Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots

I read about this organisation in a local newspaper and decided to pay a visit to their community centre.
I walked up to this off the beaten track neighbourhood, six blocks northwest from the Zocalo, and knocked at a nice door framed in light blue. A young lady let me in (my attention was immediately caught by a pair of brown curious eyes peeping from behind her skirt…) and showed me the way to the administrator’s office.

I had a lovely chat there with Mr. Alexjandro, and he gave me some information and leaflets about the organization, founded in 1996 by a group of people from Mexico and abroad, dedicated to the education and well-being of Oaxaca’s street children.

77% of Oaxaca’s population lives in extreme poverty and many children support their families by selling gum and shining shoes on the city streets. The majority of the families in the program are Triquis, one of the poorest indigenous groups of Mexico.

The centre helps with a food and medical program; a soup kitchen for poor families, a medical clinic offering counseling on nutrition, hygiene, family planning and preventive medicine, a community centre including a library, tutoring centre and kinder garden, and a school sponsorship program, allowing a child to receive a formal education. Public education is not free with costs include tuition, school supplies, books, uniforms, etc.

You can help sustaining this project by volunteerin gon the spot, making a donation (please involve your friends, colleagues, social or religious community) or, if you are interested in a long-term commitment, sponsoring an individual child.

Puente a La Salud Comunitaria

One evening in a Puerto Escondido's comedor I started a friendly chat with Diane, a girl working for a very interesting project in Oaxaca. Puente a la Salud Comunitaria, is a project dedicated to empower the people of rural Oaxaca to improve their own health through the promotion, planting, and consumption of amaranth, a native grain with exceptional nutritional value.

Puente's staff and volunteers travel around the Valles Centrales from village to village organizing workshops which explain the nutritional value of amaranth, and providing the fundamentals of how to plant, grow, harvest, and cook with it. Also, by encouraging commercial production and marketing amaranth for commercial consumption, Puente hopes to provide more economic options for the people of rural Oaxaca, without having to rely extensively on outside agencies.

Volunteering programs linked to ICC Oaxaca

If you are willing to offer your active support, you can help the following organizations through the The Instituto de Comunicación y Cultura (ICC) while learning Spanish in Oaxaca

Cultural Association "Rosario Castellanos" - Women Group Study

This group of women have worked since 1977 to reach gender equality and respect for diversity. Their mission is to transform society for it to be just and equal and where all woman rights are respected.

You can help them in offering women the following services:
-Psychological counseling for problems women face at home, at work or in the society in general, and legal couseling for maritage or family dispute issues.
-Ecological Orientation covering basic aspects on how to protect their environment.
-Sexual and reproductive education with information on roles, family planning and health issues.

-Communication and media training for the creation and organization of shows, videos, documentaries or movies on the current condition of women in society.

Patronato Pro Casa

This orphanage provides shelter to homeless and mistreated children between the ages of 5 and 16.
Pro Casa helps them with food, lodging, education, clothing, and cultural and recreational activities. Psychological support is also provided.

Volunteering times: From 11am to 12.30pm and from 6 to 9.30pm

You can offer your help for the following activities:
Art classes, Mondays and Wednesdays 11am – 12.30pm
Physical Education classes: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays 11am – 12.30pm
or help the children with their homework, organize games and recreational activities or offer your assistance in the kitchen.

CANICA - Centro de Apoyo al Niño de la Calle de Oaxaca

This is another non profit civil organization that has been working for 11 years to support youth and families that work and or live in the streets of the city of Oaxaca.

They offer support to Oaxaca’s street children, often victims of domestic violence through a professional program of educational and social services that actively help them and their families improving their personal, living, and social conditions.

You can help if you are over 23, speak fluent Spanish and you are willing to commit for at least 6 months.

Milpas de Oaxaca

This is a Mexican non-governmental organization working with local youth groups to foster sustainable solutions to rural poverty. They enable them to build, confidently and collectively, sustainable livelihoods in their communities of origin.

In the Health, Environment and Agriculture program, for example, Milpas staff train health promoters—women from local communities—in basic health care, hygiene, preventative and natural treatments and nutrition. In turn, the promoters take the knowledge they have gained back to their communities to share it with their neighbors and friends. The program also includes a soil conservation and reforestation project.

You can offer your support in organizing workshops on ecology, health, agriculture, education, sports, human rights, carpentry, nursing, medicine, art, cooking… or helping with document-based research and writing.

Patronato Estancia Fraternidad

The Patronage offers home shelter for family and relatives of the Oaxaca General Hospital patients. People who can not afford to stay in hotels and need to visit or assist their loved ones in the hospital are offered lodging and food for a few pesos per day.

There are 4 big dormitories for men and women, plus some special rooms for long treatment and terminal patients who need constant assistance, for a total capacity of 150 beds.

The patronage helps also in purchasing drugs and medicaments, and offer psychological support to the family of the patients.

You can help in preparing and serving meals and organize support activities, as well as social and recreational.

Mundo Nuevo

A non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes environmental conservation, Mundo Nuevo finds the most adequate ways to treat all types of pollution (water, air, trash).

The organization's only form of income is by selling the paper it recycles.
You can help collecting and separating the products to be recycled; actually recycle paper goods, market and sell the recycled paper; and explore other uses for aluminum, plastics, glass and organic goods.

If you have experience with computer programming or graphic design you can also help with the website.