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Published: March 3rd 2007
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A few days ago I was driving up in El Alto, a very poor 'suburb' of La Paz situated on the altiplano. It is a sprawling, flat, chaotic, concrete 'city', where about 1 million Aymara (indigenous) Bolivians live (and where there is a severe shortage of trees or any other living plant life). Needless to say, driving in El Alto is crazy and the road rules don't mean much (and its difficult to know what the road rules are) unless a policeman is standing within 10 metres. So when I came up to a red light I went to turn and this policeman blew furiously into his whistle and starting waving his hands around - I sensed that he was not a happy man. I just waved and tried to look apologetic... hoping he wouldn't come over and ask me for my non-existent license. But after 30 seconds of repeatedly informing me (with his hands and whistle) that the light was red he then told me to proceed (by again blowing his whistle and waving his hands) even though the light was still red! So I am still a little unclear about the road code and the necessity of following it.
Overwhelmed policeman
Vehicles, pedestrians and the police share the road But main lesson learnt from that: respect the policeman and his whistle. Although, as I have seen... if you drive fast enough whilst going through a red light the policeman and his whistle are unable to do anything about it! Mostly because the police have a severe shortage of vehicles... James was on his way to school a couple of days ago and two policeman asked him if they could get a ride. He wasn't going in quite that direction... but when the policemen need a ride you just go where they want to go.
The ministry that works with prostitutes (where I volunteer) is based in El Alto... where apparently there's approximately 2000 prostitutes, of which a significant number are underage. I've come to realise that the process of getting women out of prostitution is a very long process and certainly not an easy task... They make good money (for El Alto) in prostitution and are able to be their own boss (to an extent).... in addition they are unskilled, cannot read or write and there is a shortage of jobs. The ministry's work of encouraging the women to leave the streets is focused on building their trust
and then on training and finding them alternative work - although at this stage mostly on the former. It has been great to meet women of such humble background, but at the same time the lack of results and the language barrier are frustrating factors.
I have come to the conclusion over the last week that learning a new language is not something that happens overnight (or over 6 months) but takes a very, very long time... no matter how hard you try. A very frustrating fact and probably one of the most frustrating things of living here. One of the cooks at that works with the ministry for prostitutes, started crying the other day... and all I could do was find out what was the general problem and giver a rub on the back. I wished I was fluent. When I'm volunteering at the NGO (that works to protect the elderly poor) I also have many moments of wishing I could read and speak with ease. There are only so many documents that I translate before my head starts spinning! There are also the moments when there is a total breakdown in communication and hand movements are required
to relay information... during those times, fluency seems so far away. And then to top things off, you get the Chilean customs officials telling you that you should learn Spanish! (when you've been trying to learn it for the last 4 months).... all I could think at the time was 'aahhh, yeah thanks for that pearl of wisdom. I'll get on to it tomorrow.'
We have also had a bit to do with the ministry that works with the shoe-shiners - the people (mostly young guys) that work on the street shining shoes, mainly through some friends of ours that are very involved with the ministry. Last week we had a day event with the high schoolers from James' school and the shoeshiners... going on the rope course, playing ultimate frisbee and other games. Its great to be in a country where there are so many opportunities to help and in particular to help the very poorest.
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Shelly
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El Alto
I recently started sponsering a child living near El Alto through Compassiong International. I have been searching for information and pictures of the area and people. I was excited to read your blog and see your pictures. Thank you.