PROPOSAL 1: Getting to know the VOLUNTEERING project in Venezuela

Calasanz's phrase: "Do not fail there to pray for peace, exposing the Blessed Sacrament frequently, and asking with the children that he may not want to punish us according to our sins, but that he may have mercy on us and may bless us all together (7-4-1629)"

Methodology:

FEEL. Present the country and volunteering reality in Barquisimeto.

After explaining the meaning of the Peace campaign, the teacher explains that during the session we will focus on the work of Itaka Escolapios in the city of Barquisimeto, Venezuela (the difficult political and social situation of the country is briefly introduced).

There, the Calasanz Cultural Centre serves the popular communities of the Trompillo neighbourhood. Its objective is educational work with children, young people and vulnerable families in order to improve their quality of life. For this reason, the centre is a space dedicated to the education and academic monitoring of children and young people from the Trompillo neighbourhood.

Five projects are developed in the centre: educate yourself, school support, trains yourself, Calasanz Unites Us and values.

To better understand what these projects are like, we begin by watching the following video in which the brothers from Venezuela explain to us what their work consists of: https://youtu.be/qvEyI6kMPbs

To find out more about Venezuela's volunteer projects, teachers are encouraged to consult the project fact sheet (see Annex 1).

IMAGINE. Discuss and reflecto n the presented project.

So many things they do in Venezuela to help the children of Barquisimeto! Now it's time to discuss in class what we have found most beautiful about the educational work of Itaka-Escolapios there.

We will work on the video by asking a series of questions using the 1,2,4! method (see annex 2).

After this activity, we will have determined what we like most about the work of the Itaka-Escolapios Venezuela volunteers, what we think is best and what we can apply in our school.

Based on what we have been discussing, we will launch the last question to answer together: how can we improve the environment and coexistence in our immediate surroundings?

We will brainstorm ideas (we will write them all down on the blackboard and then, little by little, we will prioritise them together).

CHANGE. We are committed

With all that we have learned and suggested, we will choose some of the tasks to be carried out during a given period (tasks to change the classroom routine, to carry out at home, with the family or wherever it is necessary for a week, a month or even a trimester).

We will prepare a homework monitoring sheet (see annex 3), and at the end of the period determined by each teacher we will review the achievements in the class-group. It is about learning to commit ourselves to making our environment "a better world".

Finally, we can dedicate part of the conclusions to talk about the action of Itaka-Escolapios in our school, and how we can participate beyond the campaign. Actions such as, for example:

- Financial contribution that our families make.

- Calasanz Movement (where applicable).

- Dining room scholarships (where applicable).

- Solidarity Party / Itaka moves / (any event to raise funds for a project), etc.

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Esta actividad se propone en el marco de la Campaña de solidaridad 2022-23