Blockades (Part 2- How they affect the BLC)

The BLC has daytime staff and nighttime staff.  Unfortunately all of our daytime staff comes from the city of Cochabamba and if the road is blocked, they can’t make it out to the BLC.  Meaning no daytime staff.  And if they can’t make it through, most of the teachers from the local schools won’t make it through either.  Meaning no school that day.  Meaning all of our boys are stuck at home with no supervisors.  This is bad.

Thank God there are now a couple of us that live on the BLC property and are here blockade or no.  We put on our battle gear and desperately try to come up with structure for the restless mob of children while simultaneously praying that the blockade is resolved by the end of the day and doesn’t stretch on for two weeks as is sometimes the case.  We send the bravest out in search of food and cooking fuel to stock the BLC just in case it does last a long time.

And then we…

Watch movies

Play foosball

Huddle around any available cell phone to play its free game

Pull the carpet out of the truck and the cushions off the sofa to lay around in the grass

Play marbles

Make forts out of the grass clippings and stage a war...something very similar to Braveheart happened, including the yelling and final charge, except that they made it China vs USA!!

Add tee-pees to the mix

Invite a friend for a nap in your now even cooler grass fort

Get tired of smelling your friend's feet and build a double-wide fort

Go fishing for puppies...there is a bone tied to the end of that string on a stick!

In early March we actually had 8 blockades in a period of 7 days.  Craziness.  One of the blockades involved a city-wide walkout of all doctors to protest the government forcing them to change to an 8 hour work day instead of their 6 hour work day with no change in pay.  If you suddenly had to work 2 hours extra EVERY DAY with NO pay increase, you'd probably walk out too.  Unfortunately this happened the day that one of my family visit boys broke his collar bone and needed emergency surgery.  Thank God He has given me some wonderful contacts and some doctor and nurse friends came running to treat him.  My boy is recovering with no problems.

Blockades (Part 1-What are they and Why do we do it)

If you’ve been my friend on facebook more than a couple of days, you’ve probably seen me mention blockades pretty frequently.  They are so different than anything you would find in the States, and are now such a big part of my life, that I figure it is time to explain.

Blockades are set up by the people, not government or police.  Sometimes the government officials of small villages will recommend them or come out in favor of them, but blockading is a constitutional right of the people.  Occasionally the police will break up a blockade set by only a few people, but most of the time they are just around to help turn traffic away…or aren’t around at all.

 

Blockades completely block traffic.  In the States, if you wanted to drive from one city to another, there are approximately a thousand different routes that you can take.  Not true in Bolivia.  There is one way.  That is all.  So blocking a road means that not a single solitary vehicle can get from city A to city B.  We are absolutely trapped where we are.  If it is a small blockade, you can take public transportation up to the blockade, walk through the area that they are blocking (a couple of kilometers), and take a different form of public transportation on the other side.  Once a blockade opens up, you still don’t want to go out too soon, because all the big trucks that bring food and items from state to state have had no option other than to park on the side of the road and wait for it to open again.  The traffic jam is horrendous!

Blockades are generally peaceful.  Rocks, piles of dirt, old tires, and/or tree limbs prevent cars from getting down the road, and then there are just the people insisting that others go no farther and occasionally holding banners (these help me as I have no idea why they blockade if there are no banners present).

Occasionally blockades do become violent.  Tires of vehicles trying to pass are slashed.  Rocks are thrown to break the windows of vehicles trying to pass.  Rocks are thrown at people on the other side of the issue.  Fist fights break out.  Just last week in the blockade, rock throwing sent 20-25 people to the hospital with injuries.

