Bolivia Orphanage Project: May 2013

La Iglesia

This morning, the team and I attended our first ever church service at the orphanage site. It was such a beautiful experience to see the community come together in the space we have created. Even though the service was in Quechua, we were able to feel the joy of community and togetherness that makes this project so special. It also gave us the opportunity to meet some of the adults in the community and explain our commitment to the project.

The Congregation

Maribel and the Mountains

Delia, Maribel, and Lucy - all dressed up for their performance at Church.

Needles ready?? Let the felting begin!!

On Saturday we held a needle felting workshop for the young women in the community. Our hope is that they can produce Fair Trade felted products (like the ornaments pictured below) to earn some extra income. Of course, the little ones couldn't stay away... so we taught them too :)

Melissa, our artist, headed up the project and did such a great job! Needle felting is hard work! It requires a lot of careful movements, attention, and patience - not normally traits you find in children. But these kids really stuck it out and did an awesome job. We'll continue this project throughout the week and hopefully have some beautiful pieces to sell at Global Gallery when we get home!

Delia and Lucy working hard!

Maribel and Sarai getting some instruction from the Master!

Some of the finished product!

Hola!!

Another year has flown by and we are hard at work again in Bolivia!

We arrived in Cochabamba Friday morning, and after sleeping off some of our travel drowsiness, headed up to the orphanage site. Things have moved right along in the months we were gone. The second story now has walls and stairs to get to it! There is also an outdoor eco-toilet for the kids to use during the after school program. And, the church/community space now has beautiful tile flooring and windows. It really is lovely.

After taking inventory on Friday, we put together our work plan for the week. It will mostly likely change, as things in Bolivia always do, but here it is so far:

1. Prep and plant garden, repair garden fence

2. Design and install an irrigation system for the garden

3. Finish the new building for the after school program and clinic (this includes lacquering the walls, installing a door and windows)

4. Scrub and lacquer the brick walls of the second story

5. Finish pillars on the second story

6. Level and create a walkway to the new building which houses the after school program and clinic

7. Repaint and repair walls of the first story

8. Felting workshop for the young women in the community

We've got a lot on our plate and, though it is ambitious, we are feeling pretty good about getting it all done. We've got 40 some students from the Ohio State University coming throughout the week to aid in construction (yay for volunteer labor!!).

More posts and pictures to come!! And don't forget, if you would like to make a donation to the Bolivia Orphanage Project, just click the yellow "donate" button on the right!