Background:
CAICC serves children and adolescents who are abandoned because their parents are either incarcerated or have migrated to other countries to search for economic opportunities. CAICC also offers its services to those who come from dysfunctional families and may be at risk. The organization was founded in 1994 by a group of travelers volunteering in Cochabamba, who realized the need for an education and support system for children who lived in prison with their parents. CAICC also offers training workshops and talks to the parents.

Objectives:
The primary goal of CAICC is to offer the children a space in which they can grow. It hopes to be a spark of hope for these children and to help them develop their self-esteem and discover their potential. CAICC offers recreational activities, a balanced diet, and sees that children attend school.

Who does CAICC help?
CAICC currently aids 171 children and adolescents ranging from one to eighteen years old. 70% of these are children of incarcerated or ex-incarcerated individuals, while the other 30% come from low income families where volatile situations prevail.

Working conditions:
The main offices of CAICC are about a half hour bus ride from Cochabamba city center. Every morning, CAICC staff members pick up the children from various penitentiaries around Cochabamba and Quillacollo. CAICC has a permanent staff of eleven, not including its volunteers.

CAICC projects:

The San Sebastian Children’s Day Care Center:
The Day Care Center serves fifty-one children between one and six years old. The center offers education, health care, and a nutritional meal plan.

APRE School:
The school serves 120 children between seven and eighteen years old. The school provides a safe environment in which the children can be helped with homework, engage in extracurricular activities, have a nutritional meal, and interact with other children, thus providing them with a sense of normality.

In addition to medical care, CAICC also offers psychological (clinical, social, educational) attention to all children who partake in the CAICC programs.

Volunteers may help with either project by assisting the staff with feeding the children, providing tutoring services, playing games, or coming up with other recreational activities.

Volunteer/ Internship requirements:

• Intermediate Spanish
• Willingness to work with children from difficult backgrounds
• Open minded, tolerant, and patient
• Minimum commitment period of one month