"If anybody is looking for a place to volunteer in South America, look no further than Proyecto!" - Kathryn, United States

My final day of volunteering has come to a close and I leave for the United States tomorrow night. But before I finish this journey, I wanted to write one more post about the amazing organization that I have been volunteering for. 

That organization is Proyecto Horizonte located in Ushpa-Ushpa. They focus on healthcare, education, and local development.  I have been working with the education aspect by teaching English classes at a local school to students between the ages of 11 and 17. What amazes me about Proyecto is their dedication to improving the lives of the people in the community.  They want everyone to be educated and not just on science and math but also on living a healthy lifestyle. I have enjoyed getting to know everyone that works in the physiological department, the youth club, and the educational department. 

Another aspect of Proyecto is the volunteers that work there. During my time here there have been volunteers from the United States, Cananda, Germany, England and Bolivia. Volunteers travel from all over the world to work with this organization. Some stay as long as a year, while others volunteer for the summer. Each person has a different story but also comes from a different culture. During one conversation I am likely to hear English, Spanish, and German. One of the things that I will also remember about Proyecto is the chance to meet people from all over the world. 

I loved Proyecto ever since reading about them online before I came and when I was talking to the volunteer coordinator.  Although my first two weeks in Bolivia were an adjustment, the people at Proyecto supported me every step of the way.  Because of this organization, I have been able to learn about and appreciate the culture of Bolivia. If anybody is looking for a place to volunteer in South America,  look no further than Proyecto. Just do me a favor and know more about Bolivia and the city of Cochabamba than I did to try and prevent culture shock. 
The link to their website is below if anybody is looking for more information about this amazing organization. The website has information about volunteering, donating, or buying products from the local women's group. Feel free to email me or let me know if you have any questions as well!
http://www.ushpa-ushpa.com/

- Kathryn, United States

If There's a Will There's a Way

Brittany talks about how anything is possible in Bolivia, standing up in buses for long periods of time or even riding on the roofs of vans. 


I think that this should be the motto for Bolivia "If there's a will there's a way" because it really is true. We say it back home but because of so many rules and regulations sometimes there really isn't a way. This weekend a couple of us headed off to Toro Toro to see the dinosaur footprints and crawl through enormous caves but since you can't book a bus ticket in advance you have to just show up and hope you get a seat. After asking all the Toro Toro bus companies if they had any seats we were with out luck (unless we wanted to sit under the bus with the luggage) and started to think that we had better just turn back and head home. We started to head back after putting our names on a list for a morning bus the next day, a bus driver approached us and asked if we wanted to ride on his bus. We were so excited, we thought all the buses were full so we asked how we could ride on this bus now but not before. The man said we could stand in the aisle way and surely people will get off before Toro Toro. Not thinking we would have to stand for 3 hours before the first group of people got off. It was quite and adventure and a struggle watching everyone look so cozy while sleeping in their seats while I attempted to keep standing. Patients paid off while waiting for the bus that day because there is no way that we could have seen all that we did if we would have taken the saturday bus. Luckily on the way back we had good seats!

Packing

Brittany talks about how the weather in Bolivia and how it is do different throughout the regions and how packing lightly is essential for weekend trips.

    Its hard to know sometimes what to pack for weekend trips because the weather is so different in each region of Bolivia. For example, in the Jungle it was so hot during the day but the temperature dropped during the night. In Machaca it was bone chilling cold because we were so high up in the mountains. Like always I over pack for everything! I had an entire backpack filled with clothes for just a long weekend in the jungle, but the one thing that I have learned is that less is more when choosing clothes for a trip. Packing just the essentials makes your backpack lighter to carry and you can always re-wear clothes, as long as they aren't drenched in jungle sweat. I have learned the hard way how to pack lightly but as long at you have enough undergarments you are good to go. Since Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" its always on the warmer side which makes dressing every morning pretty easy. Most of the North and Western parts of Bolivia are hot because that is where the jungles are but as you move southeast it begins to get a little cooler. So, pack accordingly and not too much because in the end your the one who has to carry your bag around.

Multiferia

Many of the volunteers over the weekend attended the Multiferia to learn more about what projects the children have been working on, Brittany explains her impressions of the projects. 


A group of us volunteers showed up Sunday at 8:30 to check out the Multiferia, which is exactly like our school science fairs. I was so impressed with the kids experiments and everything they were sharing with the public. There were so many kids of all ages with so many different projects, from the famous volcanoes to making perfume, there was a little bit of everything. Some of us volunteers got put on duty to judge each project. The kids would tell us about their project in great detail and then we would ask them questions to make sure they really knew what they were talking about. Many kids were very shy to start with but once they started explaining they were so engrossed with their project they wouldn't stop talking! It was so great to see the kids in action teaching the community about various topics.

VOLUNTEERING IN BOLIVIA

Nurul, a volunteers from America, talks about his journey through life and what brought him to Proyecto Horizonte.