Blockades are an attempt to get the attention of the government.  It isn’t like the USA in that we have representatives who discuss possible changes in laws that we can call or write or email and communicate the direction we wish them to take on our behalf.  Here, you just walk through the plaza like any other day to catch your bus and come across some guy selling little booklets about the new law that recently passed raising your taxes, or cutting your benefits, or requiring you to work longer, or taking away school breakfasts.  By the time you hear about it, it is already a law.  So we take to the streets in protest, because it isn’t a law that the people wanted, until the government hears us and revokes the law or adds to it to fix it according to the will of the people.  Bolivian government isn’t here to serve the people.  Bolivians are constantly fighting against their government at every turn.

Sometimes people are forced to blockade.  For example, tomorrow a local school wants to blockade, because two months into the school year they are still not receiving the school breakfasts that the government is supposed to provide.  So all students and parents are required to be present to make the blockade or they will be fined 100bs (which is a LOT for a Bolivian).

Intermedio Fun

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, I became the weekend supervisor of the Intermedios for 7 weeks.  The boys are split up by age into their dormitories with the Pequenos being the youngest, followed by the Intermedios, the Medianos, the Grandes, and finally the Mayores.  So I had ten 9-11 year olds from Saturday morning until Monday morning.  I am again grateful that God sent me to work at the Eckerd camp before Bolivia.  I broke out a lot of skills I learned there, having the boys huddle up for behavior issues, sending table setters in early, lots of therapeutic group games, chief's log, and even reading a bedtime story.  Being a dorm supervisor is a TON of work, and I don't think it is by any means my full time calling while here.  But as long as I wrote out plans ahead of time, we had LOTS of fun!

Cleaning out the last of the cow poo from the pig farm that will be adapted for guinea pigs (we like our animals).

My boys working hard!

We also burned out some of the brush.

This was actually a failed attempt at punishment.  If they didn't complete their responsibilities in the morning, instead of going to the school soccer field to play, they would have to work in the pig farm.  I think they enjoyed working way more.  At least they ended up tired at the end!!

Forget October

I totally skipped blogging in the month of October.  Mostly because October was 98% horrific.  Really the worst month that I’ve spent in Bolivia in almost every way imaginable.  I can’t express how grateful I am for November.  So far, it has been the exact opposite of October.  I propose next year we do a double November and leave October out.

The good 2% came from the celebration of the BLC’s 8^th anniversary and some new job responsibilities for me.

Jose Armando and Alex acted as clowns for the Intermedios' presentation.  I was really glad they put their costumes on over their regular clothes since Jose Armando's pants fell down part way through...hysterical but unintentional.

The Pequenos did a dance to the song "Jesus is My Superhero" with the Tia's daughter helping out as Barbie.  They did a great job!

Brian gave a presentation about the new Adventure Therapy program with the help of mini-hiker Elvin.  Angel was there to dressed as the climber, but he stayed hidden behind Brian the whole time.

Papa John Hernandez shared the sermon.  The banner says, "Bolivia Life Center Happy Anniversary."

The Grandes made an awesome music video and performed the dance live.  They love their masks and gloves!

The Pequenos made a guest appearance in the Grandes' dance as their biggest fans.  Super cute!

The Mayores had an impressive mime act to share and Jhonny T. spoke about it afterwards.  Alberto, through tears, shared his testimony to close.  I am so proud of him and thankful that God has allowed me to know him for so many years.  I hope that many more of our boys will follow in his brave and loving footsteps.

I also received some new job responsibilities in October.  I am now the supervisor for the overnight and weekend staff.  Honestly it is work that I was already trying to do in the absence of anyone in that role, but without actual authority.  Actually having some weight will allow me to do a lot more than the basic maintenance that I was attempting.  I will also start hanging out more with Jorge, specifically when he makes purchases with the goal of my learning the ropes and taking that over as well.  I'm excited!  I'm also really grateful that God allows me to continue here.  It is a tremendous blessing to me, and I hope that I am able to bless the boys and staff as well.

Polar Bear Club

Tuesdays are getting exciting around here!  Brian, our awesome adventure therapy coordinator, has talked a local swimming pool into half price entrance for our boys to start swim lessons.  Most of the kids can stay afloat, but actual skill level in the water is low.  I've offered to help since I had awesome free lifeguard training back in my Eckerd days!

