Little is Much...

This week has been pretty good, except for the fact that I've been fighting off a flu since last Thursday. It's only a plugged nose and a cough, so it's more annoying than anything else, but I did miss work on Wednesday in order to stay home and get a little bit better. If the round of flu meds I'm on doesn't help it, I'll be switching to antibiotics (which you can get here from the pharmacy without a prescription).

I missed my boys from Casa Nasareth a little bit this week, since I only actually got to spend Monday and Thursday afternoons with them this week. Tuesday I had a tour of the Amanacer homes (more on that later), Wednesday I was home, and Friday afternoon I had my final two Spanish classes. However, when I arrived on Thursday, a bunch of the boys ran up to me to say hi and gave me big hugs, which was really sweet. The first week of December, they're going to be going camping for 3 days, and I'm going to be going with them, which I am really looking forward to.

It was a fun week at CAT for me. On Monday, the kids went to the Stadium in the morning to compete in some athletic activities with two other homes (also for disabled kids). There were wheelchair races, crawling races, and ball throwing among other events, and it was really good to see some of the kids move around a little bit more than they usually do. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves and having fun. They also all got to wear matching track suits, and they looked really cute in them. I'm hoping to get a few pictures from other people since I didn't have my camera, but I doubt I'd be allowed to post them. There were also two races for the workers, one for women and another for men. A girl from Germany who's volunteering at CAT whom the female race, and we cleaned up in the men's race. I came in first, Freddy, the director of CAT came in second, and our physiotherapist came in third. Sadly though, because I was home on Wednesday, I missed getting to see the kids receive their medals.

On Friday morning, I was painting with the kids, which was an adventure and a half. We had a wooden cut-out of a tree about two feet long, which we were putting a coat of white paint on (we'll add the colour later), which is going to be a Christmas decoration for the home. However, there were only 2 paint brushes to go around and about 5 kids who wanted to help paint. That being said, the kids managed to share fairly well with a little direction from me. There was one boy however, Jonathan, who had difficulty sharing. I don't think it was because he was selfish though, I'm just not sure he was able to comprehend the idea of sharing, so whenever I took the brush away from him he thought that he wasn't going to get it back, and became very sad. Nevertheless, he instantly became happy when it was his turn to use the brush again, and would smile this huge smile the entire time he was painting. I also realized that it was probably better there were only two brushes, since keeping an eye even on only two was a bit of a challenge. The kids really enjoyed the chance to paint, and I had fun painting with them too. And despite relatively large amounts of paint of their hands, their clothes managed to remain for the most part paint-free. Ironically, my clothes received more paint then theirs did, go figure.

Yesterday, I went to the Plaza Principal to help out with the baby washing. This time, I was helping an older volunteer was the youngest kids, the babies. It was good, despite the fact that we only had one baby in an hour and a half who was happy to be bathed, and all the rest cried the whole time. There's no baby washing next week because it won't be safe to go down to the plaza on Saturday, something about a conflict between the regional government (which is more conservative and rightist) and the federal government (much more leftist). Apparently the regional governor is saying he'll refuse to follow some new law Morales (the president) is going to introduce, and if he does refuse then there's an armed force (not the military, I can't remember their name) that's going to be sent in. Since the poor people side with the federal government and the rich people side with the regional government, it could get pretty interesting. But I certainly won't be showing up downtown next weekend, since there could possibly be large crowds of people with not-quite-so-pleasant feelings for the rich, which being a gringo I automatically am. Hopefully this won't get as bad as the riots back in January, although with the approaching Dec 14 deadline for the Constitutional Assembly to have a new constitution drafted, something that has been a huge source of political conflict (and it currently looks unlikely that a draft will be ready), things could very likely get more dangerous over the next couple of weeks.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went on a tour of some different Amancer homes. Amanacer is the Catholic organization that owns Casa Nasareth, and I was impressed with their homes and their love for the children. Most of the homes, though, were very large. San Martin, a home for boys 8 to 15[ish], currently has 110 boys. But they live in 5 different little houses, and the grounds are the largest of the Amanacer homes, complete with a soccer field, space to run around, a small farm where they teach the boys how to grow vegetables, and some grazing space for the two cows that they have. It also has it's own metalwork shop, a woodworking shop, and a bakery. After the boys leave San Martin and go to the next home (I'm not sure what it's called), they can attend Amancer's trade school where they learn advanced metalwork or carpentry, or baking. Down here, these are all good, solid trades that would allow the boys to find a good job and a decent income once they move out for good. Despite this, Amanacer is actually not sure what to do with the trade school, since most of the boys now want to go to university to learn computer science and aren't interested in working with their hands, so demand for the school is very low right now. Amanacer does also run girls homes, but we only visited one so I don't really know what sort of preparation they get before leaving.

