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! :)