So the first Tuesday of September we took a handful of boys to the pool in the morning, and another handful in the afternoon.  Tuesday turned out to be the windiest and therefore coldest day of the week, and the water was frigid, but we had fun anyway!

Always so eager to help each other get in the cold water

Teeth-chattering fun!

Once they were all shivering, Brian started the real lessons.  Luckily I got to stay out of the water and help keep an eye on what was going on down below!  10 seconds was the record for how long they could hold their breath underwater, which we'll have to work on.

Everybody has to at least try holding their breath

Once hypothermia set in, everybody was out of the pool to learn the strokes for treading water under the warmth of the sun.

Arm strokes with resistance...aka strength challenge

The afternoon boys had a little extra motivation to get into the cold water...

The Enforcer

This group was also a little on the shorter side, so we started in the more shallow end.

Mostly paying attention

Honestly the boys loved getting out of the classroom for an hour, getting in the water no matter how cold it was, attention from super-cool Brian, and learning something that they really enjoy and will make them more "manly."

Our future Olympic swim team

No pictures from last week.  Brian was still getting over his cold (probably caught week 1) and I was battling an amoeba.  We still took two more groups out to the pool and actually had one of our more timid guys show some remarkable bravery being the only one in his group to try treading water in the deeper end. We will keep going out on Tuesdays, so pray for lots of sun for us!

Pedestrian Day

September 4 was Pedestrian Day, a holiday that I have experienced once before here in Cochabamba but was actually the first time it was celebrated nationwide.  Basically, cars are not allowed to drive for the day.  Since it happens on a Sunday, that killed our ability to take the boys to church and left us with no real plans for the day.  So we made some!

On Saturday morning Brian and I had to run around and do some shopping with Jorge, but we came home with 65 chicken legs as well as lots of potatoes and a few bell peppers.  We added all that to the onions and carrots that were already at home and sent Brian to cut about a million lengths of wire while I played with fire until there was a nice hot bed of coals for the boys to roast their kabobs over.  Delicious!!  I’ve jumped way ahead though, because that was actually Sunday dinner.

Sunday morning the boys were in full repair mode.  Lately the cool thing to do is put a scrap piece of wood on top of an old roller skate and then get someone to push you along the sidewalk.

So basically we promised to take the boys and their contraptions out to the paved road that has a bit of a hill to it.  They promptly pulled together all sorts of things with wheels on them and spent a couple of hours trying to make them as stable as possible.

There is only 1 wheel on this bike, but they can fix anything!

Then we took everyone to the street!  We set some orange cones out (because the police were enjoying being able to drive way too fast on the empty streets) and let the kids loose.

Even the tias got in on the fun

Notice none of these have tires...or brakes...or even chains

Speeding along

Brian giving a push while getting pounced on

Some cones became an obstacle course

The walk back up the hill

We stayed until everyone was starving and I was crispy sun burned.  I only heard one boy complain (life can't be perfect) but I'll trade that for the boy who hasn't talked to me in months who has now talked to me every day since I let him be the first to try the hill in my roller blades!

The End of My Time in the USA

I arrived back in the States on Wednesday night and my pickup people from the airport were my dear friend Kirsten and the soon-to-be bride of my good friend Trevor.  I had never met Leah before, but we bonded quickly as we went straight to Gainesville, FL that night arriving around 2:30am.  We were up again at 5am to join the rest of the crew already waiting in Gainesville (Trevor, Kirsten's two brothers, a groomsman, the photographer, and Kirsten's mom) to make the long drive to Indiana.  As no wedding weekend can go without drama, we had a dirty tie for the groom, a lost tux for a groomsman, and absolutely no flowers the day before the ceremony.  But for all the weddings I have been a part of, it went smoothly and was GORGEOUS!!  I would have more photos, but I relied mostly on my cool new expensive phone which I have since killed.  Oops.

