A Bolivian joke

This blog normally avoids any kind of humour, reflecting my deadly serious personality and the fact that I do not normally ‘get’ Bolivian jokes. However, I am making an exception.

• In Japan, where they eat little fatty food, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States
• On the other hand, in France, where they consume lots of fatty food, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States
• In India, where hardly anyone drinks red wine, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States
• In Spain, where they drink lots of red wine and eat far too much chorizo, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States
• In Algeria, where few people make love, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States
• In Brazil, where everyone is making love all the time, the heart attack rate is lower than in the United Kingdom and United States

Conclusion: don't worry about what you drink, what you eat, having lots of sex and generally being happy.... what kills is speaking English.

Back to school

As I sometimes have quite a lot of time on my hands due to the infrequent nature of the work with Tecnologias en Desarollo, I have been looking around for other things to keep me busy. I was introduced to a Belgium, Robert Crespin, who founded K’anchay (it’s Quechua and means to give light), an NGO that works in the northern part of Potosi, just about the poorest part of Bolivia. Robert like so many of the foreigners here only planned to stay in Bolivia for a short time - 2 years in his case – and is soon to complete his 16th year. Maybe a tale there for someone.

Anyway, I agreed that I would spend some time in one of their projects though clearly something was lost in translation as when we arrived last wednesday I was slightly surprised to find myself being left in a boarding school. The school in question is located in Vila Vila, I think they named it twice in the hope it might make it on to a map, it didn’t. While I am tempted to say is in the middle of nowhere, I learnt that some of the 80 pupils who attend (age range 4 to 22) actually have to walk or cycle up to 8 hours to get there. They live in the middle of nowhere.

To give you an idea of Vila Vila, it has 400 residents, one telephone (solar powered), one shop (sells what looks like out of date biscuits), kind of has electricity and virtually no money economy - people lead a subsistence way of life and barter or swap things. I say ‘kind of electricity’ as a power line was installed in the village this year but no one can actually afford the connection fee (about $90). Some of the adults will go to work in one of the cities in order to earn enough money to pay for connection, hopefully in time for the World Cup. I did not want to point out they will then have to pay the monthly electricity bills.

The buildings and layout resemble some kind of army camp. While the school awaits the mains electricity connection, solar power provides electricity for three hours every time – the rest of the village sleep at 7pm when it gets dark. Lights out at 10pm and showers once a week also accentuate the military feel. However the care, positive values and affection with which Santiago and his team run the school is anything but military. In terms of the curriculum, the pupils are taught traditional things like reading and writing as well as harvesting, growing fruit and vegetables and even cooking skills.

During my four days, I played football and basketball with the kids, helped plant pine trees, gave an English lesson to a class of forty, made bread and emptied the store room in search of two mice that had been spotted roaming about. It was a really good experience, it was really my first experience of spending any prolonged time with indigenous Bolivians. Sad but true, life in the city is very sheltered, or at least in the part I live. If it sounds like I was very busy, this was not the case. Over half the time there were no tasks for me to do and I had to fight the odd bout of boredom. I am truly a city boy used to radio, tv, internet, bars etc.

As for teaching English, I really had to question the value of doing this. So they did not know the capital of England is London, nobody had even heard of Scotland or Wales, as well as lacking other general knowledge we would consider quite basic. So they may not do very well in Trivial Pursuit. On the other hand, I would not know the first thing about how to build a wall, grow tomatoes or bake bread. These are practical skills, which they need to live. On the other hand they seemed to enjoy the class, and they know who Harry Potter is.

