Our Final Day

It’s our last day in Bolivia. It has gone faster than we could have imagined. We are on the hunt for souvenirs now. Shopping anxiety has replaced bowel movements as our favorite conversation topic.

Yesterday at breakfast, Ivan shared a bit more about the work in North Potosi and his vision for future endeavors. The Bolivian Baptist Union is being careful not to create a culture of dependency among the churches there. This has been a problem in the past and if the churches are to grow and mature, they need to work towards a greater degree of self sustainability. Changing mindsets takes a long time, so encouragement must be tempered with patience. Consistent local leadership, in the manner of Pastor Juan, will be an important driver for change. Ivan is beginning to see possible synergies with his congregation of Brazilian students. They have grown from 18 to 60 over the last year or so, and are reaching the point where Ivan is encouraging them to think about integral mission. In other words, what they receive from God needs to flow outward to support God’s work in others. Ivan is thinking about forming teams of medical students supported by doctors and nurses who can visit the Chagas areas and provide diagnostic services and health care. He also sees a role for the students to visit North Potosi to support and encourage the youth and young adults who make up such a large proportion of the churches there.

This morning we had a meeting with Richard Arroyo Mendizabal, the new director of OBADES. OBADES is the social arm of the Bolivian Baptist Union. It has a strong relationship to Sharing Way and provides annual financial and operational reports to Sharing Way. It began in 2002 with the vision of promoting an integral and sustainable society, centered on Christ. It works to achieve transformation in families, children and communities, promote gender equality, develop sustainable urban and rural communities without discrimination, and support both physical and spiritual needs.

It has 7 projects underway at the moment:

Padefar supports rural families by providing training in agricultural production techniques. It provides micro-credit loans to families to buy chickens, pigs and other livestock. When OBADES workers speak to families about the transforming love of God, the transformation brought to lives by these physical supports give their message integrity. Padefar is funded by Sharing Way and CIDA. It works mainly in Cochabamba, Oruro, La Paz and North Potosi.

We became much more familiar with the Chagas Program during our week in Mizque. Plastering the interior walls of adobe buildings is a simple way to protect families from the debilitating effects of Chagas disease. There is a very large need for this work in the Chagas prone areas of Bolivia and very few organizations are doing this kind of work. The program operates in Mizque and the nearby areas of Tucma and Buena Vista, and in Premier de Mayo, near Cochabamba. In addition to plastering, the program educates people in caring for their health and homes.

The Micro-Credit Program provides small loans to individuals that allow them to develop small business opportunities. The loans are provided an interest rate of 1% compared to 3 or 4% from those few commercial lenders who will advance small loans. It will also provides loans to people who would not be accepted by commercial lenders. The program has a capital of about 1 million Bolivianos (~$150,000) financed by Sharing Way. It provides 50 to 60 loans per year. 99% of the loans are repaid on schedule and the other 1% are repaying but are delayed. The program aims to develop financially self sustaining families.

Casa de la Amistad provides day care and education for prison children. In Bolivia children live in the prison with their parent(s) unless the parents can arrange for some other family member or friend to care for them. Obviously this is not the best environment to raise a child. The prison in Cochabamba is about 1 block from the Casa and the children are picked up each day. Younger children are cared for at the Casa and older children are bused to school. The program accepts children 5 to 17 or 18, but can handle children as young as 3. OBADES would like to expand the program to include assist to the parents as they reintegrate into society. The Sharing Way pays for salaries and some expenses while the Bolivian government, pays for the children’s food. The Roman Catholic church has some similar programs, but this is the largest of its kind in Bolivia. The program is a great success. Some of the children have graduated from high school and are now attending university. We witnessed the program first hand on our last trip and were impressed and perhaps a bit surprised at how happy and well adjusted the children at the Casa were. Laurier Heights Baptist Church in Edmonton has a strong commitment to the Casa through the STEP program and sends a group of volunteers every year.

Canadian James Seaborn started Jireh to provide opportunities for children who work on the streets. The program is now run by OBADES. It is common to see children shining shoes or selling things on the streets of Bolivian cities. Jireh provides food 2 times per week, as well as education and tuition support. OBADES has a grant to fund a tailoring workshop that will train the kids in a trade and provide some income for the program. Unfortunately, the grant is running out and OBADES lacks the resources to continue Jireh. It will end this year unless other resources are found.

The Centre for Integral Development is a program run by Compassion that provides training to churches. OBADES provides administrative support. Seventeen Bolivian Baptist churches are in the program.

The Quechua Literacy Program teaches literacy skills to the Quechua people in their own language. It also provides some training in agriculture and health. Quechua is an indigenous language that is one of Bolivia’s four official languages. The others are Spanish, Aymara, and Guarani. The program is funded by Partners International Canada.

OBADES is also planning to develop a child sponsorship program. Like similar programs run by other agencies, the sponsorship money will benefit the entire village rather than just one child. The sponsorship will support the education and spiritual formation of children and will work to improve relationships between children and their fathers. The goal of the program is to assist children to grow in wisdom inspired by God as modeled in Luke 2:52. Similar programs exist but there is almost unlimited need here. OBADES will provide the local administration and knowledge, while CBM will provide administration of the Canadian donations. The program is still under development and when it is complete OBADES will work with CBM to gain approval and work out the Canadian administrative requirements.

Richard’s presentation was thorough and very informative. We all came away with a much better understanding of OBADES contributions to integral (physical and spiritual) mission in Bolivia.

Ivan’s parents invited us over for a final lunch. They have been very gracious to us during our stay here, despite his mother’s health problems. We are very grateful for the way in which they have opened their home to us.

Later in the afternoon we went to Premier de Mayo to visit Francesca’s house, which the first step team from First Baptist renovated and plastered. Premier de Mayo is a small community of immigrants that have come from other areas of Bolivia. It is a poor community but we saw more businesses in town and there are signs that life is improving for the residents. Francesca was away for the afternoon visiting the hospital but two of her granddaughters were there. They have grown a lot since we last saw them, but they remembered Sam and Melba, who were part of the first team. Francesca’s house looks great, with a coat of stucco on the outside giving it a finished appearance. If you want to find Francesca’s house on Google Earth, use these coordinates: 17.46905S, 66.20702W.

On the way back into town, Ivan described some of the work that Habitat for Humanity is doing in Premier de Mayo. Most people don’t have title to their land, but there is a process by which they can get title. Habitat is planning a program to help people work through the process of registering title with the government. This is especially important for women. Women head bout 46% of Bolivian households because the men are away working, or have problems with alcohol, etc. Having title to their own property gives them security.

Back in town we finished packing and checked our bags at the airport, then went for a light supper with Ivan, Alex and Yayo, who is back in town. Now we are regrouping before our departure at 9:45. Over the last two weeks we have had a wonderful, enriching experience that has deepened our knowledge of the issues, both material and spiritual, faced by our Bolivian brothers and sisters. We feel a bit sad to be leaving, but are looking forward to getting home and seeing all of you again.

Thank you for being part of this adventure through your prayers and encouragement.

Hasta mañana.