"No a la violencia" Mural Painting

This week we ran an activity of education and mural painting at the Centro Cultural San Isidro! We prepared, designed, and painted a section of wall in the Barrio San Isidro, as well as visited a school to talk with students. On Tuesday we went to one of the local public high schools, and visited classrooms to talk about no violence against women and invite them to help us paint the mural Wednesday. Our group split up into five groups, and each group visited two classrooms. We spoke with students about our mural painting event Wednesday, and also educated them on the topic of violence against women.
I was surprised to hear the opinions on violence against women from the students. I found it especially interesting to listen to the students when we asked them about street harassment  which there is A LOT of in Bolivia. A lot of the boys said that they did it because the girls like it, and because it is a compliment. At this comment, a lot of the girls disagreed, but the boys didn't seem to take them seriously.
Street harassment is so common, and so upfront in Bolivia that men actually approach you, look you in the eye, and make comments or whistle. It is also very usual, so usual that boys in the high school actually whistled at me from class, without any reaction from anyone else. I'm pretty sure that no matter how long I stay in Bolivia I will never get comfortable with the amount of street harassment here.
Then today, Wednesday, we designed and painted murals promoting "No a la Violencia a la Mujer" with some of the kids! We worked all afternoon, and ended up with these murals:
There is also the one at the top of the page! :)

Plataforma Solidaria; la guarderia

For the last two weeks the daycare at my work, Plataforma Solidaria, has been open. There are three classes of about 15 kids each, but unfortunately there are only two teachers. So... Alvaro, Mateo, and I have been teaching a pre-kindergarden class!
It is so much fun! The kids all have an incredible amount of energy, which can get exhausting, but they are all really nice and good-hearted. I have done a lot of work with children through my jobs at camps, babysitting, and as a hockey referee, but this is the most work I have done with kids this young. I now know how to stop a crying three year old in SPANISH in about 5 seconds flat.. win.

The kids are all great, but they are also part of one of the most challenging things I have experienced in this program. My work placement is in a really rough area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It is full of poverty, sickness, drugs, and abuse. The kids come to the daycare since it is often the only option since many of the parents need to work long hours to try and help take care of their families. But some of the kids have a parent at home who, ideally, could take care of them. But due to drugs, or violence, they can't be left with them. One of the girls in my class is at the daycare because her mother doesn't trust her father to take care of her and her sister. This is the same girl who told me all about how her dad beats her mom. This girl, who is no more than four, knows all the details of her father's abuse against her mother. She told me about where and when her dad beats her mom, and she even knew the "why". In her eyes, as she had been told by her dad, her mom had done something to deserve it and that was why he beats her.
Listening to this child tell me about the horror in her home, and knowing that there was absolutely nothing I could do to help was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. Most of the kids at my work have some kind of awful story. A mother of one of the children I worked with has a 5 pound tumor in her stomach that is so large she looks pregnant. They cannot afford healthcare, so she will almost certainly die.
Another lives in a very small house, with three generations of family. When I asked them how many people they cook for I was told that at every meal they serve between 30 and 35 family members, depending on who is home. Since they all live in such close proximity when one of them gets sick, it quickly passes throughout the entire house. Once again, this is a family that cannot afford medical care.
These are just a few of the many stories I have learned since working here. They are also what has made it so hard at times, knowing all of these awful things and not being able to do anything to help.
All I can do is make the best of the time with the kids at Plataforma, and hope that it over shines anything negative that happens!
Here are some pictures from my work:

One of the little boys decided he fit perfectly in Alvaro's shoes.. :)

The kids loved hanging onto Mateo's feet and seeing how many of them it took until he couldn't walk anymore!

I really love my work at Plataforma Solidaria, and I am so appreciative of this opportunity and the many things I am learning!

Marcha "Basta de Violencia" y "Contra la feminicidia"

On Tuesday the 19th we participated in a march in the Plaza and downtown area. The event was a HUGE success, and there was probably every news source in the city there. I'm not kidding.. I have never seen that many cameras and reporters together at once!
The march was against violence against women, and to encourage justice in the names of victims. It was planned to co-ordinate with an informative event on feminicidio that our group had planned, but it turned into a lot more, really fast.
The day before the march one of the major new reporters in Santa Cruz was killed by her husband. This caused a lot more people to come out to the event than expected, and it probably attributed to a lot of the news coverage as well.
The event began with a lot of speeches from public figures, victims, families of victims, and other people involved in the cause. It went with a march around the downtown plaza area, and then finished with a number of interviews.

