So it’s officially Spring here in Montero.  It is warmer (mid 90′s daily) and there are some new flowers springing up.  For example, spring is orchid season.  Bolivia has hundreds of native species of orchids.  The sisters have some growing in their front garden.

And we also made a special trip last weekend to Guembe Eco Resort to see their orchids, butterflies, birds and most beautiful, swimming pools!

At the Kinder, things are quickly approaching anarchy as the kids can feel how close summer vacation is.  I can’t believe it but next week is my last week of computer classes with them!   Thursday I have my big Expo where I show off to the parents what the kids have learned all year, say a prayer for me that all the kids behave and I have exceptional listening comprehension that day!

Last week we had our “Feria Pedagogica” at the Kinder where each class does a presentation on our theme for the year.  This year our theme was plants, so the kids got dressed up as trees, flowers, vegetables and each had assigned lines to say in the microphone.  It was seriously cute.  We heard “I am a carrot!” screamed into the microphone or “I am a root.  I bring water to the plant” mumbled by an adorable little girl.

Some carrots were more enthusiastic than others….

At the Institute we finish classes Nov. 18th so I’m having the classic “oh no we’ll never finish all the chapters in time, teacher freak-out” but I can definitely see improvement in the English-speaking abilities of my students so I feel like we’ve certainly made progress, whether I get through chapter 9 or not.  There has been lots of interest shown in English classes for next year so I’m hoping to have two sections again starting in February.  People keep asking us when we’re leaving, as they’re most accustomed to volunteers only staying 6 months-1 year.  It makes me feel good though to be able to say that we’ll be here the next school year.  In so many ways we are just getting started with our work here; relationships started this year can be deepened over the next year.   I’m only just now really being able to respond to need I see, versus pressing my un-requested cultural values on people.   Although I’m excited out of my mind for our trip home to the U.S. in November, I’m also happy we’re coming back because I’m not done with Bolivia and I don’t think it’s done with us yet either.

So I feel like I’ve earned some kind of Missionary merit badge this week.  I have now successfully gone to a Bolivian dentist.  This brings the sum of my accomplishments to visiting multiple Bolivian doctors, one dentist, having x-rays and blood tests taken, and taking drugs I didn’t recognize that are produced in Syria or Uruguay but prescribed by my doctor.  I no longer feel the irrational fear of health care here that I felt when we first arrived.  This fear, though somewhat well-founded, was only harmful and left me suffering in bed with 103F fever because I was too scared to go to a hospital, or painfully enduring sinus infections because I wouldn’t go to a pharmacy to ask about a bolivian equivalent of Sudafed.  I am actually optimistic about having a much-healthier second year here, and when health issues do arise taking care of them without all the stress and panic.

It’s partly a cultural issue and partly basic science knowledge that fueled this fear.  When waiting in a doctor’s office I’d see nurses treating patients without wearing gloves or washing their hands, or every patient examined on the same, un-sanitized bed complete with unwashed pillow, or a nurse giving me an injection without putting gloves on and I would have to muster all my composure to stifle the panicked “what ifs” in my head.   This is not a germ-o-phobic culture, and the training of health professionals does not follow the same standards and guidelines of that in the U.S.  But is that reason for me to say, “They don’t know how to do anything right!”?  It’s hard not to judge what appears to me as clearly wrong, but I have slowly figured out which clinics are better than others.  There are well-trained, knowledgeable doctors here and there are probably poor doctors in the U.S. that cut hygienic corners also.  Really the best response is just to take a deep breath and think “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

You might say but that doesn’t validate taking so much risk.  Risk is an interesting concept in Bolivia, interestingly non-existent.  A much-higher level of risk is just accepted as part of daily life.  Our skies are polluted with smoke and ash, the streets are full of trash and dirty water, hot lunch is sold out of wheelbarrows on the street.  I once saw a lady scooping her hot sauce into half an egg-shell so that she could take it to-go.  They actually take the seat belts and air bags out of their cars before driving them.  We have uncovered 220 volt outlets right next to the baby cribs in the Guarderia. There are no fire exits, smoke alarms, emergency-off switches, basically any form of safety precaution, you can assume they probably don’t use it here.  (I should have mentioned earlier in the post, this is not appropriate reading for parents or anyone with custodial feelings toward us).

