Thursday 27 January 2011

What's Up Doc?




Thanks to the generous donations from our friends and family in France and Canada, we were able to give Christmas to children who wouldn't have had it otherwise, but our buying power here is kind of ridiculous, so we had money left over. One Euro is ten Bolivianos, and since there's no McDonald's in Bolivia, I can't site the Big Mac Index, but a half litre of fresh juice in a restaurant is .70 cents. A meal for two people of starter, main dish, dessert and drink is about 12.50 Euros. Not each, together. So needless to say, your donations went far. Christmas was covered and with the money left over, we decided to take each kid to the dentist and for a full medical exam. This idea came when one of the toughest, sweetest little boys that lives in the house couldn't sleep at night because of dental pain. We took him to the dentist and he had two dying teeth in his mouth and an adult sized abscess. No wonder he was whining with pain. This led us to thinking, if this is the kind of mess we can find in a four year old's mouth, what will we find in a teenager's? Indeed, when the dental visits started, the cavities and problems per mouth were almost always in the double digits... I suppose that is to be expected when one hasn't visited a dentist for five years and in the case of the little ones, never.
My mother always says "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing well." So with the wise words of my mother ringing in my ears, Nicolas and I decided to go the distance and take every kid to the doctor for a full physical, to the lab for blood, urine and stool analysis and, as previously mentioned, the dentist. Not a small task in itself for two people that only have at their disposal a van that only works if someone stands on the battery. None the less about two months ago we started taking groups of three or four kids at a time to the dentist. There is no possibility to make an appointment, you just have to be there first when the clinic opens at 8:30; and we usually are much to the chagrin of the other people in line behind us. We live in a suburb of Cochabamba that is anything but suburban. It's rural. Agrarian even. And the people are too. So we have to put up with complaints from campinsinos that wait while we bring our four kids to the dentist. Each visit costs about thirty Bolivianos for the four kids, so about three Euros or four US dollars. A dollar a kid.

As you can see from the pictures posted, we also managed to coerce the lab techs to come to the house to take blood samples. We were the lucky ones that got to coerce the poop from all the kids. Some didn't need much coercing and brought me cups so full of ca-ca that I couldn't screw the top on. I risked contaminating one of the samples when I almost threw up into a jar I was trying to close. Others, the smaller ones, didn't have the co-ordination necessary we figured to hold a cup under their bums and catch a terd, so some of our poo collecting efforts were spent doing the cup holding and anticipating the moment that the needed specimen would emerge. Not the activity that immediately came to mind when Nicolas and I decided to set off to Bolivia to volunteer, but whatever. There are worse things than poop. Like not getting an education for example. This is our current hurdle.

Nicolas and I are tired. We are not tired of the kids, quite the contrary in fact. Every day we love them more and more. We are not tired of the weather, or the food, or our Bolivian family. All of the aforementioned are great, and we will be sad to leave them behind, but the one thing that we are so sick and tired of is people who don't give a shit. I mean there are people everywhere in the world who just don't care, but the concentration is alarmingly high here in Bolivia. People throw garbage everywhere guilt free. Throwing entire bags of trash into a field or on the road is as commonplace as hailing a cab or buying a coffee. Nobody thinks twice about it, and witnesses to this total lack of education don't bat an eyelid. Another common occurrence that doesn't rouse the slightest response from any local I've ever met (with the exception of the doctor that works at the clinic we now frequent with project check-up well underway,) is the purchase of a $30,000 dollar car when you live in total squalor. I can't count the number of times that I have seen houses made of dirt with children grovelling in clothes that I wouldn't even clean my floor with for fear of soiling it further. Chickens are running in and out of a house that has no doors or windows and a woman is outside washing her hair in a bin of water because there is no shower in the house. The bin is not the only thing outside the house however. There is also a giant Hummer parked right outside the unlivable shack. I often see this phenomenon and think that it would be better to live in the car.

Parents who go to Europe and send money home to their families here would be shocked (or maybe not, I don't know) to see that all of their hard earned Euros have been converted into Bolivianos and put into pimping out a Toyota Celica with lights that shine from out of the bottom of the car, speed and fuel level meters that are in strange places on the dashboard and televisions that glare from the automobile's interior. A television is obviously not the most safety conscious of installations in a car, especially if you have every intention of watching it while driving. I'm totally serious about this last part. We often see drivers watching TV while maneuvering their vehicle and as un-culturally sensitive as this may be, this site invokes only one reaction from me: the thought that this guy is a fucking moron. The same term comes to mind when I see the Hummer outside the mud hut which resembles nothing more than a super sized, square bee hive buzzing with chickens and filthy, poorly looked after children. Unfortunately the walls of the home we work in doesn't keep this moronic behavior at bay. It has penetrated our perimeter and we have to work with it. The administrator of Bolivia Childrens' Mission is the female version of the retard that puts every last peso he has into his car.

