By Lydia Hill | Project Leader
GlobalGiving July 2022 Report
It is winter now in Bolivia, with the temperatures dipping below 0 at night in El Alto. The homes the families live in do not have heat, nor does the Centre. Children and parents bundle up to sleep, and the children and staff wear their coats and often gloves in the Centre during the day. Daytime highs reach in the mid teens, but the sun doesn’t penetrate the brick walls, so indoors remains cold.
Last month much needed security improvements were finished up at the Centre, including building the perimeter walls higher and adding broken glass to the top to deter thieves. A security dog/mascot was also brought in, and “Sassy” does her best to deter thieves with her barking. Unfortunately, thefts are on the increase in the area due to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks are still worn everywhere in Bolivia, and we are told this is because everybody lost someone to COVID-19. Bolivia has been hit hard.
The children are still back in school in person, and still back at the Center each day. They continue to benefit and thrive from the nutrition and education support you provide, and we are grateful for that. With the families pushed even further into poverty, the nutrition the children receive at the Centre is more important than ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
In July, three directors (Lydia, Matt, and Bob) and one volunteer (Bob’s wife Carol) traveled to Bolivia (always on their own nickel) to not only visit the kids at the Centre, but also to officially start a second project in a nearby neighbourhood (Villa Ingenio) with a new in-country partner, AHIEZER. This project will run on Saturdays to start with, and will benefit 40 more impoverished Indigenous Aymara children, mostly from single parent families. These children did not have educational support through the first 2 years of the pandemic, and lost almost 2 years of education as the result. Help Bolivia intends to eventually take the working model of the nutrition and education support programs run at the Tahuantinsuyo Community Centre to Villa Ingenio as funding levels grow. Providing nutrition and education support to children & and skills training to parents are critical to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Also while in Bolivia, the travelers visited 4 family homes, and saw firsthand the extreme poverty the families live with. None had tables or chairs for the children to do homework on, or even for the family to eat meals at. They eat on their beds, they do homework on their beds, they sit on their beds. The homes are tiny, usually one or two rooms, and there is no room for children to play. The Centre is a safe haven for the children, and they enjoy their time there very much.
As a personal treat, the travelers rented 2 buses and took the children and the parents on an outing to Isla de Tortuga on Lake Titicaca. This was the first time for most of the families, and they enjoyed the beach very much. Check out the video for some cool drone footage of the day!
We saw again first hand the benefits of the programs running for the children that YOU make possible. We are humbled and grateful for your support, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Stay well,
Lydia
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By Lydia Hill | Project Leader
By Lydia Hill | Project Leader
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