So besides an early Halloween scare for our parents, what’s my point here?  Enjoy your cozy safety blanket in the developed world but don’t take it for granted.  It’s not always a bad thing to remember how close one is death every minute of the day.  It helps you appreciate that fact that you wake up alive every morning, and makes it easier to show that gratitude to God as well.  As I think many times a day, “There but for the grace of God, go I.”

I found this on St. Louis County’s Health website and it really hit home: “People often take public health for granted in Saint Louis County: our drinking water will not make us ill; our restaurants and supermarkets will not poison us; we and our children will not catch fatal diseases from neighbors or school friends.

A thin shield – a fine web of public health practices and personal habits – protects us from the nasty, brutish and short life that has been the rule for so much of human history. Two important facets of the shield are communicable disease control and health education.”

Don’t forget from whence we’ve come and how easy it would be to return.  Vaccinate and educate your children!

It’s always difficult getting used to new social customs and meeting new people but learning names here in Bolivia was initially even more difficult than I had expected. That was partly due to the usage of many names I had never heard before. Here’s a sampling.

Girls’ Names:
Turizahi

Nayerly
Eidy
Yaneth
Hay Med
Guisela
Damaris
Grisel
Daraly (? haven’t seen it written yet but this is what is sounds like)
Tania
D’alcy
Versions of Maria: Maribel, Marizabel, MariLiz, MariLu, MariaEsther, MariLeny
Adela
Manuela
Santusa
Leidy
Emilene
Inez

Boy’s Names:
Roly
Aniceto
Matias
Toshi/Ochi (? I believe they’re half Japanese, this is how it’s pronounced)
Vicmar

Limber

A few common last names:
Colque
Quispe
Ferrovaria/Ferreira
Vargas

And in all fairness, they have quite a time with our last name also.  Our first names translate alright with slightly altered pronunciation: Laura/Laurita and Tomas.  But Kent just does not compute for them; I’ve seen it written: Kuent, Keut, Quent, Kant.  I think I’m glad I changed from my maiden name though.  When I say ‘Riley’ to people, they just stare at me like I’m putting weird sounds together.  Oh yes, changing cultures is definitely interesting.

The 6th of August is Independence day here in Bolivia which of  course is celebrated with much pomp and circumstance but oddly very few fireworks….?  Apparently fireworks are just a Christmas and New Year’s thing.  There’s nothing Bolivians love more than getting a band and parading around the streets, so that’s what was done Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  The Kinders weren’t invited to the city-wide march on Friday, so on Thursday we had our own celebration.  Children dressed up in all the different traditional dresses of Bolivia and we took all the children for a march through the market.  Despite the fact that this was absolutely spur of the moment by Madre Clara and it was the middle of the day, people are amazingly undisturbed by having to stop their cars and wait for a mass of 250 Kindergarteners waving flags and shouting “Viva Bolivia” to pass by.   Once I got over my nervousness about someone plowing into us, I actually really enjoyed it.

On Friday, Tom and I stopped by Montero’s parade to see what it was all about.  There seemed to be endless groups of people.  Every school in town had to march with banners, flags, a band, baton twirlers, and their graduating class dressed up (men in suits, women in suits or way too tight skirt/shirt combos).  Then there was the public college and the nursing school and a bunch of groups of adults that must have been government employees but I don’t know where from.  Then there were all the military groups and at the very end a bunch of tractors with different plows on them.

Most of the bands were just drums, trumpets and xylophones (playing either “The Ants Go Marching” or “The Halls of Montezuma” – apparently this melody‘s actually from an old French opera so I’m sure they don’t mean any connection to the US Marines). One band however had recorders and a traditional pan flute called zampoña.

There seemed to be only two military groups: those dressed in black with their faces painted black and those dressed in camos with their faces painted camoflauge.  Also the camo guys were all carrying what looked like bazookas?  So I guess all I really know about their military is that one of their strategies is covert bazooka attacks.  Only their Army equivalent was represented.  Apparently they do have some “air force” based out of La Paz and a “navy” on Lake Titicaca.

If you can’t make it out, the side of the boat says “Policia Militar Navy.”