I came in early on Tuesday of this week because it was the first day of classes. I wanted to put the girls' hair in pigtails and shine the boys' shoes for "Back to school." I arrived to find everyone still in bed. After waking up the troops I was informed that only three kids would go to school because the administrator hadn't registered most of the would-be pupils. The ones that had been registered weren't going to go because this administrator (AKA shit-for-brains Patricia,) said that if they didn't have new shoes, they couldn't go. Needless to say I was furious. The ones that were registered went with old shoes and outdated uniforms and the ones that weren't registered spent their first day of school revising their times tables and reading in an effort to make them do something educational at least.

Now I know that when you are a visitor in a county you should open your ears and eyes wide and shut your mouth tight, but I've never been very good at that last part and in spite of my mediocre Spanish, I lost it and told this primate of a woman just how incompetent she is. The only job she has in January is to register the kids in school and buy new uniforms and shoes. She started doing this the day after school started. My rage was further aggravated when I asked her what she had done with the money that the government had given her to buy the uniforms. Her aversion of my gaze tipped me off that something wasn't right. I finally coxed out of her that she had bought make-up and t-shirts for the teenagers. I wanted to hit her.

In December, this same woman came to the home at night, gathered all the kids in the living room while the volunteers where in bed and told them, that because she loves them more than anyone else that works here, she's going to tell them everything that is going on in the home. This was when the government was considering removing kids because the administration couldn't comply with the simple conditions they had imposed upon them. When the kids were good and confused because she had dumped a bunch of adult problems on them that they shouldn't even know about, she gave them candy and let them stay up until 11. The next day when we found out about it, we took this shit for brains woman into the office and talked to her about it. Her hours are 10am-4pm and she comes in with out permission from anyone and holds this secret meeting. Now the school business. Anyway, my language barrier didn't stop me from telling her that she should be fired and is by far the most incompetent person I have ever worked with. Anyway, that's our news and as much as we have learned from being here, we're looking forward to coming home in the Spring. Comment!

Monday 10 January 2011

Ahhhh....Bolivie!!!







Entre autres choses, voici quelques phtots des différentes choses qui nous sont proposés d'expérimentées ici en Bolivie..

commencons par le plus degueu...le cochon dinde...Annabelle a passé son tour pour ca mais moi pas...pas mauvais...très similaire au lapin mais quand même equeurant!!!

Ensuite Annabelle et moi qui décidont de s'aventurer dans la montagne...nous n'avions pas pris en compte le phénomène pluie...alors ont attend!

Quand la pluie s'arrête, on trouve ds belles choses dans les montagnes mais Annabelle et l'eau...c'est une longue histoire.

Moi je grimpe en haut de la Cascade pour prendre des photos...pas mal la vue!

Et puis moi en Chef ayant vaincu la montagne (je suis monté tout en haut de la Cascade)

Tuesday 4 January 2011

And a Happy New Year!











Happy new year to all our readers. I can say that now because I know we have some. For us it was very happy indeed. We spent 40 Euros and bought fireworks, marshmallows and had a party. It's amazing the firepower you get for a measly 40 Euros here in Bolivia. It's also amazing that when you buy them it's written "For professional use only" and that doesn't seem to disturb anyone. We had enormous fireworks exploding from our sport field, the likes of which would rival those on the 14th of July in size. Needless to say, Nicolas was happy... After the display we roasted marshmallows by the fire and then went for a night time swim in the pool. All in all it was a pretty good night regardless of the fact that it was over at 11:00.
Other than that, I'm sorry to report that things could be better here at the Bolivia Childrens' Mission. I don't know if I've ever written about the situation with the man that started the home, but to make a long story short, this was his ship, he abandoned it and now it's run off course. Peter went on holiday to Australia 6 months ago and never came back. He keeps saying he's going to, but Nicolas and I don't believe it. A ship without a captain as any manager will tell you is not one that you want to be on and I second that. (Can I second what I just put forth myself?) Anyway, until recently, the staff were all fighting amongst each other, the resources were being misused for lack of communication and now I've learned that the government is going to take 11 children out of this home and into a new one because they have come 3 times to inspect the home and sent letters to notify us that certain things were unacceptable. Certain children were sharing beds and a letter stating that this had to change was sent and discarded as not important by people here at the house, so now we really risk losing 11 kids that Nicolas and I have grown to love. All of this when we have extra beds sitting in the garage and a spare room that served only to house Peter's things and other house hold things that can easily put elsewhere. Anyway, the volunteers cleared out all his stuff, re-arranged the storage room into a bed room, set up 4 new beds and hopefully solved the problem. The government is coming this week, but with all the staff on holiday, there's no guarantee that they're not going to take the kids anyway because when they visit, the only adults they're going to find here are the gringo volunteers that speak Spanish like, well... gringos. I can see it now. "Who's in charge here?" A sheepish reply from us "No one really. Well, some guy that lives in Australia..." That's going to go over well. It's just so frustrating. Nicolas likes to say that Bolivia is the richest nation in the world that won't stop shooting it self in the foot and it's true. Richest untapped lithium deposits in the world? Bolivia. Most petrol per square kilometer in South America? Bolivia. One of the only countries in the world to have every kind of ecological zone and countless natural resources, almost all of this wonder is squandered. Lack of education leaves Bolivia's people blaze to the luck they have and ambivalent to the treasure their nation is. The number of times I've seen people throw whole sacs of garbage from their car window. People burn down acres of rain forest to grow cocoa leaves that will eventually be cocaine, not to mention that public pissing and shitting is commonplace. It's truly abhorrent and our foster dad here in Bolivia understands it.