Almost none the children in Amanacer homes are orphans, however their families are not able to care for them for a variety of potential reasons and without Amanacer, most of these kids would likely end up on the street. Despite the fact that Amanacer has homes to care for children even into university, they work really hard with the families of the children and try to make it possible for the families to care for them. They do this because they sincerely do not want the kids to become "institutionalized", and would rather them grow up with a family (when it is safe to do so) than in a home.

I realized on Tuesday just how lucky (relatively speaking) the kids at Nasareth are. Nasareth is the smallest Amanacer home at 25 kids, and is the only one that is an actual house. I was struck by the sheer size of Amancer's operations, a result of the sheer size of the need that exists here. I felt a little overwhelmed, and for a while I wondered how much I was really able to do, really able to help, by spending my afternoons playing with the boys. But then I remembered that this is what I felt called to do, to love them, and as small as that may seem at times it is still important, and I must trust God in this. This is his work, not mine, and I am happy to play a part in it. I remembered also the words to the Downhere song that I like, Little is Much...

"What is the measure of a life well lived,
If all I can offer seems too small to give?
...
Little is much, when God's in it,
And no one can fathom the plans he holds.
Little is much, when God's in it,
He changes the world with the seeds we sow."

May your little be much this week.

Seeing More Pictures

Just to let you know that I have added a picture slideshow to my blog, and you can find it below the other pictures along the left hand side of the page. Right now it is showing some pictures from Chapare that I have uploaded. They show up a little small, but if you click on a picture it will open up my Picasa in a new window and you can see the pictures there, where they show up larger. Also, the link to my Picasa, where I will hopefully be uploading lots of pictures, is...

http://picasaweb.google.com/dprcooke

It does, however, take a long time for me to upload pictures (about 3-4mins per photo), so I can't guarantee that I'll have a lot up any time soon, but I'll do the best that I can.

That's all for now. Have a good week everyone.

Nice Monkey, Please Don't Pee on My Shoulder

Last week was spectacular, what with starting volunteering on Monday and finally making it to Chapare this weekend. First some info on volunteering...

I spend my mornings at CAT, a government-run home for disabled kids. There are, I believe, 31 kids at CAT. While it is well-staffed with nurses, a doctor, and a physiotherapist among others, there is really no one to just play with the kids. This is what I do all morning. Sometimes playing means tossing or kicking a ball around, and other times it means carrying the kids around piggy-back style.

There is a wide variety of kids at CAT. Some of them are physically disabled, although this does not in any way seem to impede their mobility. It is quite amazing watching them run, roll (in a wheelchair), or crawl around, climb up on to swings, wrestle, and do pretty much everything most "normal" kids do. In a way, they don't seem to be disabled, and it's really encouraging watching and playing with them. There are also kids there who have mental handicaps, my guess would be that most of them have varying degrees of Down Syndrome, although I could be wrong. Some of them use wheelchairs because they aren't able to walk, whereas a few others are able to. A lot of them can't talk, or at least don't do so very much, but they are still very expressive. On Thursday when I arrived, I set my bag in the physiotherapy room, and Ana, a girl with DS who never talks, stood up and gave me a very big hug. There is also a young boy (probably not older then 4) named Johnny who calls me "papi," and except for the fact that I'm pretty sure it means "grandpa" I find this very sweet.