Our group made a lot of posters, as well as an "exhibit" of sorts. We made body bags, with what looked like bodies inside of them and labeled them "Mujer; 2013". Then we set them out with a cross sign, that said "La justicia se olvido de ellas" (justice forgot about them). We also traced the shape of bodies on the ground with chalk, like the body outline at a crime scene, and wrote some other sayings on the ground with chalk. 

The march was really successful, and my sign and I ended up in a very large photo on the front page of one of Santa Cruz's newspapers! :)

This isn't the photo, but it was with this sign!

Las Cuevas

 

On our way back from Carnaval we got to stop at las Cuevas, (waterfalls) and swim! Las Cuevas is made up of a lower pool, with a small waterfall, and then if you follow the river up the mountain there is a larger pool with two big waterfalls. We went right up to the bigger pool, and had a super fun time swimming in the waterfalls. Since I brought a waterproof
camera I was able to take some pictures to share :)

Virgen de la Candelaria; Samaipata celebration

On the weekend of February second I went to Samaipata with my host family and counterparts. This was the same weekend as the celebration for the Virgen de la Candelaria (which is officially February 2nd).
There were a lot of stuff happening in the downtown, and with the church. We got to watch one of the main processions from the church, and it was really interesting to see! I was able to film a part of it to share with you all, but it won't upload. :( I will continue trying to upload it though! Here are a few photos I took of the celebration;

On this same trip Sophie and I had the lovely (not at all) opportunity of encountering the biggest spider I have ever seen. I mean this thing was HUGE, and it was in our bedroom. Unfortunately when we found it Sophie and I were home alone.. this was not fun. We spent about an hour with the spider; 45 minutes staring at it scared it would move, and 15 minutes actually getting it out of the house. We finally got the giant spider (it was actually larger than my hand) out by covering it with a big popcorn bowl, sliding a place mat between it and the wall, running out of the house as fast as possible, and throwing it into the yard. Let's just call it a learning experience.. one I never ever want to repeat again! Here is the spider:

I survived Carnaval!

I am very proud to say I have now survived my very first Bolivian Carnaval! I am also proud to say I made it out without getting my hair dyed! Yaaaaay! :)
I now understand what Carnaval is, and though it is kind of hard to explain I will summarize it the best I can. It is basically a four day, country-wide water, paint, foam, and ink fight, with a lot of dancing and music! During the four days of Carnaval anyone and everyone is fair game. You are only safe inside houses or certain buildings.
All the girls have to braid their hair into a lot of little braids, and soak them in baby oil to help keep the paint from staining. I also went the extra step of covering my hair in a scarf since I'm a blonde, and the ink would NOT come out of my hair. Everyone wears special Carnaval shirts, white shorts, and Tom-like shoes. Also, since cars are often attacked when they are being driven, most people cover their car in mud so that it won't get stained.

We spent Carnaval as a group in Samaipata, the same pueblo where my host family has their cottage, so it was a little bit calmer than Santa Cruz. It was still A LOT of fun though!
Carnaval started Saturday night with the Curso, which we were in Santa Cruz for. El Curso is like a giant parade to open Carnaval. It has a lot of dancers and performance groups, each with a live band walking along with them. Then at the end of it is all the Carnaval Queen's, on their HUGE floats, with a dance group in front of each one. It was really incredible to see it all! El Curso is also when I got my first taste of the real Carnaval.. I got covered in foam, water, and paint from everyone walking by us!
Sunday morning we left Santa Cruz (at the ridiculously early hour of 6AM) on a rented micro to Samaipata. Our group was staying in a hostel, and we got there and got set up just before lunch. In the afternoon we ventured out, all dressed up in our Carnaval gear, and went to the Plaza. The Plaza is the center square, that almost all city's have and it is where the main Carnaval celebrations were going on.
That was where we joined the other groups in a giant water, foam, and paint fight! There was also live music and a lot of dancing. It was a lot of fun, and we all came home exhausted and soaking wet.
The rest of the trip was basically the same; a lot of dancing and water, paint, and foam fights!