We live with a family that have come to be dear friends to us. The dad is a botanist and engineer. He works with the government teaching people from the country side, (Campansinos) sustainable and diverse farming techniques. The mom works in an x-ray clinic and they have a daughter that is 17 and a son who is 13. We love our time with them and look forward to the day when they'll come and visit us in France.

Anyway, not trying to be depressing, just discouraged that we are officially running the show. We will be moving into the house next week to be here full time because there is literally no one else. I'm tired and just can't get over the feeling that this is not what I signed up for. Am posting tonnes of pics of Christmas and our town where we live.

Friday 24 December 2010

JOYEUX NOEL, MERRY CHRISTMAS, FELIZ NAVIDAD

Un joyeux Noel a tous, merci de suivre nos aventures, d'avoir participé a rendre le Noel de 27 gamins en Bolivie possible...profitez de ces fetes pour penser un peu que quelque part en Amerique du Sud, 27 petits gamins vont avoir un Noel qu'ils n'auraient pas eu sans votre soutient!!!

Merci a vous et un Joyeux Noel



Merry Christmas for everyone! Thank you for following are adventures and to have helped us to give 27 children in Bolivia A Christmans that they never would have had without your help and support, in my name and annabelle's, a big thank you to all of you.
We wish you a merry christmas, full of joy, sharing and unforgetable moments



Feliz Navidad a todos, gracias por todos los que leen el Blog, especialmente a Manu y Soledad, este pequeño parte en espagnol es para los dos!
Un Feliz Navidad con su familia...
Te veo pronto!
Un Feliz Navidad a tu Familia...
Besitos!

Saturday 18 December 2010

Good Ol' Saint Nick...

Nicolas has been cast as Santa Claus. Our friends and family both in France and in Canada were very generous and got together some money so that we could give Christmas to the kids here. Normally Christmas is without gifts and simply a big meal that commemorates the event, but with the help of the donations we received both at our going away party and from a drive organized by my mom in Canada we have been able to put together quite a nice spread. Two kids have left the house to go and live with their father who was working in Spain. He entrusted his kids to an aunt while he was away and her husband beat the kids terribly, so they were taken away and put here. When the government finally managed to track down the father in Spain, he came straight home to collect his children. So we will only have 26 kids at Christmas. 12 big ones and 14 little ones. Each little one will receive a new pair of leather shoes, a hat and a toy. For the girls, the requests were pretty much the same. Barbie and her swimming pool is what everyone was hoping for. For the boys, simple as well. Cars is what they wanted. They also have a bag full of candy. The big ones aged 11 and over all have a hygiene kit and a pair of sunglasses. The teen girls sometimes use toilet paper in place of sanitary napkins and wash with out soap. Their big social outing of the week is going to youth group with the church and they do what they can to look their best, but when you don't have make up, deodorant, or any of the things that we take for granted when we get ready every morning or to go out. So in each girl kit, there are maxi pads, soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lipstick, mascara, creme, a sponge, perfume, razors and nail polish. For the boys, it's mostly the same but substitute maxi pads for shaving creme and make up with a bigger bottle of perfume. The teens also get sunglasses and a bag of candies. All in all, I think it will be a merry Christmas.
Nicolas is going to dress up as Santa and our host family here in Bolivia is going to come and spend Christmas here. For any of you reading who have never seen my husband, he's shaped like a match. Not a very Santa like figure... But whatever, the kids will be happy I think.
Other than that we have a new volunteer from Belgium and another coming on the 20th from New Caledonia, so it's going to be a French fest around here which is good because I'm forgetting my French. It's not as limber as it used to be, but my Spanish gets better everyday. We're very happy to have them though as the couple that runs the orphanage is leaving and... we're it. From Christmas on, we're running the show which scares me when I think about it, so I try not to think about it. We were supposed to run it until Peter comes back, (the guy who started the home and left on "vacation" in August) but we said no. We had to. Two people running the show for I don't know how long would have killed me. I already have more wrinkles than when I arrived, I would leave looking like the crypt keeper. Anyway, if all of these politics sound complicated, it's because they are and I try to stay out of them. But we're really starting to be heavily involved with this place... I'll post pictures of Nicolas as Santa ASAP

Thursday 16 December 2010

Joyeux anniversaire!!!

Un Joyeux anniversaire chanté par Rodriguo...et tout ca en Anglais...

Cliquez ici

Saturday 11 December 2010

Des nouveaux venus!!!



Dans la categorie "nous vivons avec tout plein d'animaux" voici les petits nouveaux!!!
Trois petits chatons de 7 jours!!!
Ca commence a faire beaucoup maintenant...4 chiens, 4 chats, 12 poules, 3 Canards...au moins nous aurons a manger pour Noël!

If it was arranged for you and all you had to do was pay $X a month, would you leave everything for six months and go abroad to volunteer?