Life in Cochabamba is never dull….. We say ‘yes’ to most things and are willing to get involved with so many different projects. Some are ‘riskier’ than others!
The boys and girls at the youth rehabilitation centre have responded really well to our drama presentations and we feel that we have developed some great relationships already. We visit regularly and have started to lead some sessions and Bible teaching. Just having time to talk to them and for them to share their stories has been a real breakthrough.
(More information on our Newsletter). Due to new restrictions we are not allowed to take photos in either the girls or the boys prison/rehabilitation centres. Sorry.
We have had Nick and Naomi visiting us from the UK this month. It has been so much fun to show them around and get them involved in our projects. We took them into the youth rehabilitation centre to meet both the teenage boys and the girls. We played sports and games with them – an interesting England vs Bolivia football match as well as teaching them ultimate frizzbee. We also taught them a drama to illustrate a Bible study which went really well.
Nick and Naomi were keen to work with children, so we went back to help at Amor and Amistad, which is a children’s centre for kids who live in a very poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of the town. Many of the children live in a local orphanage because their parents are in the prison and others are left alone in the afternoon because their parents work. The centre provide them with a safe space to come and do homework and a daily Bible study and a healthy nutritious snack. Nick was asked to run sports classes and Naomi was leading art classes. They also asked us to paint a mural on a new wall they had built around the steps of the playground. Naomi is a fabulous artist/set designer… so we took up the challenge (Nick and I were chief paint mixers, brush washers and background painters). See below for some idea of the progression and nearly finished result. We were so pleased to see the mural we painted back in 2009 still looking great.
We love hiking and try to get out of the city and see parts of Bolivia in our time off. One weekend we decided to organise a hike along the ‘Choro trial’ which is an ancient Inca footpath between La Paz and Corico. It starts at El Cumbre at 4400m and finishes in the jungle 1350m. It is a difficult trail as it is mostly downhill on slippery steps and crosses a number of rivers. Not many people do this hike and on our three day walk we only saw three other people the whole time. What we didn’t know when we left the summit was that three out of the four bridges had recently been swept away and had been replaced with makeshift ‘bridges’; which were basically logs tied together with pieces of flimsy wire and string, balanced on the rocks, jammed together with pebbles and branches. To say it would not have passed the ‘Health and safety risk assessment’ is an understatement. We did survive and we did have a wonderful time with our mission co-ordinator Mauge and friends.
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Dean and Ruth's Diary 