Most of the kids at CAT, and also the kids at the boys home, seem fascinated with my beard. They are constantly stroking it, and asking "what's that?" To which I respond, "a beard." I realized last week that beards, and facial hair in general, are actually quite rare here.

I spend my afternoons, from 1pm until somewhere between 5 and 6, at Casa Nasaret. Nasaret is part of Amanacer, a Catholic organization that runs (I believe) 14 different homes in Cochabamba. There are 25 boys at this home, between the ages of 5 and 12, and they are here for various reasons. Some don't have parents, others have parents who simply can't afford to look after them, and for others it would be too dangerous to live at home (due to certain habbits the parents my have). I show up just in time for lunch, and have to choose a table from among 5, each of which has 5-6 boys most of whom are shouting "Dave sit with us!" After lunch, they do chores, swim in the pool, do homework, and then play till dinner (they do get a snack some time around 4). Last Monday, I was very surprised when I saw them doing their chores. After lunch, all the boys left the dining room and suddenly emerged with brooms, I didn't even know where from, and began sweeping everywhere. Each boy knew exactly what he was responsible for, and did it quickly and efficiently. Almost as fast as the brooms came out, they disappeared again and were replaced by what Bolivians use for a mop (a long squeegee with a wet rag on the end). I think my favorite to watch doing chores is Kevin, the youngest boy in the home at 6, whose broom is probably about 1.5 times his own height! Nevertheless, he sweeps and cleans with relative ease.

Here again, I spend my time just hanging out and playing with the boys. I also started helping them a bit with their chores, once I discovered where the brooms came from, and I help them with their homework as well. On Tuesday I went into the pool with them, and spent the entire 30 minutes throwing them around in the water! It was quite fun, I think especially for them, since as soon as I had tossed one there were at least four others grabbing at my arms saying "me next!" I have a feeling that by the time I leave Bolivia, I will have developed very impressive biceps. Although that being said, the boys are already very impressed withy them, why though I have absolutely no idea. They weren't able to go swimming after Tuesday since it was cloudy every afternoon.

Since Nasaret is a Catholic home, before and after praying everyone makes the sign of the cross on themselves. I discovered on Monday that I had absolutely no idea how to do this, so I thought I should look it up. At that point I couldn't even remember Austin Powers' "spectacles, testicles, wallet, and watch," and I wanted to know the proper way anyhow. So Monday evening, after dinner, I Googled it and found out how to do it. It's actually pretty interesting, and there's a lot of symbolism involved, but I just thought it was funny that I had to look it up online to figure it out. However, I am now able to actually make the sign with them before and after praying, instead of just waving my hand around in front of my chest.

We finally got to Chapare this weekend, and it was well worth the wait. We met bright and early Saturday morning at 6am to leave. Well, actually, the gringos had all shown up by 6:15 (including Kim and I who arrived early at 5:50), while the Bolivians arrived at the Bolivian 6am, which was closer to 6:45. But that was okay, since Julio arrived with the vans that we were taking, and we were on the road by 7. The trip was a little over 3 hours, through mountains most of the way with an amazingly incredible view. Although the road was a tad twisty, it was big enough for two trucks and for the most part well maintained, so the only scary part was when our driver would go to pass a truck or something, and because we were driving on curvy mountain roads, you actually couldn't see very far down the road. My favorite though was when we passed a car right beside a "Do Not Pass" sign. Despite this, we arrived safely to Villa Tunari, which was where we were staying. We went to La Jungla, which was a park in the area. In the park, we went on these huge swings that were a lot of fun, but that would never in a million years have passed a safety inspection in Canada. The highest one had you start your swing from 18 meters up! At least this one had a harness for you to wear. Actually, the swings themselves seemed quite safe, it was the rickety wooden structures you had to swing off of that seemed more dangerous!

After the swings, we walked through the park to the river, where we spent probably about an hour relaxing in the cool water. Here's a picture of the second spot where we swam, deeper than the first and it had shade too!


