What did you get up to when you were a child at Christmas?

I look back on all the ace Christmases I’ve had – every one spent with family, always eating way way more than should be eaten, carol services, presents, seeing old friends, teasing the cat, 1kg chocolate bars, etc...

It was a shock to come back here, to see children spending their days and evenings working on the streets – in the markets, polishing shoes – but not just that, that many of these children are from countryside settlements and have been sent to the city to work since school finished in November for summer holidays until returning in February/March, without going back once in between. And this is normal practice for them each year – not having Christmas with their families.

In reference to the problem of children attracted to a street-living lifestyle – to work and/or live there, Oruro acts as what is called a ‘feeder city’. As mentioned in my previous blog, Oruro has a higher altitude and is colder than other Bolivian cities. The nights here get very cold making the streets an unattractive place to spend the night. Also Oruro is one of the poorest cities in Bolivia, meaning less is earned for polishing shoes and cleaning car windscreens than is in other cities. These two factors – Oruro being too cold to sleep on its’ streets at night and the desire to earn more money – push children to other cities such as Cochabamba, La Paz and Santa Cruz with the prospect to earn more and to be in a warmer, more survivable climate. By my experience so far there are not many children here working on the streets over the age of 14/15. Most of them are in the 8-13 bracket.

It has been identified when children feel they are mature enough they leave Oruro. This may involve going to live on the streets or to live with a relative or with/without a friend to a relative of theirs – an uncle, grandparent. In some cases going to a relative somewhere else could be a good move. The child could be running away from abusive parents and the relative may be willing to take care of the child with positive intentions. However this is often sadly not the case. A relative often takes a child into his or her home as a source of income, not out of love and compassion. The child’s welfare is not given a lot of attention and the child works for their new guardian. Again, this creates a situation where a child may be tempted to earn what they earn and stay on the streets keeping it to himself rather than giving it to someone else, someone else who may be an abuser and/or addict – and what is brought home is never enough for an addict.

Well this is the situation faced by the team here in Oruro. A lot of amazing work is carried out here by them to counter these problems and bring real hope and it’s been great to be a part of what they’re doing. I’m going to keep my blogs more snappy this time round so I’ll finish here and tell you what they do in facing up to these challenges in the next one.

First few weeks back in Bolivia

Well it’s now been 3 weeks back in Bolivia. Since coming back I have moved to a different city called Oruro, just four hours from where I was last year in Cochabamba. I will be staying here until late July and then returning to England. Being just four hours away however, Oruro is a completely different kettle of fish. Cochabamba, a city with a population of more than 1,000,000, at 8,600 feet above sea-level and present temperatures of about 33°c varies from Oruro with a population of 250,000, at 12,200 feet above sea level and present temperatures of about 21°c. To paint the picture, Oruro is a lot smaller. It is a lot more underdeveloped on the eye – basic construction taking place on wide scales, corrugated iron roofs, rubbish tips on every other corner often being taken apart by wild dogs (which I estimate would beat the human population), VERY bumpy roads. There are many areas just like this in Cochabamba but not to such the extreme as it is here. Oruro is often looked down on by outsiders. In many taxis I have been in or random conversations I have had with passers-by last year from Cochabamba who are interested in where I am from and what I am doing in Bolivia, “feo y frio” (ugly and cold) is how Oruro has often been described to me. However many will vent that the city has “la major gente” (the best people).