Then there was my journey back to Cochabamba… While I arrived in relative comfort via a 6 hour journey in a 4x4, my return commenced on saturday evening on the back of a motorbike (backpack and all) to Sacaca, 8 miles away. In Europe, people would call my ride a cross country obstacle course though out here it is a typical Bolivian carriageway. I would like to describe the experience as hair raising but as it started raining half way through to add to the ‘fun’, my hair was in fact firmly pasted to my forehead. I was quickly sent to bed – about 8pm – as I was due to get up at 3.30am to catch a truck to Cochabamba. In fact I could have had an hour extra beauty sleep, the truck had no space, and I had to wait an hour for the coach which was heading to Oruro. The coach seated 40 though we stopped what seemed like every 10 minutes to pick up another passenger until I counted about 70. I swear that we took one particularly sharp bend on two wheels. We were dropped off on the outskirts rather than at the bus station in Oruro and my fellow passenger, who looked like she was about 10, decided she would be my guide. I felt like telling her she should not talk to strangers, even nice ones, but instead let myself be led to the main bus terminal and bought her breakfast before heading off on my second four hour bus journey. This one was pretty uneventful, apart from a half an hour delay when we all had to dismount due to a flat tyre. Home sweet home!

Meetings, meetings and more meetings

I will not spend much time in Cochabamba in November. I was in La Paz for five days and am then heading to Potosi region for various projects.

My series of meetings kicked off with a visit to Achacachi, near Lake Titicaca, to meet the Milk Producers Association. My boss and I were slightly nervous as we had been warned on numerous occasions about the fiery Aymaran indigenous community who inhabit this zone. There was even a case of cannabilism reported two years ago. Like so often, the warnings were wide of the mark and we were welcomed warmly, there was considerable excitement about the project and we hope to begin installing 27 biogas systems in early December (rainy season permitting).

Monday and supposedly tuesday were to be spent at a Government organised workshop on the theme of desertification. It was so boring I decided to leave my boss to it after half a day and do a bit of sightseeing. They were going to spend two days discussing how to set up a network across the country rather than actually get around to discussing the problem. Tedious.

Our third meeting was much more productive: it only lasted three hours, was interesting and to the point (about how to promote renewable energy amongst small-scale farmers and other small businesses. I do not like stereotyping but perhaps I should not have been surprised, the workshop was after all organised by the German development agency GTZ.

While I was "enjoying" 10 hours in the coach back to Cochabamba – extended by three hours due to the need to take a detour to miss some localised protest - my boss had to endure a 40 minute flight. Alright for some!

eBay Style Fundraising Drive

Many of you sponsored me for the London to Brighton bike ride and I am on another fundraising drive. A Spanish film company called Mirador del Sur has made a 20 minute DVD (in Spanish with English subtitles) about our work and we are looking to sell copies to raise funds for a project to create Bolivia`s first energy powered primary school.

The DVD makes a wonderful Christmas present! Let me know if you would like a copy. Cost: £10/14 Euros (+£3/4 Euros postage and package). The best thing is that I am NOT featured in the film.

The school in question is in Waqanqui, La Cumbre, a very poor rural community located about 40 minutes from Cochabamba. It has one teacher and 27 pupils (6-9 years) and some of the key issues that need to be tackled include toilets discharging directly into the river causing pollution and creating an environmental health hazard for the children who play in the environs; no hot water for the showers so not surprisingly the kids are reluctant to shower more than once every 3-4 weeks; cooking takes place in a room that also doubles up as the teacher`s bedroom; and while the school has a library fitted out with two computers, television and video recorder thanks to a foreign donation, ironically the school was not given any resources to purchase books, software and audiovisual materials.

Our plan is to install renewable energy in the form of biogas, wind energy, solar power and a cyclemotor (pedal power), improve the toilet/shower block and build a separate annexe which will act as a kitchen. Young people from the local community will help prepare materials, dig, build and learn on the job about the technology. Once completed, it is also intended for the project to become an integral part of the curriculum for the children, with a fully equipped "technology" library and welcoming educational visits from the area.

There is widespread support (actually excitement) from the whole community for the project. More than 40 people attended an open meeting recently to discuss the project in more detail. Interestingly I was not the only one for whom Spanish was not their first language; many of the residents are Quechua speakers first and foremost. We have agreed that I will teach them English in return for some Quechua lessons. It has been suggested by some wags that I need to master Spanish first however.

PS We have decided to spend money raised from the bike ride towards installing 25 combined biogas systems and toilets/showers in Achacachi around Lake Titicaca. The area may look idyllic with its location next to the lake and surrounded by snow capped mountains but the poverty is extreme and climate unfriendly. I head off there this weekend and more news will appear soon on the blog.