When I thought about writing something about volunteering in Bolivia, first thing came

to my mind why I am here in Bolivia? To tell my story briefly:-

When I was young in Bangladesh, America was my dream land. God fulfilled my dream

and I have made America my home. I am so grateful to enjoy a peaceful life with dignity

and all the material benefits of health, education, food and shelter. Now I have a dream

to share this blessing and fortune with the whole mankind. So, now I wish to make the

whole world as my home like United States of Planet Earth, or United Nations of Planet

Earth, or Earthian Union - name doesn't matter, reality counts. I do not know when God

will grant my wish and dream - that is when we achieve a boundary less world.

However, in the meantime I decided to volunteer some of my time and energy for the

poor impoverished country. Bolivia came to my mind because it has 60% of indigenous

population and most of them are very poor, disadvantaged and devoid of modern material

comfort of education, home, sanitation, and healthcare. Most of all, being one of the

poorest country in south America, Bolivia was the first country in the world who dared to

give equal rights to nature as humans. Here is the link:

http://utopianist.com/2011/04/bolivia-becomes-worlds-first-nation-to-give-nature-equal-
rights-as-man/

As I have become older, I started trusting my heart more and more than my scientific

logical brain and mind. I responded to the call of my heart and decided to take a

spiritual journey in Bolivia and offer my volunteering. I was sponsoring a child in

Bolivia for a year who was being provided early education by a non-profit organization

named "Projecto Horizonte". I decided to volunteer with them. And so here I am in

Cochabamba, Bolivia, playing with the innocent, pure, lovable children of Bolivia. They

love me so much that they hug me and kiss me whenever they see me. It is amazing - as

if I always had a close relationship with them.

I am not sure how I would leave them - it would be very hard for me. I wish I could

take them all back to USA and take care of them. But that won't be possible because the

politics and bureaucratic red line is very powerful. That is why I pray that someday we

would takeout all the artificial boundaries of the world and all the children of Bolivia and

the rest of the world will enjoy the same privilege like the children of USA and Europe.

Nurul Mukul writes for nothing but "Equality and Justice"

Bolivia Climates

Traveling around Bolivia you might learn the hard way how to dress. Brittany talks about her travels coming back form the Jungle and how every city's weather was completely different.

     Most people don’t realize how different the climates are throughout Bolivia. While on my trip home from the jungle I went from being so hot in Rurrenabaque probably close to 35 degrees Celsius to freezing cold in La Paz maybe about 10 degrees Celsius.

     Our journey by bus through the mountains it even snowed from La Paz to Cochabamba. Although they say that Cochabamba is the “City of Eternal Spring” just a few hours north by bus can be a whole different story. You never really realize how cold it is up in the mountains you go until you’re up there. So always travel in Bolivia with plenty of layers no matter how silly you look because you never know how the weather will be along the way!

Tiquipaya

Brittany and some of the other volunteers head to Tiquipaya to broaden their cultural horizons! They try different dishes unique to Bolivia and test their cacho skils while drinking the infamous chicha.


On Sunday a couple of us went to Tiquipaya, which is a small little city just north of Cochabamba,to have lunch with some of our friends, Lauren and Martin, but lunch turned into Chicha and Chicha turned into a whole day out. The restaurant was family style so we decided upon Charqui which is Quechua for jerky. I figured it was just beef jerky with rice and mote with potatoes and eggs. WRONG… they layed down the dish and all I heard was some one say "llama". I said "WHAT this is llama?!" Sure enough it was, I tried some and it really wasn’t bad. It was a red meat like beef but had some weird unique flavor to it. It was something I had never tasted before. It was good! But it was also very chewy and tough to eat. They way they make Charqui is they cut the llama meat into really thin slices and cure it with salt then hang it to dry for a couple days. After the meat is really dried out they soak it in water and then fry it. It looked exactly like beef jerky but much drier and no juicy chucks like the ones you can pick out of a beef jerky bag. The whole thing was really interesting!

When we had first gotten to Tiquipaya we noticed a huge festival going on, it was a festival for the trout… not quite sure where they would get their trout from other than Lake Titicaca which is a half days bus ride.

 I am always puzzled in Bolivia because not much that they do makes much sense, they are just looking for reasons to drink and dance. One of the girls ordered a trout dish at the restaurant, I dont know why we expected any less but, it came with the head, scales, fins, and all! I had a couple bits and it was really good! 

After drinking our Chicha de Quinoa (much better than Chicha de Maiz)  we headed out to the festival to watch people dance and listen to live music.

                                                        How chicha de quinoa is made

Off to the Lavanderia

Brittany and her two Swedish roommates decided its time to wash their clothes. Heres a post about their adventure to the Lavanderia. 

