Time is running by way too fast

I can't believe how fast time goes by. I came to Cochabamba almost two months ago. On the one hand it feels like I've been here forever, because now I'm used to the city, my work – life as it is here. On the other hand, it seems so little time because every day new exciting things happen and I learn new things (at least a few more words in Spanish ;-)).

I'm working in Pre-Kinder (the four-year-olds) and as much as I love the kids and my work it had one dark side: the teacher. She gets paid by the government and Proyecto Horizonte (PH) has no influence on the selection. The teacher is not a very loving person, she yells at the kids all the time, has no empathy and no contact with the kids. The kids didn't seem to be very happy with her and all I did was try to give them the love, affection, and help they needed.After a talk with Eliza, the volunteer coordinator, we had a meeting with Nicola, the local coordinator of PH, and I told her about the problems and suggested solutions. I'm really happy how fast things have improved. The principal talked to the teacher and her assistant, and since they can't fire the teacher, they hired another assistant. She is a very loving person and the kids love her. Her life story moved me a lot. She's only 20 years old and she's already a widow, has a child in El Maternal (18-month to 2-year-olds) and lives in Ushpa. I find it amazing how PH solved the problem: they were very open minded and immediately started to change things in a way that not only provided a solution to the problem but also meant that a young local mum found work.

After another volunteer leaving I started to work two days a week in the health center, but stopped this week, because they have two interns from the university and they don't need my help. I'll probably return in July. This week I started working in El Maternal with the babies one day a week, which is a nice change.

When I don't work in Pre-Kinder and the kids see me in the daycare center, they shout: “Hola Profe Anita!” (a sweet form of Anna), wave enthusiastically and smile widely – what is an awesome reward for the work!

Last weekend was Mother's Day and the anniversary of PH, which we celebrated with a big fiesta: The kids danced in traditional clothes, which was so cute and we, the volunteers, performed a short play about the importance and function of SODIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection). Moreover, we had a table where we showed how to make pilas (taps made from plastic bottles). The celebration was a big success, there were so many people and the atmosphere was wonderful.

Besides my work I'm enjoying life in Cochabamba. All of the volunteers go out a lot, but it's not a big closed group. Usually we go out with volunteers from other organizations and local people. I went on two trips with volunteers from PH and others: to the Salar de Uyuni and Torotoro national park. Both trips were amazing; Bolivia has so much to offer and the countryside is so lovely.

My first few experiences

Before I arrived in Cochabamba I read this blog to get more information, so I assume you're a potential volunteer and I'll try to talk a little bit about the experiences I have had so far!

Before I arrived

I'm 25 years old, I've studied social work in Munich, Germany, and graduated in March. My master's studies begin in October, that's why I've got one semester off. During my studies I started to learn Spanish, but I realized it wasn't going anywhere the way I tried it. This semester seemed to be the best opportunity to combine three things I really wanted to do: learn Spanish, get to know another country and culture, and do something good.

I heard about Proyecto Horizonte through my college, sent an application, and got offered the opportunity to come here. They helped me to find a place to live (I chose to live with a family to have the chance to talk Spanish at home, too, and it turned out to be a good decision), gave me advice on what to bring to Bolivia and what to be aware of.

My arrival

I arrived two weeks ago and it was a great start. After 36 hours of traveling I got picked up from the airport by Eliza, who's the coordinator of the volunteers. She brought me to my new home, introduced me to the family, and made sure everything was OK. The next day I met most of the other volunteers while we where going out for a dinner (they do it for every new volunteer). Around the same time three other new volunteers arrived.

My first two weeks of work

The first day Eliza picked me up to show me how to use a “trufi” (public transportation) and how to get to work. In Ushpa Ushpa the four of the “new arrivals” got a tour through the properties of Proyecto Horizonte and met the staff and kids. Afterwards we sat together and talked about everyone's work tasks. I'm working in Pre-Kinder (the four-year-olds) in the mornings, which suits me quite well. They are really cute and even though the first couple of days I didn't understand them, they still tried to communicate with me. The whole system of Proyecto Horizonte is able to function without volunteers as well; that's – from my point of view – very good. I can give more attention to the children than they usually get (most of them have a lot of siblings and in a group of 30 not all can get an adequate amount of attention), extra one-to-one help, a smile, and kind words. Moreover, I can support the teachers handling the kids because they are not all angels ;-)!

Two afternoons per week I have private Spanish lesson with a teacher who comes to my house, the other afternoons I spend doing different kind of work on the computer like helping to optimize the website and supporting fund-raising.

