Hola Amigos y Amigas! We have all arrived safely and are together in Santa Cruz Bolivia! On Saturday afternoon four of us gathered in the hot and humid city of Miami, Florida. Sabrina, Kelsey, Alison and I (Jill) all made our trek south for a day of getting to know each other and preparing for the 2 weeks in Bolivia. On Sunday morning, we were sent off with a beautiful blessing and prayer by a Spanish Mennonite church in Miami. At 3:00 in the morning we arrived in Bolivia after a fairly uneventful 2 airplane rides and were greeted by Daniel Lobo, one of our very gracious hosts/friends in Santa Cruz. After a morning nap we all met up with the group of 11 from Fresno Pacific University for lunch and a day of getting oriented to the city and work. The students from FPU have already been in Bolivia for almost 2 weeks with a learning tour from MCC. It has been nice to see the way that they have integrated the rest of us into the group quite well and are teaching us what they learned in their travels.
Today was our first day "on the job" so to speak. Having been in Santa Cruz last summer for the same trip, though a different group, I am in total awe to see the tranformation of Guarderia Samuelito, the daycare we are working at from last year to this. What was still a dream of half built walls and freshly poured cement floors with many more loads of dirt and layers of bricks ahead has now turned into a sturdy, beautiful and colorful home for the daycare. To see Yuneth, the daycare director beam when she shows me each room and her very own office brought chills to me. The children, who last year, were cramped into tiny rooms and had to spread outside just to have room to play, eat, learn, shower, brush teeth, etc, now safely inside clean rooms with large indoor beautiful bathrooms and space for all of their belongings is unbelievable. There really are no words to do justice to the difference I have seen and the contentment I feel among the daycare staff. There are at least 30 more students, for a total of 75, than last year and yet the same staff. The construction for more office and gathering space is going at a fairly good pace but it is hard to say if that momentum and the funds will continue.
Our work today was varied. We washed windows, sanded boards, helped children, cooked, washed dishes, organized classroom toys and items, hauled dirt and generally had a pretty good time. We enjoyed getting into a pretty intensive study of the book of Amos as a group and it was really good to see the participants start to think about ways to approach social justice. We followed up the day at Samuelito with a meal together and icecream so we can continue to get to know each other as a group.
We are divided up into about 8 different host families. Some host 3 and others 1 or 2. Being in host families is one of the joys of the time in Santa Cruz and there should be stories ahead of that. For me, at the moment, I am just excited to be back among friends in Bolivia. To see Bolivia through fresh eyes of a first time visitor is great but to return is better than I had even expected.
-Jill
p.s. for a good story, ask me how I and 2 other participants plus 2 Bolivian friends spent our late night hours last night...
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