After being in Cochabamba for a little less than a month I had finally run out of socks and underwear…. the necessities that must be clean (at least for me). I was getting so desperate for something clean to wear that I was first forced to wash some clothes in the sink and hang them to dry.  The next day I went on the hunt for some sort of Lavanderia. After walking close to a mile I laid my eyes on the golden egg only to see the gate was down and they were closed. I turned around and walked back home in the scorching sun. Monday morning came and it was time to pack up our clothes and try it again. Jennifer, Sara and I wrapped our clothes in our aguayas threw them over our backs and headed to the lavanderia one more time.  After many odd looks and whistles we finally made it. The women measured out our amount of clothes, wrote our names down and told us it would be ready tomorrow evening…. WHAT?! An entire day and a half with basically the clothes on my back and no towel for showering, this should be interesting. The next day at 5pm we headed back to pick up our freshly cleaned clothes. You don’t appreciate the little things like clean clothes till slip on a fresh pair of PJ’s and snuggle into soft clean sheets. 

Machaca por el Festivide de Señor Exaltacion

Recently our volunteers received a great opportunity... the chance to see first hand how small villages, like Machaca, celebrate their Saints. Being the only tourist or Gringos made for quite an adventure. 


After a 9-hour journey by bus through the mountains we have finally made it to Machaca, an extremely small self-sustaining village.

We all stood around in the village center and watched as the people carried their saint Señora Exaltacion and showered her with confetti from one corner to the next. They stopped at each corner blessing and praying all four sides of the village. The marching band followed playing Simon and Garfunkel ‘Sound of Silence’.

 At the end of their small march the priest dipped flowers in water and started putting holy water on everyone. Then they began blessing all the automobiles by putting flowers, streamers and bows all over the cars, even pouring beer on the tires while praying for safe journeys home, since the roads are so dangerous… and the band continued playing ‘Sound of Silence’.

 Finally one of the girls went up to the band members and said, “Why do you keep playing that song?” the man replied, “thats Señora Exaltacion’s favorite song.” We all got quite a chuckle out of that because after we had told them it was an old popular English song, but the men didn’t know what she was talking about. So apparently who ever the priest was at the time they started celebrating Señora Exaltacion really liked Simon and Garfunkel. We drank Chicha by night and attempted to blend in with the locals!

Setbacks, difficulties, and finally--some shreds of success.

March has flown by in a blur of canned foam and water balloons for Carnival, and now April is looming close and my number of weeks left in Cochabamba has dwindled to the single digits. The past month has been characterized by a healthy mix of excitement, frustration, and laughter--which has shown me that after half a year at Proyecto Horizonte, I'm just beginning to feel like I'm doing more than flopping uselessly about. (Okay, maybe I didn't feel like I was flopping, exactly, but I'm just starting to get into a groove where I feel adequately useful).

Cold and wet after celebrating Carnival at the school with my students.

The Excitement: 
In the past month, I've been focusing mainly on three things: English classes and extra tutoring for new students, arranging in-home nutrition workshops for a group of women in the community, and a youth leadership initiative that I've been thinking about practically since my arrival. English classes have been getting better and better as my students become more comfortable around me and my confidence in my teaching increases. The nutrition workshops are finally starting to look like a possibility as we explore possibilities for using outside resources to bring student nutritionists out to Mineros San Juan. But finally, my youth leadership initiative is finally up and running and off the ground. I'm thrilled to see it finally have decent attendance. The participants seem to be enjoying the meetings and activities, and I can already see them starting to realize and correct the mistakes they make when working in teams. I'll write another post about the leadership program soon. Check back!


The Frustration:
As wonderful as the above is, it's been quite a struggle to reach this point with everything. In English classes, I've had a rough time managing some classes of unruly (and sometimes manipulative) kids, who at times have made me doubt my abilities as a volunteer and teacher. Organizing the nutrition workshops has also been difficult. With the initially grueling work of arranging groups of neighbors done, we've had a challenging time locating a professional to give the workshops, as the majority of our contacts are in La Paz for some time and unavailable to come to the community. This has forced us to postpone the workshops' start. With the leadership program I was initially frustrated by how few students showed interest, and even more frustrated by those who showed interest but failed to act upon it by showing up to the first meeting. It was certainly hard to face my first leadership meeting with just two students, but it only doubled my resolve to encourage the kids to come and make the initiative a success. The next meeting saw ten teenagers turn up, proving that perseverance is probably the most important factor when working in this environment.


The Laughter:
The way I've turned most of my frustration into excitement is by laughing. Of course it's hard to deal with disappointment, especially after working very hard for something. But one of the great things about working at Proyecto Horizonte is that the work is never done. When something doesn't work, try again, change it up, and do it over. Eventually it'll start to work. That attitude has allowed me to see a lot of these potential setbacks as funny rather than upsetting. The most important thing is not to be discouraged and to keep your spirits up. Energy and persistence conquer all things, after all. 


If you're considering coming to work with us, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions at keah20@gmail.com and I will answer as promptly and candidly as possible.