At 3pm we grabbed lunch, then checked in to our hostel and went for a good swim in the hostel's pool. After walking through the jungle on a sunny and humid day, it was very nice to relax in the pool, and none of us minded paying more to get a hostel with one. Our hostel was actually pretty nice, with lots of plants and fairly pretty. And except for the fact that it didn't have air conditioning, and that Kim's bed broke during the night and she had to sleep partially upright, it was very nice. Here's a picture of the hostel's pool area.

After our afternoon swim, Kim and I went off to gather some coconuts. Beside the restaurant where we had eaten lunch, there was a big coconut tree with some ripe coconuts up top. Since we quickly realized that we had no hope whatsoever of being able to climb the tree, we tried to find a shorter one, but instead found a long stick (more like a tree limb, though lighter) that was about twice my height. With it, we were just able to reach the coconuts, and I managed to knock one down. Kim had a tad more trouble (I think my coconut was probably already loose), but after I had her sit on my shoulders while I stood up by the tree, she had the extra height she needed and managed to get one too! The whole time we were getting very strange looks from some of the locals, but we thought it was worth it once we got our coconuts. "Whose the stupid tourist now!?" We left our stick near the tree, just in case, and took our coconuts back to the hostel to share with the others. Using Kim's multitool knife, we removed the part of the outside, punched a hole in the nut (which is the part that you buy when you go to the supermarket), and everyone enjoyed fresh coconut milk, right from the coconut! It was very, very good. Once the juice was gone, we removed the rest of outside, broke them, and all ate fresh coconut. It was delicious, made even better by the fact that we had gotten them ourselves. This for me was definitely the height of the day.

Sunday morning, we left the hostel just after 9, grabbed breakfast, and then went to La Machia, another park in the area. We walked along the nature trail, which took us uphill, something quite challenging when it's hot, humid, and you left your water bottle back at the entrance with the rest of your stuff since you didn't feel like paying the 2B deposit to bring it in. Nevertheless, the view afforded from the top of the hill was absolutely beautifull, well worth the hike. Here are two pictures, both taken from the top of the hill, looking out across the valley. The first one gives a great view of the scenery, the other one showing with the seven of us who were there one Sunday (10 of of left Cochabamba on Saturday, but 3 went home Saturday night and didn't stay).

Top Row, L to R: Allie, Karen, Peter, Ever & Me
Bottom Row: Joel & Kim

We continued along the trail, downhill this time, meeting a few monkeys along the way, and found a very small waterfall. Although we couldn't drink the water, it was nice to splash our faces and cool off, especially since we had to go back over the hill to get to the monkey section. We had been hoping that the trail would loop around, it didn't. We eventually got to the monkey section, at it was a lot of fun. The monkeys were quite used to people, so they had no problem climbing onto us and licking the sweat off us, although I will admit that this last past felt a little strange. They didn't even try to steal anything, except for a drink of water from our water bottles (not everyone decided to leave theirs at the entrance like I did). One monkey climbed on to Karen's lap, screwed off the lid to the bottle, tilted it back to get a drink, and when he discovered that there was no water in the bottle, proceeded to put the cap back on! The were definitely quite intelligent, and cute too! Here are three more pictures. One of a monkey, one of me with a monkey on my shoulders and the last of Kim with a monkey on hers.

The only downside about the monkeys was that one of them decided to pee while it was sitting on my shoulder. There wasn't much I could do, since I didn't want to push it off or anything. However, there was a creek about 20 feet away with clear and cool water, so I rinsed off my t-shirt in it, and afterwards I was able to enjoy a very cool shirt! So all in all it wasn't that bad. Besides, how many people can say they've had a monkey pee on their shoulder? Not that many I'll bet. I am now part of an elite club. If I had Facebook I'd start a Facebook group or something like that.

After seeing the monkeys, we left the park to grab lunch (at about 2:30), and then came back to Cochabamba. All in all, it was a great weekend and lots of fun, and I slept very well Sunday night.

What do You Mean There's Going to Be Blockades?

I am now finished language school! Well, technically I'll be going back for 3 hours each the next two Fridays, but I'm effectively done. It feels good to have finished. The director of the language school told me that she is very impressed with how much I have learned over the past six weeks, and that she thinks I will do fine.