When we returned to Santa Cruz Tuesday night the drive home on the micro was spent attacking the people we passed with water balloons. We also had to be careful though because all the towns we went through had swarms of kids and people who would attack the micros with buckets of water, water balloons, or shoot it with paint and ink from water guns. It meant keeping your eyes peeled and your windows firmly closed!
All in all, Carnaval is a really, really great time and cool experience to have. I would definitely recommend Carnaval in Bolivia to anyone! I loved it! :)

A "Red Social" update

A quick update on the Bolivian game show, Red Social, that my group and I are participating on..
We were on the show for a second time Friday night, and WE WON AGAIN! :)
So this means we are back on, for a third time, Monday night! It is at the same time and on the same site (see the post before this for all the information).
As of right now we have raised 4000bs from the show, and we are hoping to get another 2000bs Monday night if we win.

All the money we raise is going to Casa de la Mujer, a women's shelter here in Santa Cruz de la Sierra :)

Final update: we played Monday night, and we ended up loosing. :( So we left the show after three shows, and 4000$ won! All in all it was a successful surprise :)

Bolivian Game Show; Red Social!

Tonight my group and I went on the Bolivian television program Red Social to raise money for the Casa de la Mujer!
Red Social is a bolivian game show were you compete to raise money for causes by playing games and such with your team, against one other team.
Here are some members from our team completing one of the challenges!

We ended up WINNING! :) Which means that we won 2000bs!

Since we won, tomorrow night we are going back to compete again, against another team. The program is on at 9pm (bolivian time), which is 8pm (Ontario time) or depending on whatever time zone you are in! If you're interested in watching you can see it online (live stream) at http://www.redpat.tv/

Carnaval !

I realized I have been mentioning Carnaval in my posts, but I don't believe I have explained it yet..

Carnaval is the big four day celebration in Bolivia, and a few other parts of South America. It is a very big deal, and everything closes down for it. The month before Carnaval is filled with pre-carnaval's (shows and parades), and pre-carnaval parties. The actual celebration is very different depending on what district of Bolivia you are in, but it is all based originally off culture.

I don't know a lot about it because I haven't experienced it yet. But luckily it is next week (Sunday to Wednesday), so I will be here for it! Our group is all going to Samaipata, because it is a bit safer than the city during Carnaval. What I know of Carnaval so far is that there is a lot of dancing and music, a lot of water and paint fights, and that I need to figure out how to hide my hair because the paint takes months to come out.. so not much really. But I am very excited for it!
If you google it you can find more information on it, including lots of pictures!

Plataforma Solidaria

My work placement is Plataforma Solidaria; an education, sports, and nutrition center for kids in one of the poorer districts of the city.
This past week was a one-week long summer camp for some of the kids from the neighborhood. It was kind of a end of summer thing since school starts this week, and there were around 30 kids participating.
I, along with about four other volunteers and the Plataforma staff, got to meet and work with a lot of great kids. Each day of the camp had a theme; some days were purely sports, others were "Carnaval games", etc. Since the past week was REALLY hot we spent a lot of time playing with water, and cooling off with activities in the shade or inside.
I really enjoyed the week with all the kids, and I got to know some great kids as well as improve my spanish! A group of the younger kids loved it when I read stories to them (even with my accent) so every day at lunch we would have a little story time and I would read to them. I learned a lot from these kids about the culture as well.
I was really surprised to see the way these kids interacted with each other; within half an hour of meeting everyone acted like siblings. They would discipline, teach, rough around, and protect each other like they were all related. Most of these kids came from really poor homes, and rough situations. A lot of them didn't get enough to eat on a regular basis, and were dealing with big problems in their homes. This is a neighborhood where most kids have probably begun doing drugs by the time they are twelve years old. But when they come to the camp they are all up-beat, eager to learn, and kids. I think the camp gave them all the opportunity to escape and just be kids.
I'm sad that the summer is over, and all the kids have gone back to school. Thankfully though my work is full of surprises and I can't wait to see what they have for me next!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, since its too dangerous for me to carry a camera. But my boss took some photos so I am going to try and get his pictures, then post them later on. Until then you can just imagine a lot of really incredible, smiling, Bolivian children and I!
:)

A Bolivian Snowman

For Christmas my parents sent with me a stocking full of little treats and fun things. One of which was a can of "snow"! Since my host family had never seen or felt snow before I decided to use it with my host siblings; Danitza, Jeanine, and Percy.
We followed the directions on the can, and ended up making a fairly large amount of snow. The can came with a little ribbon, and eyes to make a snowman.. so we made a Bolivian snowman!
Here are my host siblings with the snowman we made;