Warmi Kaya's First Participant

Warmi Kaya’s first participant is Ms. Miriam Yapu, single mother to 5 children attempting to support them financially.  She moved to La Paz in an attempt to make more money as a street vendor.  She has some serious health struggles as does her youngest child, an 18 month old.  The Kaya team began working with her on the children’s health to ensure his safety.  Additionally, one staff member, her “mentor,” is working with her to identify and set expectations for her own family as well as assess her motivation for supporting her family.  Two of her children, Jhonatan and Yamil, attend the Kaya Center and participated in the extra academic support offered during the school holidays.  Both are far behind in terms of their reading and writing skills.  They made some progress during the holidays but not enough and are still receiving support.

Miriam Yapu and 3 of her 5 children.

Miriam was recently evicted from her one room home.  The owner needed the space and asked her to leave the next day.  Her children had accidentally broken the window in the room.  The owner of the house room kept her cylinder of cooking gas as payment for the damage.  Miriam had a small amount of savings that she used to rent another room but she didn't have any money left to purchase another container of cooking gas therefore her children were unable to have hot meals.

Warmi Kaya provided Miriam a small loan to purchase the gas.  She has been repaying the loan by cleaning the Kaya Center several days a week.  Miriam recently learned how to make alpaca scarves and is selling them for approximately US$4 each to earn money for her family.

Miriam Yapu proudly identifies as a Christian.  Even though she faces extreme difficulties, she often wears a smile.  "God won't' let me know.  I have a lot of faith," she says warmly.

Kaya's Seeking a Volunteer to Assist the Board of Directors

Kaya’s Board of Directors is comprised of generous, thoughtful and committed leaders throughout the United States.  Responsible for the overall management of the organization, they meet as a large group approximately every other month through conference call.

We are currently seeking a volunteer to assist with those Board meetings.  The main responsibility will include producing minutes of bi-monthly Board meetings.  This will include attending Board meetings through conference call, taking notes, and creating a draft version of minutes within a reasonable timeframe.  This is a significant, and hopefully, rewarding position.  It helps to maintain the structure of the organization.  There may be further opportunities beyond this in time.

The ideal volunteer has strong writing skills and a pleasant personality.  He or she is dependable and prompt.  He or she is able to work with little supervision while maintaining a high level of confidentiality.  The volunteer must be able to meet deadlines in a timely manner.  Great communication skills, proficiency in English and access to the Internet and a phone line are essential to the position.

Additionally, the ideal volunteer will be available for a minimum of 1 year with an average time commitment of 5 hours every other month.

For more information or to apply, please contact Sarah Porter, Kaya’s Executive Director, at sporter@kayachildren.org or 617-207-5438.

For more information on Kaya, please visit www.kayachildren.org.  Thank you.