As a country but especially stemming from Oruro, the city has many different spiritual beliefs passed down by generation after generation of ancestors. These come from tales told by Andean ancestors that are still implemented today and of which certain practices are still undertaken. With disease, illness and poverty in abundance, there is a great fear and desire among society to hold on to and do/follow anything that may provide ‘buena suerte’ (good luck). Andean ancestors prayed and called to ‘Pachamama’ (mother land) and ‘Tio Supay’ (Satan Uncle). These practices have followed through generations and are still happening today. Many believe burying a llama’s foetus under your house in sacrifice to Pachamama will protect you, or if your house is bigger than normal, there are stories of humans being buried alive. In a Catholic Church in the centre of town is an entrance to a mine. In the mine two models of Tio Supay have been constructed – they are absolutely horrific. Miners leave offerings of cigarettes, money, alcohol and drugs so that Tio Supay (known as the God of the underworld) will protect them in the mines. It is natural for humans to chase protection and safety. As a Christian I believe this can be found in the person of Jesus Christ. I am glad my faith is built on more than ancestral tales but on real, solid historical evidence in the Bible. I urge anyone who hasn’t investigated the reliability of the Christian faith to do so. More than that, Christianity solves our real problem as human beings. Yes, we can pray to God for protection, but life is not all about hoping for an easy ride and having everything falling in place how we want it to. There is more to life than the 70/80/90 years we are here. I believe there is an eternity afterwards and where that is is determined by decisions made here. God has given us the freedom to choose. As a Christian I have realised my problem of falling way short of following and loving God as much as I should and I think it’s great and I am thankful that God himself provided the remedy by sending His Son into the world to take the punishment of what we deserve.

I did a few short visits to Oruro last year while I was staying in Cochabamba so I got to know the Early Encounter team and affiliated projects quite well. So I roughly knew what I would be in for. I am living with a great family – Noemi, the director of Early Encounter Oruro, Adolfo, head of Quality Improvement Training (QIS) but soon to be moving on to directing a newly-built children’s refuge and their 3 year-old daughter Carys.

In these first few weeks my time has been spent helping with Early Encounter Oruro’s work with children who work and live on the streets. I will write more about this in my next blog. As it is the beginning of the year, the Early Encounter projects in Latin America are planning all their work for the year ahead. This involves work with street-living and working children, quality improvement of projects, networking with projects and local Churches, how to go about working with local authorities, ‘protagonismo infantil’ (empowering children) and a lot more. Sitting in meetings discussing these areas has been of great experience for me. We are in the final week of the school summer holidays so next week when the projects are up and running again, mostly daycare centres, I will start doing two days a week with a couple of them.

It was a bit of a funny one adjusting back to life over here after having such a great Christmas in England with the family and friends. However as things have picked up and I’ve been getting stuck in to more it has got better. The team here in Oruro are really great and it is such fun working with them. No odd cuisine has been eaten yet but I’m sure some of that will come, especially after last years’ experience of sharing a pigs’ testicle with Toybox’ regional coordinator, Andrew Gray. Good times. As I said, I will blog next about Oruro’s work with children living and/or working on the street. Thanks for reading.

The start of the good treatment for children Vaccination Campaign

There are some moments in life you just can’t beat. Today, running around the Cochabamba equivalent of the Houses of Parliament with kids from the Fundacion Emmanuel project (ministry for children of prostitutes) campaigning for good treatment of children was definitely one of them. “Ok, this is an important government building with important people so you need to be good. Don’t run, don’t shout.” It just didn’t work. They went nuts, and who can blame them? The good treatment vaccination campaign is all about children voicing their rights. They approach adults with cards with on one side having ingredients for good treatment of children (a bit of respect, understanding, a portion of humour, an abundance of tolerance, a piece of patience, amongst others) and on the other side a space for the recipient to write their name, signature and date, to be vaccinated. And as well as the card and another leaflet they receive a sweet.

We went round in groups of three children. While one would be with one person in one office at their desk the other two would be legging it upstairs to the next one. I couldn’t run and catch them up and tell them to wait, leaving the other one behind, nor could I shout as we didn’t want to get kicked out. This was an awesome opportunity! The kids loved it, running up to the big dogs that run their city and campaigning for something they recognise as being of so much importance to them.

Today the campaign kicked off. We were in the Plaza Principal in the centre of Cochabamba. Throughout the month of September the campaign will be taking place in various areas all over the city. Also in the next city, Oruru, they are campaigning this month too. I will be heading there next week to see how they’re getting on. As well as children from projects vaccinating adults they put on performances too – dances, acts etc. As well as that, Daniel Cuaquira, Director of the Early Encounter Cochabamba programme, was on the mic all day, bigging up children’s rights, explaining what the whole campaign is all about and interviewing various people along the way.