Octavia....remember the name

Friday night was a late one. I went to see Octavia, Bolivia’s most famous alternative rock band, in concert. It’s the second time I have seen them live and I think they are great so I am keen to spread the word - http://www.octavia-bo.com/. I’ve got 3 CDs so expect to here a lot of them when I get home.

Holy Times

The 2nd November was yet another Bank Holiday, though I was a bit confused. It was called "All Saints Day" (a universal Christian Feast that honors and remembers all Christian saints, known and unknown), though in reality this is on the 1st November, and what was celebrated was "All Souls Day" otherwise known as "The Day of the Dead".

It is a Roman Catholic day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away. This comes from the ancient Pagan Festival of the Dead, which celebrated the Pagan belief that the souls of the dead would return for a meal with the family.

The day purposely follows All Saint's Day in order to shift the focus from those in heaven to those in "purgatory" (not a word I use very often.) While the culture in the UK and US is to shy away from discussions of death, Latins embrace it. The day is an opportunity to celebrate the death and the life of loved ones and friends they knew in this world and visiting the cemetery is a popular tradition. At the cemetery, the tomb or burial plot is decorated. The cemetery visit is spent in a picnic environment and Pan de Muertos or "Bread of the Dead" is a traditional bread which is baked and eaten during this celebration. The air is filled with music from bands while the scent of a wide variety of foods wafts through the air.

There is also a Jewish cemetary in Cochabamba which I wanted to visit. There is no equivalent of which I am aware to the Day of the Dead so the cemetary was not surprisingly closed, however a nice caretaker let me in. There are about 400 or so graves, the oldest dates back about 100 years and most of the names were of German origin. According to the caretaker, the community numbers about 80 now in the city and he gave me details of the synagogue.

It was also a busy day for some friends of ours, Carine (from France) and Vincent (from Belgium, see link http://www.vincetmanu.com/), who work for a charity called AVE that supports the children who work in the cemetary. There are about 400 children who help supplement their families' income by carrying out tasks like cleaning graves, selling flowers and running errands in the cemetary. While some of them work full-time, the majority are there in their spare time, at evenings and weekends. They can earn anything from 50p up to £1.50 on a very good day. There are two views: that "child labour" is inhuman and one should do everything possible to ensure it is outlawed, or the latter view that AVE takes, that it can fight for rights for the children and improve and promote their working conditions. The charity also organises positive activities for the children, so that they get to have some fun as well as broadening their experiences and interests. They publish a regular magazine (sold for 7p) and have also produced 3 CDs which contain songs, stories and interviews.

My religious theme week continued the following day. Recently I met Julie in a street near my house, she is a 57 year old English lady from Brentwood in Essex who runs a day centre for children in a poor neighbourhood. She is a bundle of energy and before I knew it I was persuaded to come and visit the centre as well as attend her thursday "Bible Group".

The centre is very impressive, it runs on a shoe string (about £200-£300 per month) and provides games and activities, classes (including religious instruction), clothes, dental checks and other basic medical care for the children who attend. It`s run by a mixture of foreign volunteers and Bolivians and on a quiet day the centre welcomes about 60, at the weekends and holidays it is overrun with about 150 children.

Quite how I managed to be persuaded to attend a "Bible Group" I am not quite sure. Julie was very convincing that her regulars would welcome the opportunity to learn more about the Jewish faith and it seemed something different to me I suppose. I was the only boy (what does this say?) out of the 9 attendees, we were a mixture of Americans, Australians, Germans, English and a Scot. All the girls worked for some kind of social or charitable project in Cochabamba and while I do not share their strong faith, the thing that struck me is that it is very positive if it spurs them on to this kind of work. It was an interesting evening, they were pleasant company and did not seem offended that I did not join in the group praying session. The one thing that puzzled me as a simple Jewish boy was how they distinguished so strongly between themselves as "Christians" and the majority of the local population who are "Catholics" as if it is a different religion.