First resume

I'm very happy I chose to come to Proyecto Horizonte. They've been supporting me in my everyday life as well as in my work. I'm feeling very welcomed and included, they're open minded to new ideas, and it's possible to bring in what you can offer with your skills.

Cochabamba is a great city with a lot of young people, huge markets, and a wonderful view of the mountains. Life is very cheap here and with very little money you can cover your daily basic needs.

Meetings, momentum and of course some dancing in the street!

August has been a month when things really seem to be gaining momentum.

The highlight activity for the month with my kids was participating in the Day Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. There were a number of organisations participating and we had 2 tents where we exhibited the work we do, had games that the public played to give lessons about sexual and domestic violence. And 8 of the kids from the guardaria, 4 from my class, danced in front of about 250 people. Most of them were shy and I had to dance with one of them but one of the girls got really into it and had the whole crowd clapping along. Not bad for a 2yr old (see video attached - unfortunatly no sound but you can get the idea)

We also had the language day in the school which was great fun. The kids had put a lot of effort into preparing games in english and quechua and then there was a full programme of songs and poems in both languages complete with dances, mimes, air guitars and some fantastic costumes.

We carried out the interviews in the night school, at the community meeting and the employees of the guardaria went house to house. We got a great selection of ages and people from all areas of Mineros San Juan. Some people were really interesting to talk to and their different perspectives were quite insightful. I have been compiling the results and the answers are teaching me a lot about the people and the community. We are now having meetings with local governments and preparing our responses to the community. We now have a clearer understanding of what they want to learn and are preparing education programmes based on that.

It has also been meetings ahoy for me with the girls group that I want to start. I made some contacts with an organisation that works in sex ed and particularly HIV holding an expo, and this has helped me get the momentum I was missing to crack on with this and bring it to the forefront of planned activities. Still lots of work to do but the engagement of conversation with people in the community when I put up posters for the expo and the enthusasium of the 8thgraders on going to the expo is giving me motivation and hope that sexual health education for the community is just around the corner.

Bolivia is also never dull with there always being a festival to celebrate. August being the month of Independance Day and a big local festival that results in some early morning walks and some traditional ceremonies on a mountain that include buying minature versions of all the things I want in my life, getting them blessed and hacking out some rocks from the moutain with a mallet.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions eliza_wall@yahoo.com.au

Cochabamba: Where My Heart Is

I spent five months in Proyecto Horizonte, and I am fairly sure I left a good part of my heart there when I left. It is a project full of love and dedicated employees and I really enjoyed becoming part of the team that drives Proyecto Horizonte. I worked in the healthcare centre, in the day care centre with five-year-olds, and with the women of Tantakuna (a group that provides social support to a group of women and supports microenterprises).

When I arrived in Cochabamba I was living with a Bolivian family, working alongside Bolivians and

spending much of my free time with volunteers who

spoke to me in Spanish. I spoke very little Spanish at this stage. That had to -- and eventually did -- change. Completely immersing myself in a foreign culture was a mind-blowing experience. One of the things that I loved about living and working in Cochabamba is the amount of interaction I had with strangers on a daily basis. That I was questioned about my family and love life by everyone from the woman I’m bartering with at the market when I bought my weekly groceries, to the elderly woman in traditional Bolivian clothing who I’d be crammed next to in a shared taxi on the way to Proyecto Horizonte every day. On the one hand their lives seemed so different to mine, but sometimes the similarities and connections I built were equally astounding. I have watched the consultation of a woman the same age as me -- 22 -- who was pregnant with her

second child, her first having died when it was less than one month old, and who has no schooling whatsoever. And to think that by some stroke of fate that I was born to my life in New Zealand not in

semi-rural Bolivia, that I am the university educated volunteer watching the consultation not someone who hasn’t even had the chance to go to primary school, is something that I will hopefully remember to treasure for a long time to come. It just seems that horrible things happen on a much more frequent basis when you are poor. But I was surprised time and again by the way that women return to work and continue their lives despite trials that seem inhumanly harsh.

At the same time there are a lot of great things to be said for the Bolivian way of life. They definitely take themselves and others -- in particular foreigners -- a little less seriously. It seems that every second week life is completely disrupted so that we could celebrate some event, such as the international day of the child, or the day that Bolivia lost the sea to Chile. This ability to celebrate life, or have a 3 hour lunch break in the middle of a working day, is something that I will definitely miss upon return home to New Zealand.