I am also really looking forward to starting to volunteer tomorrow. And of course, in true Bolivian style, I will be going to the boys home (Casa Nasaret) at 9am this Monday to apply to volunteer there and then to figure out my schedule, and from there I will go down to CAT to figure out my schedule there. So I will probably begin at Nasaret tomorrow, and CAT on Tuesday depending on how long everything takes.

This week was a fun week. I played wallyball (vollyball in which the ball is allowed to touch the walls) on Sunday evening with some Bolivian friends, and also on Friday evening with my language school. On Wednesday, once again there was no hockey, as it started raining at about 8:10 (we meet to play at 8:15). On Thursday, we also had a potluck dinner with my language school, which was a lot of fun. The food was really good, and after having eaten way too much dinner, I proceeded to eat some desert. I made white chocolate granola bars, and now have to give the recipe to about 5 people. Afterwards, I went to the Bible study were we were doing a send-off for Megan, a girl who's been down here awhile and left yesterday to back back to the US.

The weekend I was supposed to go to Chapare, a place in the jungle that is very beautiful, however those plans got canceled. Julio, the Bolivian who was organizing the trip, found out that there were going to be blockades today (Sunday) between Chapare and Cochabamba. Apparently they're in protest of the goverment planing to reduce welfare (or some system like that) and support to university students. There are supposed to be blockades for 48 hours here starting Tuesday, or tomorrow maybe, but the hopes were that by blockading today, they can avoid having to do so this week. So basically while it would have been possible to get to Chapare, getting back would have been slightly more challenging. We are going to go this coming weekend instead, which might actually be better since there's a few more people who will be able to go.

Saturday, while going to meet my friend Kim and a few others for lunch, I discovered that many of the roads around town were blocked off, although not because of protests. The local public university, as well as a few of the private ones, put on a huge parade, where they dress up in the traditional costumes and do cultural dances from all the regions of Bolivia. It is to promote Bolivian culture, and I was told that this is the most complete in Bolivia, with over 50 different dances! Since I didn't know it was going to be happening, I didn't have my camera with me, and I have absolutely no pictures of it! It was very impressive though. Each dance had its own music, most often played by a live band that was on the back of a flatbed truck driving ahead of the dancing procession. The costumes were very colorful and elaborate, and quite impressive.

Saturday night we were walking through the Plaza Principal, which I have decided that I like very much, as there is always something interesting happening there. Last night there was a guy dressed up as Michael Jackson, lipsynching and dancing—very will, might I add—to his music. During the week, I often see a guy who paints scenes of natures using spray paint, and is very good. There is also some socialist group that puts up the daily newpapers on a board for everyone to see, complete with brief commentary on the stories, or arrows pointing to pictures of people with a heading to let you know about them (such as the protesters in Santa Cruz who were "fascists," although don't ask me why). Two weeks ago there was a group of people singing the Ten Commandments, and I have also seen others doing comedic drama there too.

This afternoon I will be playing wallyball again, and then hopefully watching a movie with two friends (Kim and Paula). I expect to be quite tired this week as I begin volunteering, but I really am looking forward to it, and glad to be finally starting my volunteer work.

Wishing everyone back in Canada (or wherever you're reading this from) a good, safe, and blockade-free week.

On Friday, The Are Feeding The Dead

I now officially have only one week of language school left! This week I covered all of the 5 past tenses, as well as three new tenses for the subjuntivo. Knowing the past tenses is very nice, because it means that I am now able to says things like "This past Friday, I went to the cemetary," instead of saying "This past Friday, I am going to the cemetary." I think all I have left to cover is the one future tense and then the conditionals. I will also be taking classes for 3 hours each of the two Fridays after I have finished classes. This is because I missed class on Tuesday, so they owe me a few hours.

