Working with homeless in Bogota

Before coming to Colombia I had no idea what to expect from neither the country nor the volonteer programs. From the very start the staff at Emerging voices made me feel welcome and comfortable.

I decided to split my time between two programs; feeding the homeless and teaching in Soacha. I absolutely LOVED working with the homeless and only wish I could spend more time with the wonderful staff and thankful homeless people that I got to work and hang out with there. Theaching in Soacha was also great fun and the kids wonderful! However, due to the christmas holiday the teaching was not really as I had expected. Instead of ordinary classes there was a group of kids coming for "workshops" three days a week. Although I enjoyed playing with them it would have been good to know in advance (perhaps on IVHQ's web page) when there are holidays at the schools and so on. For me personally this wasn't a big issue - since I mainly worked with the homeless - but if teaching would have been my first choice this would probably have made me a bit disappointed.

Since the accommodation of Emerging Voices is located in one of Bogota's richest and safest areas I never felt unsafe or scared of leaving the house by myself. However, being in a safer area naturally contributes to higher costs and although the Colombian prices are lower than in my home country I soon discovered that it was hard not to spend more money than planned.

In general I really enjoyed staying in Bogota and I am so glad I came here! At first the crowded apartment (we were 16 volonteers when I came), the curfew and the preset dining hours made me feel like a teenager at a summer camp. However, the lady that runs the organisation, Monica, and her staff were really understanding, professional and caring and felt more like friends than supervisors.

I would definitely recommend others to come and join EV in Bogota, most of all working with the homeless.