The wedding party

Officially Married!!

The next day we all road tripped back to Gainesville and crashed all over the floor of Kirsten's parents' house once again, and then us South Florida folks kept driving the next day.  I spent two wonderful and relaxing days at the Hernandez house and then headed to Oklahoma!

Unfortunately I have no pictures because of that whole phone incident, but it was a wonderful time to spend with my family that I hadn't seen since August 2010.  I also got to visit my grandparents, go to my church, meet my new sister in law, go to some fun exhibits (including the Oklahoma City bombing memorial...impressive), and make Thanksgiving dinner!  I don't get to be with them much, but God constantly reminds me of just how blessed I am to have them.  I love them a lot!

That left me with only two and a half more days in the USA, which I spent in Florida running around with friends, eating out, going to my church, and hanging out at the office.  It was wonderful, but I was so anxious to get back home.  I finally did, despite visa drama and flight delays, and couldn't be happier!  Thanks God, for bringing me back to Bolivia once again!!

First days in the USA and Colombia visit

On August 1 I left my beloved Bolivia for a short adventure.  I arrived back in the USA, hung out with friends, ate the sub sandwich that I had been craving for the past 11 months (Firehouse Subs’ club on a sub…yum!), and spent the night with my best friend in a borrowed house.  Day 2 I went to the beach, ate another one of those subs, and went dress shopping for an upcoming wedding.  I scrambled to repack that night at the office, because early the next morning I was off to Colombia!!

Crowd gathered for Evangelism in the Plaza

Nick and Allie (who spent most of the summer with me) along with John and Natalie (2 of 3 of my bosses’ awesome teens…who also spent a lot of the summer with me) and I headed to Bogota, Colombia to check out CIN’s ministry there.  The rest of the team joined us the next day.  We joined the youth group of our local church partner for evangelism in the plaza, I shared at youth group, we took part in Sunday church service along with a large group of soldiers who have been handicapped fighting rebel groups, went to a giant outdoor Christian concert (may have eaten a horse hotdog while there), and then we really got to work! 

Me sharing at the Youth Service

The local church has a school in the neighborhood of Potosi.  Most of these children are not able to go to any other school and few are able to eat outside of the breakfast and lunch provided by the school Monday through Friday.  A large house sits directly across the street where drugs are run.  Often, the people of this house grab neighborhood children, give them a packet of drugs and tell them to wait on a certain corner for someone to come and exchange it for money.  They are not allowed to refuse.  This is the daily life of these children. (Learn more about sponsoring one of the students through CIN at Child Sponsorship)

CIN Team at the Women's Rehab farm

Then we went to the church’s rehab centers.  In the morning we shared in worship, testimonies, a devotional, and then lunch at the women’s farm.  In the afternoon we went to the men’s farm.  Nick shared some of his testimony and some stories of triumph from some of our boys here in Bolivia and then we got a grand tour.  I loved seeing how each farm was tailored to its inhabitants.  At the men’s farm they explained that the weekends are the hardest for them, so they take turns to make sure that there are people praying 24 hours a day from Friday to Monday.  Both farms use the same curriculum, which I also love.  The vast majority of it is focused on really learning who we are to Christ and who Christ is.  When we REALLY understand that, He is completely free from hindrances to heal us.  The program takes 9 months…the same length of time that it normally takes God to create a new life!  Being at the farms really made me miss camp (the juvenile detention center where I worked before). 

Nick sharing at the Men's Rehab farm  

On my last full day we went high into the mountains once again, this time to the church’s retreat center.  The church uses it every 3 months for what I would liken to revival meetings.  It is also available to rent for any organization as a retreat center and they are slowly adding elements to make it an extreme sport center.  The girls painted the front building, caretaker’s house, and pool railings while the boys painted the worship center. The boys got to play a round of paintball while the girls opted to help clean up, and then we all hiked to a waterfall.

