PERFORMING LIFE

Volunteer/ Internship requirements:

• Interest in working with street children
• Beginner Spanish
• Artistic skill preferred
• Knowledge in pedagogy, psychology, sociology, law, medicine, business, etc. (desired but not required)
• Be flexible, motivate, tolerant and enthusiastic
• Minimum commitment period of one week

Background:
John Connell established Performing Life in 2005, when he was only eighteen years old. Performing Life is an organization that uses the arts as a method of improving the lives of children who work or live on the street. Juggling is popular within the organization, and handicrafts are made by children and sold abroad to maximize profits. The money is then invested into micro-enterprise projects run by the children and their families.

Through its efforts, Performing Life has helped over 150 children in need. Each class averages about twenty students and meets for two to three hours per day. The organization provides lunch for the children and also helps them enroll in school.  As the children get older, their roles within the organization become more pertinent, as some of them advance to being instructors.

Performing Life is sponsored by the global NGO Hope for the Children.

Objectives:
The main objective of Performing Life is to empower youths through performing and visual arts. The organization hopes that by giving at-risk youth useful skills, such as juggling, poi, and craft making, drugs and delinquency will be avoided. Performing Life strives to find homes and education opportunities for children living on the street. Also, the establishment of micro-enterprises allows families a sustainable income, thus preventing their children from working on the street. The tools of investing are taught via the creation of savings accounts.

Who does Performing Life help?
The organization works with children who come from underprivileged and marginalized backgrounds with few resources. The children are living and/or working on the streets in exploitative circumstances.  Most of the children are orphans who have spent their lives committing petty crimes and doing drugs. Those with families live on the periphery of town and are reduced to working under horrific conditions to help improve the economic situation of their family.

Working conditions:
The main office of Performing Life is located in the city center of Cochabamba. Volunteers would spend a lot of time outdoors, holding workshops in the park.

Performing Life Projects:

Juggling Workshop:
The workshops aim to improve juggling techniques, as more skills would mean better money and less time spent on the streets. In the future, Performing Life plans to use juggling acts as a form of fundraising.

Bracelet Making Workshop:
The workshop aims to develop jewelry making skills and to teach new techniques. The bracelets are then sent to the U.S. and the money generated is put into savings accounts for the children. The workshop also teaches the children basic business skills as they are involved in every step. This year more than 800 bracelets, worth $5,000 have been shipped.

Investment Project:
Using money stored in savings accounts, the Investment Project creates micro-enterprise opportunities for the families of children working on the streets, The Investment Project helps families become self sufficient, which ultimately keeps children off the street. Projects in the past have included horticulture, construction and livestock.
 
Program Supervisor