Once again, it is great to see so many children’s projects getting together and working with all eyes on the same goal. That’s what the Toybox-Viva alliance is all about and has been successfully doing through the joint Early Encounter model (known as ‘Red Alert’ in the UK) over the last 4 years here in Cochabamba and in other Latin American cities. With the support of Toybox through planning, prayer and financial support, and with Viva Latin America implementing the work of the alliance out here on the ground, the results have been hugely positive with all boding well for a very exciting future.

All in all it’s been an awesome start to the campaign and everyone’s pumped and massively looking forward to the rest of the month.

Casa de Amistad - House of Friendship

Throughout this year I have been working with the Casa de Amistad project. The Casa de Amistad is a school for children who live in prisons with their parents. There are three prisons close by that the children come from. In most Latin American women’s prisons children are allowed to live inside with their mothers. Bolivia is the only country where the men’s prisons allow children and wives to live there too. In prison each person needs to pay rent for their room which are often only about 8x8 foot – certainly not enough space to fit a family, especially with families here averaging anywhere between 5-15 children (no exaggeration there at all). Those that cannot afford to pay rent sleep in corridors, any corners they can find and if they are lucky the prison chapel. In San Antonio prison every night in its chapel sleeps 30 men side by side with some children there too. Lunch is cooked by prisoners and has to be paid for. Prisons are controlled from the outside, by guards letting people in and out. They never enter. All leadership and rules are made by the prisoners inside. With the extra cost of being in prison it makes financial sense for the rest of the family to move in. There is often no other option but to do so with so many families in Bolivia under such financial constraints.

Such conditions put families under great strain and creates huge social difficulties. Families become desperate for money to cover their costs of living. Such is the need of many families is that as the children and other innocent parent leave the prisons in the daytime the children often end up spending their days selling whatever they can and begging in the streets to earn as much money as possible. With this being their daily life they therefore miss out on being educated, and without education this leads later on to a probable outcome of unemployment for them. With unemployment continuing so does the desperation to survive, and statistically speaking this leads many on to getting involved in crime - and so the process sadly continues. Pressure on children to provide financially for their families at such a young age, and with enough never being enough, often leads to the lure of running away and living elsewhere becoming more and more attractive.

The Casa de Amistad provides education for children from the prisons, right from kindergarten through to turning 18. The children receive a good education in a project run by qualified teachers and psychologists and they take their exams just in the same way as any other school receiving the same qualifications. As well as an education the children receive the psychological support they need. Sadly many children are victims of abuse in the prisons – physical, sexual and verbal. Such issues need to be carefully taken care of with the children and in collaboration with parents.

As well as providing a service for the children, communication with parents is an important part of the work too in order to emphasise to them the importance of an education for their children. There are about 90 children enrolled at the Casa de la Amistad. Daily attendance is often about 60-70. There are only a small number of children that attend every day. Many come just a few days in the week. Over the last year there has been about a 70% turnover in children. Consistency in attendance has always been a challenge. A common reason for children leaving the project or attending sparingly is parents having to weigh up the option of allowing their children consistent education or having them working on the streets and in the markets bringing in money in for the family.

Part of my role in helping has been visiting the two men’s prisons each week. In both there are a group of lads I meet up with. The aim is to focus on meeting with the men who have children in the project but there are always more who like to get involved. Consistent contact and encouragement with the parents is so important in order to keep the children attending the Casa de Amistad. We spend our time playing games and having a laugh, chatting through their problems, and if they are interested they take part in the Christianity Explored courses which I’m running. It’s all very relaxed and I’m often told how much of a difference it makes to have someone come and listen to their thoughts and stories without instantly judging and putting a label on them.

I work alongside a lady called Lourdes who is a psychologist at the project and heads up the prison visiting. She is an awesome lady with a huge heart for all that goes on at the Casa de Amistad. I cannot speak more highly of her and it’s been great working with her. Recently she attended a worldwide conference for prison educators that takes place every four years. This year it was in Stockholm. She had a great time there and received a big chunk of vital training with also opportunities to meet other prison educators. This was a special time for her and she has come back refreshed and with lots of inspiration and new ideas. With some of the money that those of you donated towards the 3 peaks challenge I did last summer and at Honfest 2009 we were able to help Lourdes out with her travels. She sends a HUGE thank you.

