The AIC volunteers in Bahía Blanca, Argentina are offering a range of services to disadvantaged people in their local community during the COVID-19 pandemic, including educational support to pupils who are distance learning, food and clothes banks and a vaccination campaign.
School support
A group of volunteers with English teaching experience is working with a local secondary school, Instituto Superior Juan XXIII, to provide virtual support to more than 60 students from disadvantaged backgrounds with their English studies. This project has attracted the interest of the University of East Anglia in the UK. The volunteers are also working with students from a local university, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, who have volunteered to answer pupils’ questions via WhatsApp at specified times, especially in Maths and Physics.
The AIC volunteers give year-round support to primary school children. This support continues during the pandemic, but the methods have changed. The group adapts to each family’s possibilities (virtual platforms, video calls, WhatsApp, email, etc.). They are collaborating with a local school to identify additional children who need support, which will begin by providing them with books to enhance their reading skills and interest in reading.
Food support
The local authority, a local church, the school mentioned above and various individuals have generously donated fresh and dry food and hygiene and cleaning products, enabling the volunteers to regularly prepare food bags for families who need them.
Clothing bank
The volunteers also provide warm clothes and shoes to those who require them as winter approaches. Here again they have received many donations. This project is run in collaboration with a local parish youth group, whose members help to sort the clothes.
Vaccination campaign
In this official public health campaign, health professionals came to administer flu jabs to very young, elderly and at-risk patients at the AIC volunteers’ premises on three different days to improve health and resistance to disease in the local community.
Well done to the AIC-Bahía Blanca volunteers for creatively adapting these different services to the current health crisis! You are an inspiration to us all!
Follow the activities of the AIC-Bahía Blanca group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AIC-Bahia-Blanca-oficial-100112371401403
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