly, everything has been worth the wait, even anxiety of not knowing if they will place me at all, thanks to the smiles I get every time I go to Cáritas. 

For privacy reasons, I have not taken any pictures of the children I am working with, but I can tell you that they are the most well-behaved 9 year-olds girls that I know. Even though they are not related, they look very similar and share many things in common. While they do their homework, I supervise them to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do and not playing around. In the days that I have been working with them, I have learned a lot about the Spanish public education system. I have heard the many complaints from the other children, and I cannot do anything but agree with them. Some teachers really do care about what they learn and that the children do it right, but others seem to just assign homework because it's what they are supposed to do. Even with all the complaints, the two girls whom I am currently working do their deberes (that's how it is called here) and ask for help when needed. 

Before I got to that specific center of Cáritas, they were lacking some volunteers to help out with children and some volunteers would get three to four children to work with. Even though it is a lot of fun to be with children, they also can be a handful, so everybody was happy when I arrived to help out. Now, each of us volunteers gets two children to help with homework. I have to divide my attention between both of them so they can finish their homework. The least thing I want is to send them home with unfinished homework. This has not happen yet to my two pupils, but other children in the group have had to leave without finishing their work, but the volunteers make sure their parents know this so they can finish at home. 

And now I want to talk about the routine that it is followed in every session of the volunteering. 

1. All the children get to the center, wash their hands and are given some kind of snack before the tutoring starts. It is usually juice or chocolate milk with some cookies.

2. Once they are finish with their snack, the children brush their teeth and wash their hands, while the volunteers set up the classroom materials.

3. The volunteer in charge of the group divides the children into groups of two and assigns them to a volunteer to start with homework.

4. Twice every session, one of the volunteers that works as kind of a social services worker for Cáritas would come around the groups and ask each children how are they doing that day. If they are feeling stressed because of the homework, he will ask the volunteer to plan a game with the children and then go back to working. (Side note: I think this is a great way for children to do their homework, and it also shows them that they go to Cáritas not just to do homework, but to have a little bit of fun too).

5. After the children are done with their deberes, they pack up all of their books and notebooks and wait until their parents come pick them up. The volunteers also pack all of the school material that we may have used, and close the center, while other volunteers wait for the parents outside to meet the children. 

Overall, my experience in Cáritas has been short since I have been there for just two weeks, but I honestly think I can make a good impact in the live of these two girls. One of them wants to be a flight attendant because she wants to travel, and the other one wants to be able to move to NY but has not decided on a career just yet. On the times we have to talk about our lives, I tell them about how it is like living in NY and they tell me what it is like to live in Madrid. Both are really sweet and they treat me like I have been part of their lives forever, and to be honest I do not want to see the day in which I have to leave to NY, because that means I will also have leave two new friends in Madrid.