Update: Okay, so I've finally got a way that I think will reliably let me upload photos, but my first time using it for some reason it cropped the photos weird. I'm just going to leave them for now (I'm a bit busy!) and try to fix it in following posts. Thanks for your patience!
Alright, as I've been promising in the last post or two, I'm going to update you all on what I've actually been working on so far down here. I've been working with a group called CLAVES, a division of Juventud Para Cristo (Youth for Christ) that works for the prevention of mistreatment and abuse of kids & adolescents. My first few weeks there were spent preparing all sorts of materials for the campaign we had last week, which is essentially the culmination of their work each year.
Each Saturday and some weekdays leading up to the campaign CLAVES put on workshops training groups of teenagers about mistreatment & abuse, steps they can take in those situations, and how they could participate in the campaign. They also put on workshops and retreats for educators, lawyers, psychologists, and the like. These workshops take place all over the country, and they have also expanded the program internationally.
The week of the campaign involves a bunch of youth going out into their neighborhoods and joining us in downtown talking to adults and asking them to sign a certificate promising to listen to, believe, and protect children as well as denouncing situations of mistreatment and abuse (silence and believing nothing can be done is a widespread problem here). If they agreed, they were given a piece of candy as their "vaccination" against mistreatment, and then had the opportunity to talk with us in the tent for more information.
The crazy supply table staff....we had a lot of fun & attracted a lot of attention.
Look up...
...and see this giant hand that says "What do you feel with a hand raised above you?" Some of the kids in one of the workshops came up with this idea and so we added it to the tent.
This is Victoria hard at work keeping up the stock of certificates, vaccinations, and stickers. This volunteer supply table is where I spent most of the week.
"Peace begins at home"
Some of the groups of kids came and performed in the plaza outside the tent in order to promote the campaign. This was a step/dance type group.
The little kids corner of the tent! Lots of coloring and face-painting going on here.
One of our vaccinators hard at work. Before this campaign (the 7th annual) they had "vaccinated" something like 300,000 adults, and though I'm not sure of the exact numbers this year it must've been close to another 100,000 throughout the country. It's really cool how a one-room office of 5-6 paid staff (mostly part-time) plus random volunteers can put on something like this! Hopefully the ideas will begin to stick in the minds of politicians, parents, and others who were informed and the country will be a safer place for kids to live.
