Empowering 300 children in Chile

Concerning reports from the International Labour Organization (ILO) show that almost 170 million children currently work in the world. Half of them are obligated to work under unsafe conditions, including jobs where they have to handle dangerous materials or are exposed to sexual exploitation.

VE Global works in order to change this cruel reality by fostering the positive development of children at social risk in Chile. To do that, the organization carefully selects, trains, empowers and coordinates international volunteers integrating them into VE's network of 6 local children's homes, community centers, schools and preschools in some of the most vulnerable areas of Santiago.

Because of the delicate nature of working with children who have been abused or neglected, VE requires that volunteers join their team for a minimum of four months, with a full-time commitment. In this line, the first two weeks, after their arrival to Chile, is one of the most important stages of the volunteer experience.

This period is called Orientation Week and it consists in an intensive training process, where new volunteers learn a complete set of skills that will help them preform in a professional and effective way when working with children.

As part of the Orientation Week's activities, VE trains its volunteers in Chilean history, health and safety, Chilean childcare system, educational strategies, colaborative problem solving techniques, reproductive health, among other crucial topics and methods. This will deeply help each volunteer to develop a set of skills that are necesaary to work under these challenging environments. 

Links:

• http://www.ve-global.org
• https://www.facebook.com/veglobal
• https://twitter.com/VE_Global