A day of work at Centro Cultural San Isidro

On Saturday the 19th a group of us spent the day at the Centro Cultural San Isidro volunteering.
San Isidro is one of the work placements for the program, and two Canadians (Gaelen and Dana) work there. They are clearing out an old, overgrown property to make a garden/outside school.
They will be using the garden to teach kids about growing food, and help give the kids a sense of responsibility.
So on Saturday about six of us went to San Isidro to clear out the land, and create a garden.
When we got there the land was overgrown, with a huge pile of tree branches that needed to be chopped apart. Our tools were machetes, shovels, and rakes!
This is how the yard looked early on in the day..

We worked with some other volunteers from San Isidro, including a few from Germany, to clear out the land and create the garden.

We hadn't finish it when we left Saturday, but here are some pictures of the now almost complete project!

The pictures don't show all of the area, but the trees are still there, and underneath them is a bench and logs for sitting. It turned out quite well I think, and I got to meet some really nice new people. It was definitely worth all the hard work! :)

A lot to catch up on..

I realize I am REALLY far behind on blogging, and I have to apologize because I have been insanely busy and haven't been able to keep you all updated.
Bolivia is hot, really hot, but I am proud to say I'm surviving. I am constantly amazed by the things I see here, and I am continually learning.
Last week was the campamento de medio programa. I cannot believe that my time here is already half over! Since we're going out of the city for Carnaval (the big four day celebration all across Bolivia and other parts of South America), we stayed in Santa Cruz for the mi-projet instead of going away. It was a week packed full with group activities, and counterpart talks. In the end I think it was fairly productive!
Over the past few weeks we have been going out once a week to collect money for Casa de la Mujer. We have raised a pretty good amount of money, though I'm not sure exactly how much. We're planning to continue collecting weekly until the end of the program, and hopefully we will reach our goal!
My Spanish has gotten a lot better since coming to Bolivia, and I can now hold my own in most conversations! I am still practicing every chance I get though, and I have a lot more to learn.
My work placement is absolutely incredible! I will blog more about it later, because its so great it deserves a separate post. But it is partly to blame for me being too busy to blog.
I know this is just a really quick update, and I apologize, but my Education Day is tomorrow so I have to get back to working on it!
My counterparts (Sophie and Danitza) and I are running the education day tomorrow on the topic of abortion. Abortion isn't legal in Bolivia, but just as many abortions happen yearly in Bolivia as they do in Canada. The difference though is that in Canada the abortions are in safe, supervised environments, while in Bolivia they are happening illegally, in unsafe locations. I have learned a lot about abortion and its situation around the world, now I can only hope that tomorrow the rest of the group learns just as much!
Hasta proxima.. and it will be soon I promise!

Second Sector Project Activity

We did our second activity for the sector project (Casa de la Mujer) on Wednesday January 9th.
In the afternoon we stormed the plaza, which is the big central park in Santa Cruz, with our posters and collection buckets. We spent the afternoon talking with people about our cause, showing off our posters, and collecting money.
When the event was over we had raised around 1050bs! So far our money raised for the Casa de la Mujer is around 2550bs, and we're still collecting!
:)

Sector Project: first activity

Our sector project (the focus of our work when not at our work placement, and what we are raising money for) is the Casa de la Mujer in Santa Cruz. It is a location for woman and children that are victims of abuse. They can visit the center during the day, or in severe cases they can live in the center. They have doctors, psychologists, a library, a technology center that holds classes, and even their own radio station. It is a great place for women to take shelter or even to access resources.
We did our first activity for the Casa de la Mujer on Thursday January 3rd, and it was a great success!
We made posters against violence, and violence against women, and then went to El Cristo (the big statue in Santa Cruz). We collected money from people and cars at the lights, and showed our posters. Since our sector project supervisor David used to work on a television show, three different stations came to film us. We raised around 500bs, and made plans to do it again to keep raising awareness and funds.
Here are some pictures from the event! :)

The Amazing Race - Santa Cruz edition

On Thursday December 27th our group did a mini "Amazing Race" across the first ring of Santa Cruz to help the Canadians learn a bit more about the city and learn to find their way around. All of the Canadians were paired up (pairs were picked randomly from a hat), and then they were given one Bolivian "guide". The rules were that the "guides" were to accompany us, but they couldn't help us by translating, or giving us directions. They were just there to make sure we stayed inside the first ring, and to help us stay safe.
My team was Ian, (a Canadian from Nova Scotia), and Nicole, (our Bolivian "guide"). Each team was given a paper with checkpoints across the city, and instructions for what to do at each checkpoint. We were also given a map of the city.
Then we began the race! It took a bit under three hours for the first team to reach the finish line. Guess who the first team was? Ian, Nicole, and I! :)
Everyone had tons of fun, and we all learned a bit more about the city and how to get around, so in general it was a great activity for the whole group!

Work Placements!

The first few weeks here in Bolivia have been spent very busy! We have been getting to know the city, and visiting all of our possible work placements so that we could pick which ones we would like. There were a number of different work placements we could pick from, and we got to visit almost all of them.
Two of the locations were really interesting when we visited them because we got to partake in some of their activities. The first was the Centro Cultural San Isidro, which we visited twice because they invited us back to another activity they were holding.
The Centro is in one of the poorer sections of the city and its spread out across a neighborhood because they have multiple buildings. They work directly with children, and occasionally adults, in the neighborhood to help with education, development, and promotion of the arts and culture. The activity we returned to visit was their "Chocolatada Navidena". It was a clown show and some other activities, followed by the distribution of chocolate milk and snacks to the kids. I learned after this event that this was what a typical birthday party would be like for the richer parts of Santa Cruz, but for this section it was a form of getting kids involved in healthy activities and providing them with food when most of them weren't getting enough at home. It was a really incredible experience working with these kids for the short afternoon that we were there, and when I left the center was near the top of my list for work placements!
These are some pictures from the day at the Centro Cultural San Isidro:

The other placement that we visited and got to participate in an event was Plataforma Solidaria. It too is a center in one of the poorer districts that works with children. Plataforma is in the seventh ring, and to get there we had to navigate through a neighborhood of dirt roads that were so rough they caused our micro to get stuck. They work in education, nutrition, and promoting positive influences and activities in a very rough area of the city. 

The event we were invited for was their neighborhood Christmas party. We came with some other workers from UTEPSA (the university that is also our base camp) and brought gifts for all of the kids. The day was full of activities, (like sports and dancing and group games), until lunchtime and then lunch was given out to everyone. Then after lunch we handed out presents and candy to all of the kids!  It was a great experience and I left the center absolutely in love with the place. 

Here are a few pictures!

Plataforma Solidaria was easily my number one pick for work placements, and lucky for me; I got it! My work there begins on January 14th, and I am working with Alvaro; a Bolivian from my group. I am really, really excited! :)

El Fuerte de Samaipata

I recently posted about my visit to Samaipata, and mentioned that we visited the Inca fort. Unfortunately my camera was dead, so I couldn't post any pictures. The friends I went with sent me their pictures so here are some pictures from the trip! Enjoy :)