Support 125 children at Refugio Rafael in Bolivia

One of the most important parts of our work at Refugio Rafael and with Fundación Ayllu is the opportunity to visit with volunteers from around the world and infuse shots of energy, new ideas and hope into the lives of our partners and friends in Bolivia. Finally we were able to visit this April, with volunteers from Ohio, Masachusetts, and Australia, a small group of 5 people. We found the people and project thriving and facing the challenges created by the pandemic with heart, spirit and grit. We worked to amplify this energy over the course of 2 weeks with maintenance on the buildings, new partnership agreements for dental and vision care, after school tutoring and supplies, celebrations, food and donations. We look forward to a year marked by changes, renewal and lots of activity!

Here's a quick list of how we spent our time together:

• Celebration of the Day for Children on our arrival. Victour provided backpacks and school supplies, toys and snacks! The Foundation supplied more treats and cake! The kids had a great time and felt honored and lifted up!
• New partnership started with a vision care organization, with a tentative date set for May eye exams of 500 local residents!
• Sealing of the school house ("la escuelita") roof to keep leaks at bay (work completed by one of the young men who grew up in the Refugio and who is now a professional construction worker)
• Repair of all plumbing issues in the house and la escuelita, including adding showers, moving the water meter out of the path of the road
• Upgrade of lighting fixtures to LED, addition of a solar powered outdoor light, and upgrade of wiring to and between our buildings (work completed by one of the young men who grew up in the Refugio and who is now a professional electrician!)
• Repainting and sealing of all paintable walls in the house (work completed by a new friend from the Director's church who we hope to see back to work with our youth, his special skill set!
• Repair of our grass cutting machine, a sewing machine and a computer for the older youth to work on homework!
• Tutoring in English and other subjects with our 2 educator volunteers, Jack and Iskra
• Celebration of Angela's birthday, our only April birthday, as a community, with an amazing meal of roast chicken, salad, corn and more!
• Visits with over a dozen women to develop artisan products, support improvement of current handcraft production, develop new product ideas and review handcraft skill sets in the community. Purchases of handcrafts for sale back in the States were higher than ever!
• Coordinating with the social assistance interns who helped bake bread, tutor children, meet with families and keep our environment to standard.
• Visit to 2 external families who have transitioned to their own homes. Assess and support their transitions to building income, keeping their kids in school, and managing stresses and challenges as they arise.
• Patnership with Smile Forever to treat the children living in the refugio as well as setting up the week-long attendance to the cavilities and dental health of 400 school children in the coming months. This one is special because GlobalGiving is how this organization found us! We are so grateful and thrilled that we can connect to solve tooth pain and cavities for so many children in our area.
• Beautification of the living area with new curtain rods, curtain material, full length mirrors, and more! Also sealing of areas around windows and window repair.
• And of course we shared photos from past years, played soccer and uno and other games, colored, chased our new resident cats, cooked, cleaned and ate together, embraced new friends and old, told stories, listened to each others celebrations and woes, and reconnected as we only can in person.

We are so grateful for the time together with our Bolivian partners and look forward to inviting you to join us as a volunteer in the future, should you want to connect your skills with the needs of this community. Thank you for all the ways you support us!