Helping Hands Project

In 2002, Marion Ibañez and I began a library in the government's boys' orphanage here in La Paz in order to keep the young boys (14 to 18 years old) in school. In 2004 we began the Helping Hands Project to open up educational opportunities for these boys upon leaving the home. The Project has evolved to include adolescents (girls and boys) from other Homes, other projects for children at risk, and marginalized youth from poor areas of the city and the rural areas.

At present our staff consists of :
--volunteer Project Coordinator, Linda Zarate, founder of the Project and supervisor
-- Office Manager, Janneth, who basically runs everything. Janneth finished her studies in Computers.
--Office Assistant, Fabiola, also one of our students studying Accounting
--Librarian, Angel, who runs our library at the boys' home and also runs all the errands for the office part time. (Angel was also one of our students and finished his studies in English)
--two volunteers from Germany, Clemens and Janek, who are here until August 2012
--volunteer Advisor, Marion Ibañez, cofounder of the Project who acts as an advisor at meetings.

The Helping Hands Project is supporting 60 students in 2011, four in high school and the rest in post secondary studies. Usually about 15 students finish their studies in one year. By December 2011, 51 post secondary students will have completed their studies with us and over 100 high school students have finished their secondary education.

We may help a student with one of the following:
--rent allowance
--transportation and school materials
--food allowance
--university fees
Most of our students work part time to help cover their personal expenses or their food expenses as in most cases they do not have family support.

The biggest challenge faced by the Helping Hands Project is to find the funds necessary to support all of our 60 students. Fortunately we have two organizations that pay our office rent and our salaries, but finding enough sponsors to cover all of our students is difficult. 100% of sponsorship funds go to support the students. We also find it a challenge to find the funds for our medical and dental coverage as we have 60 students in the Project.
The donations that come in from betterplace will help us to cover some of allowances for the transportation and school materials and to cover the scholarship for Hermogenes Chino who has just started his studies. Read more