Gooooooooooooooollllaaazzooooo!!!!!!!

Over the course of 5 or 6 weeks there was a football competition for street children organised by leaders of a children’s home for children coming off the street. At Viva I work with a guy called Joe *name changed due to privacy reasons* with two groups of street children. One group live under a busy main road in a drainage ditch. The other live near a river under waterproof sheets that have been tied up between trees. We visit each group once a week. At the moment here in Bolivia it is winter. In the daytime the weather is easily like our summer however in the mornings and throughout the night it gets very cold. Today I learned that 18 people died last night simply due to the cold. It is sad that just a couple more blankets each may have saved each of these persons’ lives. Please pray for those sleeping on the streets at night across Bolivia this winter.

About 6 teams of street children entered the competition as well as the groups Joe and I visit. With the money you kindly contributed we were able to buy the two teams football kits – one Barcelona, and the other of course Liverpool. Team photos are attached in this email. Photos of the games are on my facebook.

Games were played Wednesday mornings. Immense fun was had all round, of course by the boys enjoying taking part and the girls cheering and screaming their teams on. You wouldn’t believe some of the skill on show. No Peter Crouch’s or Emile Heskey’s. No ‘kick and run’ tactics as England were labelled as adopting at the World Cup by Franz Beckenbauer. It was all Kaka, all Messi with an “it’s my ball and I’m going to score” approach.

The evening after the final round of games everyone was invited to the awards evening held at the children’s home that put on the competition. There was a party before the prizes were given out with music, food and a raffle. As well as to have fun this was a great opportunity for the street children to see the home, the children living at the home whose lives and opportunities had improved, to see the school nearby and to talk to some of the leaders of the home. For a child to come off living on the street into a home or to go back to their family it has to be their decision. All these children know the opportunity is there – for a home, a bed, 3 meals a day, an education. They just have to ask. However the pressure to remain on the street is a big one. To make the decision would be seen by your peers as to be pulling out of your gang of mates on the street and leaving them. Given the liberty street living children have the lure of education and living under rules and leadership is not a strong one. However we continue to pray and hope the lure of a loving community will turn their hearts and that the motivation to learn and provide a future will come.

Viva World Weekend of Prayer

Hope you’re all well. This weekend gone, some of you may know, was the Viva world weekend of prayer for children at risk. Projects, city networks and Churches worldwide have been putting on events to pray for children all over the world who are suffering.

Here in Cochabamba we had the stadium booked which was awesome! Leaders and children from various projects stood up front and talked about their projects and prayed. It was emphasised throughout and leading up to the event here that children are the inheritance of God given to parents, the community, the state, and the Church and that therefore it is important that we pray for them and with them.

The 5 main points of prayer were for:
- Children suffering from violence.
- Children that do not have a family.
- Children who have no access to education.
- Children who go hungry.
- Children suffering from HIV or AIDS.

We also had singing, games and clowns on show too! After the service all the projects grouped up. Each had banners, balloons, faces painted etc. We all left the stadium, stopped the traffic and marched out onto the street. We did a bit of a round trip and ended at a plaza where we all prayed together for the last time and then let off the balloons. On the day we reckon about 2000 were involved which is amazing!

Overall, the day was extremely encouraging and did wonders to further enhance the work of Early Encounter in Cochabamba. Awareness was raised in abundance. All the projects are so grateful for the help they receive from the network through training, funding and prayer and they were all really encouraged for us all as a whole to get together on this day. Everyone knows and sees it is a model that works. Television cameras were about on the day – in the stadium and while we were marching - interviewing project leaders, children and the Early Encounter coordinator. Since I have been here more Churches and projects have been joining the network, children from projects have been on television talking about their dreams for Bolivia’s future and in a couple of regions the local Governments have shown interest. The work is not just impacting on a local level but on a state level too. Politicians and big organisations are showing interest which is exactly part of the Viva mission too – a global movement.