Team and Colombian hosts on the hike to the waterfall

The team stayed two more days, going to CIN’s Colombia Life Center safe house (for the wives and children of pastors who have been martyred by rebel groups) and back to our partner school in Potosi to do some more painting.  I ducked out early in order to make it to my dear friend’s wedding back in the States! 

In all, I loved Colombia.  We had the perfect first team and I was absolutely THRILLED to see my Colombian friends once again.  It is a country of extreme need, and I’m honored that God used me even for a couple of days there.  The church has so much to do, but I can easily name one now that is doing everything it possibly can.  Please support CIN’s ministry in Colombia.  Or really any ministry in Colombia that you know is doing God’s work.  There is an overwhelming amount of spiritual battle and healing to be done.

The church that CIN partners with in Colombia

Finally, while I loved Colombia, I actually cried several times while there…and I NEVER cry…because I was so homesick.  I had never been homesick before, but I had never traveled since officially calling Bolivia home. If God spoke anything to me while I was there, it was the reassurance of my call to Bolivia.  And I thank Him for that!

Still kicking

Nope, I didn't die.  Two months of teams followed by trips to Colombia and the USA combined with my lazy blogging style might have made it look that way though!

First, my super awesome summer staff arrived...

Me, Morgan, Nick, Allie, and Hannah

These guys got ridiculously few hours of sleep and worked crazy long hours beside the teams.  They got up before everyone to help me plan the day, were the last in bed to help the boys with homework and make sure all the lights were out, hand mixed more cement than we ever want to measure, helped dig over 100 holes (thanks for the fruit trees and new garden area!), made fools of themselves at children's evangelism, lost voices, gained parasites, were last in all the meal lines even though they knew the french fry plate would be empty by the time they got there, loved and counseled friends and strangers on the teams, and were my family.  Allie and Nick are actually on staff with CIN, so they had numerous other projects too!

Then our first team arrived...

June Open Team

This team was a wonderful mix of friends from my Florida church (www.fbcrpb.com), families of CIN staff, faithful sponsors of the boys, and more.  They worked HARD, LOVED my boys, and took JESUS to the children in Cochabamba slums.  It makes me so happy when a team can blend right in and feel like the boys' family, and this group definitely did that.

Then the Colombians arrived...

El Pacto partner church team from Bogota, Colombia

I have to admit, this team had me terrified.  Our first all Spanish speaking group.  I'd never done orientation in Spanish and since I had never been to Colombia, I wasn't sure what cultural differences to explain.  And they talk super fast.  Turns out, they were INCREDIBLE!!  Lifelong friendships definitely created.  And all those mad Spanish skills just meant they could do so much more...like preaching at church.  During this team is when I found out that I would be making my own trip to Colombia and would see them all again very soon!

And then another team arrived...

Life Fellowship Church shaking their tails with me at Sidewalk

A wonderful woman who has come to Bolivia since our first year with her church has recently joined a new church...so she brought them down with her (thanks Julie)!  Lots of new faces, but all ones I hope to see very frequently in the future.  And I already know one who will be back for our anniversary celebration in October (8 years, baby!).  This team also brought enough extra cash with them to buy new shoes for all of the boys.  While they were here, they helped take half of the boys to the market so that they could pick out exactly what they wanted (time restraints sent the rest of the boys the next week with me and the staff).  Huge blessing!

All too soon, the final team arrived...

July Open Team

I loved this team!  Small, but powerful.  Made up of Morgan (my summer staff)'s family and friend, some awesome long time friends from my church, Julie Apple who I've known since college and her mom, Kristen Larson who has known the boys since they were in diapers (literally) and her dad, and a kinda random guy who very quickly made it clear that he is called to children's ministry by the speed at which he won the boys' undying love.  I really didn't want these folks to leave.

And then my summer staff left too...

Me, Morgan, Nick, Allie, and Hannah

Not real happy that they all left me, but survived since I was on my way to the USA too :)  More on my travels in the next post!