After-School Program at Ninos Con Benedicion

Ratings
Overall
4
Impact: 4
Support: 4
Fun: 4
Value: 3
Safety: 5
Review

This is an after-school program for needy children, aged 4-15. They come into the centre in the afternoon for help completing their homework, for additional tutoring in English and to have fun. Working with the kids was a great experience. But, the volunteer needs to be prepared for a very unstructured environment that requires that you put some thought into each day's activities. As I was focused on teaching English, I needed to think about the various abilities of the children and how to make the lessons interesting for them. Within any age group there are kids who are more advanced and more motivated than others to learn English. Even so, all in all I loved the experience of working with these children.

Would you recommend this program?
Yes, I would
Year Completed
2020
Private Note to Provider (optional)
IFRE needs to find another coordinator in Guatemala. Jonathan Dprera is not organized, unreliable and doesn't follow through on his commitments. I was to begin work on Jan. 6 and as of Jan.3 he still didn't have an assignment for me. He clearly had never contacted the organization Suenos (for whom I was supposed to work) or he would have realized it was closed until the last week of January. He forgot about a meeting we were supposed to have in Antigua in early December and did not return most of my original emails, until I got back in touch with him a few times. I would not sign up with IFRE again if Jonathan was to be your coordinator in Antigua. Further, I have no understanding of how much of the money I paid him is actually going to the after-school program.