Work Day 1

Today was our first work day in Bolivia. What can I say? It was powerful.

We rose at 6:45 for a 7:30 breakfast, and then headed to the work site. The 45-minute drive to the site gave us plenty of time to take in the sights and sounds of bustling Cochabamba. Cars, motorcycles, vans, buses and pedestrians weave in and out of traffic without missing a beat. We were definitely thankful for our driver Johnny (not Juan; his name is Johnny) who took us through the city unscathed.

We also got our first glimpse of Uspa Uspa. There is a noted difference between the commercial district of Cochabamba, with its internet cafes, steak restaurants, and cell service billboards, and Uspa Uspa, with its make-shift housing, lack of plumbing, and rampant poverty. Food for the Hungry certainly goes to the hard places.

Our project is to continue work on a community center in Uspa Uspa. Eventually, our part will be a computer lab. Right now it is a dirt floor with a few rocks here and there. Throughout the morning we hauled bricks, rocks, and, and dirt in preparation for the upcoming concrete work. We were joined by members of a local evangelical church and also some people from the community. We worked well together and were able to level the floor to pour concrete later this week.

When we finished the work, Julio (the Country Director for FH Bolivia) received a call from another NGO saying that they wanted to meet us. We had some time to kill while we waited for them to arrive, so we headed up the hill to a soccer court (not a field) where we played some futbol with our new friends from Bolivia. It's amazing how a game like soccer can bring people together even when they don't speak the same language.

After the game, we returned to the work site where we met the representatives from Pro Justice—a Roman Catholic justice ministry working in Bolivia. Apparently, Pro Justice was responsible for getting Food for the Hungry into Uspa Uspa. Now, the two groups work together to improve the living conditions there. (Pro Justice works for child's rights.) Juan Pablo (our translator and team leader) explained to me later that the meeting we witnessed between FH and Pro Justice was significant. It is very difficult to get NGOs to work with FH because of their evangelical commitment (even Catholic groups can be hesitant because of the hostile attitude that many Protestant churches in Bolivia have).

After meeting with the folks from Pro Justice, we ate lunch and then spent some time at FH Cochabamba's office. There we met some students from Messiah College who were in Bolivia for the summer working on a clean water project. A professor from Messiah has brought some water purifying machines to distribute to the people of Uspa Uspa. They group tests the drinking water for the presence of fecal matter bacteria (they almost all test positive). Then they educate the people on clean water techniques like hand-washing and boiling. Some households also receive the water filters (they will all eventually get one when the study is over). At the end, they will compare a control group with an education-only group, and filter-only group, and an education-plus-filter group to see how well the filters and education reduce the prevalence of fecal matter bacteria in the drinking water.

In the afternoon, we went to visit sponsor children and their families. I visited Jesus Adrian (sponsored by the Believers Fellowship children's ministry) and Judith (sponsored by Aundi Ragan). It was amazing spending time with these families and finding out how child sponsorship benefits the families. The education FH provides these kids is really helping them break out of the cycle of poverty.

After the child sponsor visits, we ate dinner and debriefed. So far the consensus is that this is an amazing trip. We can't wait to get out there and work side-by-side with the people of Uspa Uspa tomorrow!