In
Bolivia almost 1 in 10 suffer from some kind of disability however there is a
severe lack of inclusion of the intellectually disabled within society. Some of
the work we as the Volunteer and participation for Inclusion team have been
doing is to set up the Best Buddies Bolivia program. The aim of which is to
tackle misconceptions with in society of the intellectually disabled so they
can discover life unhindered by negativity, enabling them to be fully immersed
into society through the aid of our workshops and Peer buddies. This week, due to Carnival, has been a short
week of only 3 days; however we have been extremely busy planning workshops
with the buddies and also the other activities with our other partner AVCCI.
Recently the director of AVCCI has signed a deal with International Service so
we can continue supporting the important work they do in supporting the parents
and children of the children’s cancer ward of Hospital del Niño. As a team our
other responsibilities with AVCCI include visiting the hospital once a week to
do fun activities for the children and also planning nutrition and emotional support
workshops with the parents as well our action Friday which will take place within
the Hospital on the 27th. The action Friday will be a fair for the
children, we will also be providing healthy treats for the children after the
activities.
The work we do with AVCCI especially is
rewarding whilst difficult, this Thursday after baking biscuits all morning for
the children of the cancer ward, we discovered at the Hospital an infection had
spread through the ward. As a result the children were extremely sick so we
couldn’t enter the ward. Instead some of our group handed out the biscuits on
the children’s burns unit.
Childhood
cancer is an extremely sensitive and difficult subject and the work of AVCCI is
extremely important, not just to distract the children and let them be children
for an afternoon a week but to support the parents through an extremely
difficult time in their lives. This is also why we will soon be conducting
workshops for the parents to help them deal with the emotional impact of cancer
as well as provide some information on nutrition to improve the general health
of the entire family. Thursday also highlighted how quickly plans can change
when working and volunteering in development.
Childhood cancer is an extremely sensitive
and difficult subject and the work of AVCCI is extremely important, not just to
distract the children and let them be children for an afternoon a week but to
support the parents through an extremely difficult time in their lives. This is
also why we will soon be conducting workshops for the parents to help them deal
with the emotional impact of cancer as well as provide some information on
nutrition to improve the general health of the entire family. Thursday also
highlighted how quickly plans can change when working and volunteering in
development.
Eleanor
Robson
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