So my time here has come to an end. With mixed emotions I have spent the last few days preparing to leave and saying good-byes. My time here as been amazing and I could not have asked for a better experience. I am very grateful for the friends I have made here and to the kids at Amistad who welcomed me and shared their lives with me. The kids had a very nice going away celebration for me on Friday morning. It was hard to say goodbye, but I hope I will be returning soon and will get to see them again. Here are a few updates on the bakery and other projects I have been working on.
The Bakery continues to grow and should be in good hands. Corey, the Peace Corps volunteer at the Villa is taking over the project and should do a great job. We have two new clients, the Peace Corps office in CBBA, and an carneceria in the city. Our first sale at the Peace Corps office was huge, we sold over 375 Bs. in cakes and other baked goods. They should be a great client for us in the future. We have also been refining our ordering process and have developed what should prove to be a highly efficient ordering process for our larger clients. The other exciting progress that we are making involves training the kids to run the enterprise. The past month, I had been taking two different kids from the boys youth house to the Institute with me, in hopes of teaching them how to sell the bread there. Last Friday, Raul and Alfredo did their first solo sale at the Institute. They did a great job and it was a big step towards getting the kids more involved. The ultimate goal of the project is to get the kids to take total responsibility and initiative for the project. We have hopefully developed a very usable and organized model for the kids to take over. While working on the project I have begun to appreciate the times it takes to train people effectively. This has by far been the biggest challenge that we have faced. It is not too difficult for us to find clients and sell tons of bread and baked goods, but as I have realized, the point is not for us to be able to start and run a successful business in Bolivia, but to train young people to do this. This is a completely different task, but ultimately much more important, because neither myself nor the other volunteers will be working at the Villa forever.
The compost pile and recycling program was an unintended casualty of the rapid growth and success of the bakery. I had not anticipated having to spend so much of my time working with the bakery and as a result I the recycling program did not get much past the drawing board. However, a solid and very executable plan is in place and work will begin on the compost pile this week. I am hoping that this will provide some education to the kids about conservation and how they can make an impact in the global environment. In my time here I have noticed that ecological education and environmental awareness are seriously lacking in Bolivia. This might be expected of a developing country on the global level, but I am of the opinion that this attitude towards the environment is unacceptable. Recycling plastic and organic matter are two of the easiest things anyone can do to make a difference in the world. Chris will be implementing our plan and I hope it will help to at least cut in half the about of trash and waste produced by the Villa.
The masses at the Villa have also continued in the last few weeks. My classmates have been very responsive to my requests of them to say mass for the kids on a weekly basis. We even had a special mass last Sunday for the kids of the youth houses separate from the mass for the younger kids at the Villa. This program is going strong and will be continuing hopefully in the weeks and months to come. I am hoping that this will become a fixture in both the institute and the Villa long after I am gone.
Now for a little on our weekend in La Paz.
World’s most dangerous road
On Friday I left Cochabamba on a bus headed for La Paz. After having two major problems with the national airline LAB, I decided to not risk a flight not taking off or some other mishap that is par for the course here. The trip is eight hours by bus and it was a nice chance to see more of the altiplano. La Paz is a fascinating city of about 1 million situated at over 13000 feet. Just up the mountain is the fastest growing city in Bolivia, El Alto. Another 1 million people inhabit El Alto and the contrast between the two cities is striking. La Paz is a more or less vibrant cultural and economic centre of Bolivia. In contrast, El Alto is one of the poorest and most densely populated places in all of the country.
On Saturday morning, Matt, Ted and Derek set out early to descend the world’s most dangerous road on bikes. This road is reported to have had the most number of deaths of any road in the world (outside of Bagdad). The road is completely dirt and rock with 1000 foot drop offs all the way down. Ten people have died cycling this road just in the last several years. Despite its reputation, with caution and proper respect for the mountain, descending the road can be a beautiful and exhilarating recreational experience. The views from various points on the mountain were simply breathtaking. We booked a tour with the Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking Company of La Paz. This was an excellent group and we had two excellent guides. The world’s most dangerous road goes from La Paz to Coroico. At 7 am they took us high in the mountains to around 16000 feet to begin our descent. The ride is over 50km and descends all the way down to 3000 feet. The change in climate zones was incredible. From the frigid heights of the cloud forest, to the lush tropical area of Coroico, our trip covered an incredible range of climate and vegetation zones. We rode very nice downhill bikes and every detail of the trip was provided for. The whole operation was very professional and exceeded my expectations at every point. We even had a buffet dinner and showers waiting for us at an animal sanctuary after the five hour ride. The experience was truly excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone who plans to be traveling in the area.
Thank you all again for reading. I am planning on spending the next few months digesting my experience and finalizing my law school plans. After such a unique experience I will surely need some time to process the thousand of influential experiences I have had over the last three months. I will continue to post throughout the summer probably every few weeks I am think of subjects worth writing about. There is also a possibility of a trip to South Africa for some more micro development work with the SLHC Children’s house in Durban. These plans are not finalized yet, but if I end up going, I will certainly be posting about my experiences there as well.
Thanks I hope you all have gotten something out of this blog. Stay tuned for more updates. Feel free to contact me with any comments or suggestions.
God Bless.
Gray
grayskinner@hotmail.com
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