And it’s fantastic to see it happening.

Thanks for reading.

Part 2 - Cochabamba

Hope you are all well. Firstly sorry for the big delay from part 1. Have been spending the last few weeks in Peru sorting out this faff of a visa. After just about collecting all my documents together, solving passport problems and getting through a memorable hour of police custody on the Bolivia/Peru border I finally got there. Was an interesting situation to test my Spanish in! The police were very friendly. I tried to get a photo with them before hitching a lift the rest of the way to the border but they declined, however they did give me a banana.

Anyway, after Oruru we took the four hour bus ride to Cochabamba. We rested for the remainder of the day. We were all quite tired after our excursions at our first Bolivian wedding the night before. The week ahead we spent visiting projects that are all a part of the Red Alert Cochabamba program which is part of the Toybox/Viva Latin American partnership. Again, like Oruru, it was fantastic to get a great outlook on how these connected projects across Cochabamba are doing; which areas they are serving in and the effects each are having on children and families. It was a very overwhelming week, arriving at projects and meeting such wonderful people and being introduced to the children and then moving on to another. While it is very emotional to see the scale of children with such scarred histories across all the projects, it is massively encouraging to see the work and commitment staff are putting into caring for these children. We visited such a range of projects. Some projects had considerably better facilities than others – more books, better equipped kitchens, cleaner environments, better tables and chairs, etc – however all the children were so happy with what they have and where they are. While quality facilities are important, nothing beats having quality staff. When giving towards projects we are often pleased when we see results with projects receiving more facilities, which of course is great, however we often overlook the staff and volunteers leading these projects and the work they do. It is important that as part of our donating we recognise we are also giving towards the lives and well-being of the committed workers and volunteers at these projects. They too have needs to feed their families, to take breaks to recharge and focus. I remember an afterschool project in Oruru running on minimum facilities, however the children there were absolutely having the time of their lives. They look forward to their time there every day and they are sad when they leave. They make the most out of the little they have and they learn and play and rest. Results like this in children’s lives at a project occur most certainly first and foremost due to the loving, committed and caring nature of the staff.

One day in the week we spent an afternoon playing football with a group of street children. These children spend their lives living in a drainage ditch that runs under a main road (see http://www.youtube.com/alastairwelford?gl=GB&hl=en-GB#p/a/u/0/04RzpRQwttk ). This group of children is now 9 but in the past has been up to 25. Every day in the week they spend their time washing car windscreens on a busy road towards the centre of town earning whatever they can. This is very dangerous with traffic passing very quickly and with these children often under the influence of drugs or glue-sniffing to help get them through their physical and mental pain throughout the day. This is obviously something no child should spend their lives doing. To spend an afternoon with this group of children, aged about 8-17, giving them the opportunity to have a kickabout for about an hour or so, to have a laugh, drink coca cola, to chat, get up to a bit of mischief and just be what they want to be is huge for them. One of the boys, aged 17, who made a real connection with Dad when he visited a year and a half ago was visibly overwhelmed to see him again. It clearly means a huge amount to these children to not just meet a foreign person from far away visiting for the first time, but to actually see them again returning means a whole lot more.

It was great to see Mum and Dad and sad to see them go. They then went on to Guatemala for 10 days so if you’re interested to know more about their excursions there ask them or you can read their blog at http://www.makinglifework.co.uk/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=2939 (scroll down).

Since arriving back from Peru we have been moving offices to a more central location in the city so we have been busy with that. This week I am starting work with a project called Casa De La Amistad (house of friendship), a project that schools children who live in Cochabamba’s prisons. In many Latin American prisons if a parent gets sentenced then the whole family are allowed to move in, which often happens, as this is a more affordable situation. Obviously a prison is a horrific place for any child to be in. Children and wives/husbands (whichever are not convicted) are allowed out in the daytime and have to be back in by 5pm. I am going to be doing prison visits, meeting with the parents, helping them and assisting with Bible Studies. Will report about how it goes in my next blog.

Thanks for reading.

For photos see facebook or http://www.flickr.com/photos/82329049@N00/