Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 3

Today was the second meeting with the women from the area, but the first class. We are still formulating options for the skills training aspect, but since the financial planning applies to all we decided to get started. Daniel the intern helped me adjust my lesson plan to make it more relevant to the women and their culture. I had the translator on video and then Daniel in person. The three of us worked well together. Daniel started off a bit nervous but he got in the groove and seemed to enjoy it. Majority of the women from the first meeting came back and they brought friends. We had about 15 - 20 people. I have to say "people" because I had my first man attend a class! We tried for this in Uganda, but the ... read more

On Friday morning I had a virtual meeting with one of the board members of the organization that financially supports EWS. She shared some sobering statistics with me that demonstrated why EWS is so vitally needed in El Alto. She showed me a report from the government that was conducted 5 years ago that found 8 of 10 women in Bolivia have or are currently living in a home experiencing domestic violence. This is the highest rate for a country in the Western Hemisphere. For women living in El Alto this statistic increases to 9 in 10 women. More than 50% of women in Bolivia are victims of domestic violence themselves. It is believed this rate is significantly higher in El Alto. Bolivia also has the highest femicide rate in South America. Between 2007 and 2012, ... read more

I have fallen into a nice rhythm with my volunteer work at EWS. The center has 4 students from LaPaz University doing their social work internship at the center. One woman named Betty, who I think is in her 50s, lives near me in La Paz. So I join her in the morning for the commute up to the center. Each morning I have had a meeting with a different group from the staff to start the discussion about transitioning from a shelter to a skills training center. Yesterday we had a meeting with the whole staff, interns, and founder to discuss this change. We started to brainstorm job opportunities that we think are realistic for the women to learn and be successful. I hope to start some financial literacy courses while I am still here. ... read more

I successfully made it to my new town of La Paz. There are two capitals in Bolivia and La Paz is the governmental capital and has a population of 2 million people. La Paz is at the highest elevation for any capital in the world at almost 12,000 ft. The topography of the city puts San Fransisco to shame. The streets are extremely steep and narrow. But about 5 years ago they put in a cable car system which is a game changer for the citizens. The city above La Paz is El Alto which is the 'poor' area of La Paz. The population is 1 million and looks very different than La Paz. The organization I am working with is in the outskirts of El Alto. While it takes me about an hour to get ... read more

Our second day was pretty amazing. We got an early start since the call to prayer had all of us up and ready by 6am. The best we could tell is the call to prayer is 5:15am to 6:00am and then the whole town has breakfast together in the square. Our first impromptu stop was at a llama farm to see a bunch of them up close. I love their ear markers that look like colorful fringe earrings. We hit our highest mark today at just short of 5000 meters (16,400 ft). This well surpasses my last highest of 12,500 ft in Peru. The stopped at a place called the desert of Salvador Dali as the landscape looks straight out of his paintings. We visited several lagoons of varying colors all which have flamingos living in ... read more