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Published: July 20th 2005
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Maria with Gordo
gordo is now 2.2 years old. his mom was 12 when he was born. when the foundation first found gordo he was very malnutrished and could only move his head. now he can walk!!! OOPS, I FORGOT TO POST THE WEBSITE IN CASE ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING OR LEARNING MORE. sorry for all the emails, but this is important (you may have to cut and paste the link, but i think i got it to work)
theangelsofhope.org Most people come to Villa tunari to visit and help at the animal park here. You can volunteer for a minimum of 2 weeks and get to work with cats (big cats), monkeys .... But, most people don´t know that on the other side of the hill from the park is a foundation called - fundacion angeles de esperanza, the translation is more or less, the foundation of angels of hope. Anyway, at the foundation there is a Doctor, nurse-DDS, Dentist, administrator, teachers, cooks, cleaners ... and an administrator - Michael from the US. The foundation is funded by a church from the states - i think the catholic church maybe. what the foundation does is helps the poor people of the area by providing nutrition, medicine, schooling and eduction. The infant mortality rate in this area of Bolivia before the foundation was in excess of 50%!n(MISSING)ot a typo 50%!!(MISSING)!!
last year the rate was 3%. Before the foundation, the locals would have to leave the children at home by themselves when they went to find work or food. Yes, a toddler at home by itself without food or supervision. In the area, there is a high rate of tuberculosis as well as other diseases of poverty. What the foundation does is provide a place for the children under the age of 5 to stay during the day, to receive medical and dental attention as well as proper nutrition. The foundation also provides medical and dental help to about 3000 adults in the area. And this is all free for the people!! the foundation operates on a budget of about $5,000 a month, this includes, food, medicine, and salaries for about 15. Hell this is a one night stay at the hotel i work at!!!!
It is interesting to hear what the local people have to say about the tourists that come to the area. Since the majority, if not all come to help at the animal park and rarely if never visit the foundation the locals are a bit confused (there is one guy currently at
Dr
Doctor Ramiro and staff. Hola Claudia the park from Canada who is going to the foundation after his time at the park) They know of the terrible living conditions near by and the plight of the children, but they don't understand why the foreigners don't help the children. Some say the people just want to get their pictures taken with a monkey or puma ( maybe some do but others come for other reasons) ...I am not one to judge, to each their own, but as the people say, the animals don't want to be caged up, they want to be free. And the children, they don't want to live in poverty conditions without food. They want to be healthy and happy. Speaking of which, the kids all appeared to be happy (see the photos). Hell our kids complain when they can´t get an apple Ipod, buy something at the mall or get a cell phone ... Obviously all the stuff we have doesnt make us any (maybe it makes us less) happier than these children.
Maybe this is a reflection of our western society or maybe - who knows. The volunteers at the park are doing good by volunteering but imagine how much
more we all could do to help those less fortunate than us. If you are going to tunari to visit the park, maybe take some time to visit the children or better yet, make a donation so they can buy medicine and food for the children.
Some of my friends have volunteered at the park and again I am not criticising the park one bit. I am not criticising anyone, but there are so many people out there that need help, imagine what we could have accomplished with the money that we spent in just one year in Iraq. As gringos we don´t think about the rest of the world (or even the poor in our own counrty), the other, say 5,000,000,000 people do think about it. While we sit concooned in our homes with more stuff than 10 families could use we complain about our ´troubles´. We are too busy focusing on the O.J. trail, Michael Jackson trail, Coby Briant trial , Martha Stewart trail... importan things, right??
The focus of this blog is the help for the children. So next time you hear of children in need of help, try to remember the huge impact that
you can have on them. Hell I donated my bottle of cirpofloxin, gave the foundation money and gave some of the people there my extra clothes - i wish i could have done more. I now in the future I will do more. maybe the cipro will save someones life one day soon. We all can do the same in our cities, countries and the world. Enough philosophy for now, time to get a beer.
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HOLLY
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WONDERFUL STORY
I ENJOY YOUR JOURNAL VERY MUCH HAS TO PULL THE STRINGS ON YOUR HEART NOT TO DO MORE. MAYBE FIND OUT WHERE AND IF DONATIONS CAN BE SENT TO THE ANGLE OF HOPE OR WHERE MAYBE CLOTHES CAN BE SENT