Independence Day!

August 6 is Independence Day in Bolivia.

On Saturday night there is a small parade here in Sipe Sipe where the participants carry lanterns either with their school emblem or the Bolivia flag lit up.  I really enjoy it, but people moving quickly in the dark just doesn't lend itself to photos.  Sunday morning was our big parade (leaving Monday August 6 a holiday with no obligations).

Much of Bolivia's traditional dress and culture is on display in the parades.  Here a local school child wears the costume for the "Diablada" or Dance to the Devil.  The Diablada is the signature dance from the Bolivian state of Oruro which is a heavy mining area.  Rather than having a patron saint or virgin, the state where so many people are employed below ground has chosen to represent the god of the underworld.

Many schools on parade were lead by a young girl, always in light blue and always in chains.  I hadn't seen this before and asked around about the symbolism.  Unfortunately nobody knew.

David, one of the BLC boys, carried the Bolivian flag in front of his class.  This symbolizes that he is the top student!  A couple of our older boys also carried the flag for their grades as well.

Carlos is our only boy in band this year.

Wilder actually called me over to get his picture taken.

Most of the older boys aren't keen on the white girl taking their pictures with so many of their classmates around... occasionally I get a poser though!  Thank you Jhonny.

I'm afraid Erlan has had the same tie since kindergarten...

Las Colombianas

For the last 5 months we have had the tremendous blessing of having two girls from Colombia serving in the Bolivia Life Center.  They both come from the church that partners with CIN to run the Colombia Life Center.  They helped with transportation for the boys, worked on various projects, volunteered in the classrooms, and accompanied dorms in the evenings to name just a few of the ways they blessed the BLC.

Hosts

My faithful sidekicks for the summer (Bolivian winter) were the hosts!  Hardly ever sleeping, not always eating, running around constantly, and always always giving.

After the teams had all left us, we had a day to explore Cochabamba and went to some monuments and our handsome guide even took us on a boat ride around the giant lake!

We even got to explore the dam.

We had fish for lunch.  I got little minnow looking ones that were fried and served whole.  Just pop the whole thing in your mouth!  

Pause

A pause in the joyful sharing of summer happenings for a tragic example of what is so very Bolivian.

Just over a week ago on Sunday night a group of men were playing cards and drinking in a Bolivian town that is on the border with Brazil.  Something happened and shots rang out.  Three Bolivian men were dead and two more injured.  Two Brazilian men were accused.

On Monday, the police apprehended both suspects, one with the gun used in the shooting in his possession.

A great tragedy, but justice would be served.

Until Tuesday.

On Tuesday a mob of about 300 people swarmed the police.  The police (7 in total) repeatedly fired tear gas into the crowd but eventually gave up and retreated to protect their own safety.  The mob broke in to the jail and took possession of the two suspects.  They were dragged just outside of the town, STONED, and then doused with gasoline and BURNED ALIVE.

On Wednesday a short article appeared in the newspaper stating what had happened and quoting the police chief as saying, "the people do what they want around here" and then on Thursday a small article came out saying that Brazil hoped Bolivia would do something to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen again.

That's it.

Mob "justice" is very normal here.  I've passed many small communities that show dummies hanging from telephone poles at their entrances with signs that say "this is what happens to thieves" and walls that have been spray painted in a nice little rhyme that basically says "thieves will be burned."    

Please pray for the people of Bolivia.

Summer Round Up

Teams!!

Incredible, hardworking, giving, ridiculous teams.  We had a total of 5 teams this summer (also known as Bolivian winter) and it was just amazing.

Team 1 was an Open Team (meaning that it is open to everyone, not just church groups, so that anybody can come... including you!) and this year it happened to be all girls.  These ladies are absolutely fabulous and even though work projects were done with New York accents all week, I love them dearly!  All of them are sponsors, many are from my home church in Florida, and many have come for so many years that I consider them part of my own Bolivian family.

Team 2 was a church youth group from the Orlando, FL area.  It was the first time this particular church had sent a team and they too were wonderful.  A great friend of mine that I have known since early 2001 and has been coming to Bolivia for years invited his family... who invited their small group... who invited their church! Not only a fun week this year, but they are already signed up for a team next year too!

Team 3 was another church group that came about based on connections.  CIN's multimedia guy brought his family last year on the Open Team, and this year they brought their church from Maryland!  They were a cozy and sincere team that did so much work!  They also made great sacrifice to arrive... originally they had a direct flight from Washington DC to Bolivia but because of a bankrupt airline they had to switch not only increasing their cost but taking flights to Miami and Peru before making 2 stops in Bolivia.  It ended up being lots of long flights and long layovers in each spot too.  But they made it!

We then had a week semi-off.  There wasn't a team, but the founder/director of CIN and his family along with another family of their friends arrived.  Different schedule but still a full house.

Team 4 was a church group from North Carolina that has been coming to Bolivia forever.  Really.  Since before there were any boys at the BLC, they helped to build the building.  They are a solid team and it has been great fun to watch their families grow up over the years.  Their hearts are huge and they are constantly looking for needs that they can meet for us.  Not sure what we would do without them.

Team 5 was our last team and just plain fun.  When a faithful member of the church from Team 4 found herself in a new church, it certainly didn't stop her from coming to Bolivia!  It just meant that we had a whole new church coming to see us!  Smaller churches tend to send smaller groups, but that just meant there was enough room for us to add a few more friends to the mix that weren't able to come on the dates of the Open Team.  Such a fun mix it turned out to be!  An incredible mesh of great people.

This, by the way, is my 200th post.  You are impressed, I know.  Especially since I have been blogging for something like 12 years.  Just how distracted can one person get, right?

Catch Up

Teams really do throw me for a loop.

I'll take take the next few posts to catch up on what has been going on, because it has been a lot!  Teams, soccer games, Bolivian independence day and parades, my tiny vacation, Urcupina...

And new boys!!!  There are finally some new faces to get to know.  Cute ones too.