Miriam Elvira Bernales Pinedo-Kühni

The first steps in Lima

In 2008, I worked for a few months as a volunteer in a home for homeless boys aged 8 – 14. Since then, in collaboration with the project managers, I have been responsible for providing further support/counseling to the residents of the home at the time. Parallel to my tasks at the children’s home, I accompanied a group initiated by an SMG employee on their night-time street outreaches and was able to gain my first experience of working with the homeless in Lima.

In 2011, I completed a six-month internship in Lima as part of my training as a social worker. There I worked on a project that helped delinquent male youths (slums and youth prison). My tasks included counseling sessions with those affected, parents’ evenings (e.g. teaching parenting skills), family conferences and leisure projects. I can now use the skills I applied and deepened during this internship at “Estacion Esperanza”.