Ojo de Pez

Ojo de Pez is an ongoing photography project working with teenagers in Villa Lugano.
The project is based at Conviven and I am happy to be able to attach their new Blog.
If you have the time it really is worth looking at.

http://ojodepeztalleres.blogspot.com/

An overdue "Thank You" is in order to former Conviven volunteers:

Liis Kangsepp
Joshua Cox
Raffaella Gazzola

They have individually raised money for Conviven after returning home from friends, family and associates. Conviven would not be able to provide all the services it does to the children and families of the neighboring community without the support of its Volunteers. With the money they raised we were able to:

renovate the kitchen (see pictures)
fix the bathrooms in the jardin and upstairs
fix the water tank
install kitchen fixtures
install a heater and complete piping work for heating throughout conviven
fix electricty in the computer lab

As the staff and students currently at Conviven know, these fixes were long overdue and we really appreciate the generosity of the aforementioned Volunteers who made them possible. Conviven does not charge volunteers fees to join its organization and survives through voluntary donations from friends, family and former volunteers. We strongly believe that the experience each person gains at Conviven will convert to lifelong supporters of Conviven.

Again thank you, thank you, thank you!

Art Club

Thursday afternoons, once English classes are all done the children all squeeze into one room for my Art class. This class has kids ranging from 5 to 15 yrs all with a crazy excitement to create a mess and something fun. They get to make things like finger puppets, collages, clay figures. They learn about famous artists and how everyone of them is able to create great pieces of art. At the moment we have 25 kids which is a great deal in ways of lack of space and materials. We have kids sharing chairs or just having to stand but they have a great time so that 's all that matters. What we do need is resources, for 25 kids you can end up needing a lot of things. I spend most weeks searching the attic of Conviven for odd bits and pieces finding old card, pasta, rice, paper cups and of course if you think hard enough you can create something from nothing.

The new kitchen!

Since the moment I arrived at Conviven, over a year ago I heard the on going grones at the state of the kitchen. Our kitchen serves not only the center but also the kinder garden as well as the local community. As new volunteers arrived and old ones left I found them handing me money, trusting that I would put it where it was needed. We began to think that if we called in a few favours and digged deep that we may in fact be able to raise the large amount which would result in an upgraded kitchen. As grotty as it was, it was still the heart of the community center and we began to imaging what a difference a new improved one could make. After some very generouse donations and fundraisers by current and old volunteers the money was finaly raised and the work began. Today a year on from when I arrived at conviven we sit contentily in a bright clean yellow kitchen drinking Mate.

A special thanks to Liis, Madie, Mrs Koerfer, Alex, Murielle and Sil and all the others that made it possible.

Ojo de Pez

Photo Exhibition

A New Term

The academic year starts next week the 2nd of March. This will also be the date that Conviven will be re opening its doors to offer free English classes to the local community. We mostly have small groups of children aged 5 to 14. We will need enthusiastic motivated volunteers to teach these lovely children. If you are interested in helping please e mail us at-

volunteersconviven@gmail.com

classes will be on mOnday, Wednesday and Thursdays 3 -6 pm.