The work that Proyecto Horizonte does in supporting the neighbourhood and the improvements that have come out of this are incredibly impressive. But there is still so much more to do. There are still families who have difficulties paying the 15c a day it costs to send the children to school. Many of the parents are working in different districts of Bolivia or in Argentina or Spain to try and bring in desperately needed money for the family. The combination of absent parents and the high rate of domestic violence in Bolivia mean that for many children, their homes are not the safe or caring environments that they should be.

I completely fell in love with the children that I worked with. I think they generally returned the feelings, even if they might occasionally have punched me when I tried to discipline them. Leaving them was the hardest part of leaving my life in Cochabamba by a mile. A few months back I overheard one of my students telling another student, “if you don’t eat your crackers, you’re not going to be big like the Hannah”. I am glad to see that I have made some kind of difference, even if it is only as inspiration for Bolivian children to finish their snacks.

I would highly recommend volunteering at Proyecto Horizonte, and if anyone is thinking of doing so and has any questions feel free to get in contact with me.

Cure for Mondayitis

July has been a whirlwind of momentum gathering for all the areas that I am working in.

I have developed a great relationship with all 18 of the 1-2 year olds that I work with. Their greetings hugs and kisses are enough to kill any Mondayitis that I may be suffering. There were some visitors in the commuity and we all (yes me included) dressed in traditional clothes from the different parts of Bolivia that they are from and performed a dance to traditional music from the area. The kids were gorgeous and dressing up in the clothes from La Paz was great fun but I didn’t pull of the tradicional dance very well. I still love practicing the dances with kids, they really get into it and some of them have looks of pure bliss on th

eir face as they dance. The greatest thing I have found about working with those of such a young age is experiencing some of their ‘firsts’ – first steps, first see-saw or slippery slide ride or sometimes just the first time I make the grumpy one laugh and finding she has a very contagious gorgeous laugh.

On the education programes, we have been busy preparing a questionaire that is aimed at getting amongst the people of the commuinity and getting more of an idea of how Proyecte Horizonte can help them and what education that would be interested in if it was offered – mainly finances, health and personal development. I have been testing out the questionaire with the employees of the Guardaria and have enjoyed it immensly. They were helpful, open and all that they told me was interesting and gave me more insight into the community.

I also had the opportunity to work in the computer room over the school holidays opening it for free time so that the kids could mainly play games but also use their new email accounts. This has given me exposure to the kids in the school which has given yet another perspective on the community

August is set to be a big month so stay tuned!!

You can email me on eliza_wall@yahoo.com.au if you have any questions

Neat ninos

Sarah Sinnott: I’m a former Business Development Executive who has taken a year off to travel, volunteer, learn Spanish and live in Bolivia. My work at Ushpa Ushpa started in April 2010 and I will be here for just over six months.

My first month at Ushpa Ushpa was spent in the guardería (the kindergarten). Here I was fully immersed in the day-to-day activities and was able to see and learn firsthand about the community, the kids, the staff and the project as a whole.

Each day was spent with a class of three-year olds helping out where I could while my Spanish improved. For me, this was an eye opening experience, but not in the way one would expect when working in a poor community on the outskirts of Cochabamba. For me, it was the first time I had spent any significant amount of time with kids in my life! And I can only say it was a treat to hang out with these neat ninos.

In terms of improving my Spanish – it is pretty hard to understand what a 3-year-old is saying in any language, especially through tears or a tantrum. And getting 3-year-olds to actually do something that you want them to do doesn’t have a whole lot to do with what you say to them! But every lunchtime after we put the kids to sleep I would sit with the teachers and practice and listen intently while we prepared for the afternoon’s activity and this was really helpful.

Aside from Spanish, in just a month the kids did manage to teach me a lot and at the same time, do all things people say kids will do to you: made me feel young, made me remember how to ‘play’, showed me the power a smile, taught me patience and proved to me that kids really do say the darnedest things in the cutest ways.

In return I did my best to act as silly as possible to get a laugh each day. My favourite was when the girls would laugh so hard that they would topple over, and because they were holding hands they would tug down all the other girls into one big pile of giggling three-year-olds. I miss hanging out with them, brushing their teeth and scooping some more of the home-cooked lunches into their little mouths. To them I was ‘Sala’, the funny gringa with the weird short hair.

What a world away from corporate ‘Sarah’ I am now.

To contact me directly on my experience so far, and for any further information I could help with, please send an email to sarah.sinnott@gmail.com