The reason I missed class on Tuesday because I was sick. Thankfully, I got over it pretty quickly, which was pretty reassuring since it meant that I only had a flu bug, as opposed to real, actual bugs (paresites), which you can get if you're not careful. Although Tyson had told me that it was inevitable that I would get sick, to be honest I had begun to feel a little bit invincible since I had been here a month without anything happening. I don't feel invincible anymore. I am happy though that it wasn't a paresite, since if it was the most likely source whould've been the street meat I've been eating. Now, I have been carefull and only eaten at two places, and not that often, and both place seem to be pretty popular which indicates to me that they should be safe. Also, when you can get a burger and some fries for 4 or 4.5 B's (about 60 cents), you can't really argue with the price. So I was pleased to discover that my sickness was, at least this time, not food-related. But then again, Barbera (she works for Tyson at the girls home and is the one who taught me "T.I.B.") said that she once got a paresite that had a 3 week incubation period. So maybe I've still got a surprise coming!

I also made some homemade granola bars this week from a recipe that Carolina gave me. They were delicious! Thanks Carolina. My friend Kim, who came over to help me make them, as well as my Spanish family, all enjoyed them too.

Friday was a holiday and everything was closed because it was The Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is an Andean tradition dating back to before the Spanish Conquest, though it has changed significantly since then. The tradition is that the families of a recently deceased (within the past year) person prepare a table in their house with a big meal for the deceased. The meal usually consists of different breads, sweets, and foods that the deceased liked. On Nov 1, All Saints Day, at noon, the souls are said to arrive. People usually visit the homes of family and friends who are celebrating this. On Nov 2, at noon, the families then move the food, as well as all of the decorations, to the cemetary and to the gravesite of the person who has died. They will then set everything up there picnic-style, spending the day at the cemetary with the soul of the deceased, and eventually they will eat the food. The Andean religion, which is based on reciprocity and the agricultural calendar, holds that, after the souls have been fed this excellent meal, they will then go up to Heaven, where in return they will intercede with the Gods to send down rain. As September and November are very dry months, it is important that the souls do this, or else the crops may be jeopardized. For those who are more Catholic than Andean in their religion, this is more a time to simply spend the day with and honour the memory of the deceased.

My language school organized a trip to the cemetary in the afternoon on Friday to witness this event. I was surprised by a few things, the first of which was the sheer number of people at the cemetary. It was packed! There were people celebrating the day outside the cemetary, because there was not enough room for them inside. There were also people selling food, ice cream, and drinks, so outside it looked almost more like a market. The other thing was that almost no one appeared to be sad. Although they were there for those who had died within the past year, almost everyone seemed happy. (There was one family that I saw that seemed quite sad, and I judged from the pictures of the man that he must have died fairly young, my guess also being that the crying 13ish year-old was probably his daughter. That being said, this was the only sad family I saw.) It truly was a fiesta. Since Mauge, the director of my school had said it was okay, and since most people actually seemed quite happy, I took a few pictures of the events. Here they are, along with some explanations of what you're looking at.


This was taken outside the cemetary, look at all people!

Taken inside the cemetary. People relaxing on the grass and celebrating the day.

A traditional spread for The Day of The Dead, including the deceased's favorite desert. This family is outside the cemetary because there was no room for them to celebrate inside.

This last picture shows two boys praying for a deceased person. Although these two boys don't seem to be, most carried around a booklet with the prayers that they were reciting. There were boys all throughout the cemetary doing this. Most of them are either homeless or very poor, and in exchange for some food (bread, cookies, cake, whatever), they pray for the deceased. I was told a few weeks ago by the man who runs the baby washing that, in this one day, some will get more food than they normally would in a whole month. Henri Nouwen wrote about this in his journal, when he witnessed The Day of the Dead celebrations over 20 years ago, and I find his comments pretty interesting, so I thought I would share them with you.

"One image stayed uppermost in my mind. It was the image of the boys receiving food for their prayers. The food put on the graves to be eaten with the dead was given to those who prayed for them. In front of my eyes I saw how prayers became food and food became prayers. I saw how little boys who had to struggle to survive received life from the dead, and how the dead received hope from the little children who prayed for the salvation of their souls. I saw a profound communion between the living and the dead, an intimacy expressed in words and gestures whose significance often escapes our practical and sceptical minds."