In other excitement, on Sunday we had lunch with our new friend Padre Mateo (Fr. Matthew).  He’s a diocesan priest from California here on a 6 month sabbatical.  He’s living and working with the Missionaries of Padre Kolbe here in Montero who run the Virgen de Cotoca parish and a medical center.  He found us via our blog and contacted us a week ago to make connections and have someone to speak English with.  I think he was also looking for some male presence as he lives with 9 women but unfortunately for him we’re a package deal so I tagged along too.  It was really fun to meet the Missionaries who are a consecrated group of women living in community but not technically a “religious order” (they take vows of poverty, obedience and chastity but are considered by the Vatican a secular institute) and learn about their work.  We also had a good time swapping stories with Padre Mateo about life in Montero and hearing his unique experiences being a priest here.

And if all that excitement wasn’t enough, we also finally spotted the elusive Montero sloth!  And turns out there are two!  They live in the trees on the main Plaza and I was lucky enough to catch this one climbing up a tree on Saturday afternoon.  Soooo cute!

Okinawa is a town one hour to the east of us where another group of Salesian volunteers works in a Salesian high school and parish center.  Okinawa was founded 50 years ago by Japanese immigrants looking for a fresh-start after leaving post-WWII Japan.   They arrived first in Brazil (still the site of the largest Japanese community outside of Japan) and then made their way to Bolivia and Peru.  They were ‘gifted’ chunks of rainforest (possibly previously inhabited by indigenous Bolivians?) from the government which they cleared and transformed into an agricultural empire.

Their empire includes factories that process milk, grains, and make pasta and sweets, a Japanese high school, a Japanese hospital, a cultural center, a sports complex, a swimming pool and a museum.  Still it is a very small, rural town with just one main road going through and a small, dusty plaza.  There is a distinct ‘Japanese side’ and ‘Bolivian side’ of town, most notably differentiated by how nice the homes are.  Also in general Bolivians are kept out of the other Japanese offerings like their high school or sports complex by high entry fees.

The cultural center has air conditioning (!) couches to sit on and really nice bathrooms- they had toilet paper AND hand soap.  I took this picture (below) in the bathroom, I think it says ‘don’t flush toilet paper’ in Japanese.  It was just kind of surreal to see everything written in Japanese all of a sudden, you walk through a door and it’s like  you’re not in Bolivia anymore.

Also while visiting Okinawa we went with the volunteers out to the surrounding rural Bolivian communities.  They go out there three days a week to do religious education/ mentoring with the kids which generally involves playing soccer, face painting, or watching movies on laptops.  It was a really awesome experience.  The people live in very humble dwellings with mud-adobe walls, dirt floors, and a thatched roof.  Each little community has a one-room school house where all the kids from Kindergarten to eighth grade go to school in the mornings (assuming they have a teacher).  When we came in the afternoon, the kids seemed to be doing a lot of just ‘hanging out’ and were very happy for the diversion.  They probably spend all their other time helping their parents prepare or grow food.  Below, is an example of their homes.

What struck me most leaving Okinawa was the dichotomy between the Japanese and Bolivians.  I just kept asking myself, why?  The Bolivians had already been there for hundreds of years.  How did the Japanese come in and surpass them so quickly?  The only conclusion I could come to was: expectations.  The Japanese came in with great expectations of how they wanted their settlement to be (based on experiences in Japan) and they worked to make that happen.  In 50 years a small group of Japanese immigrants have built up industry, schools, hospitals almost to 1st world standards and yet the Bolivians who were living there 50 years ago in poverty are still doing so. You might say, well surely the Japanese had an influx of capital that the Bolivians didn’t.  They also had their strong Japanese work ethic, organizational standards, good education, and lack of corruption.  It would be inflammatory though to say that you couldn’t find a Bolivian with these same qualities, albeit they’re not as valued culturally as in Japan.  Why then, if the Bolivians had been given the same amount of money, the same amount of land 50 years ago would the results not have been the same?  Expectations.

As the second semester of classes here get into full swing, we’ve seen the need to start another computer fund raising project to be realized for the end of this school year or the start of the next.

Tom’s classroom is still doing great. However, the basic-level computer course, “Basics of Computer Usage,” which is a pre-req for Tom’s class and is the most popular class at the Institute with nearly 60 graduates each semester, is in need of some computer updates. In addition, the Kinder computer lab (which certainly is at the bottom of the totem pole as far as ‘crucial’ upgrades) has had multiple deaths since May and mice chronically going on the fritz. So the plan is to make a purchase of as many new computers as we can manage (note we’re just buying computers not monitors, we still get by ok on the old CRTs) for the basic-level computer lab and then their older computers can be inherited by the Kinder lab. In addition, we’d purchase 20 small, optical mice for the Kinder lab. Sometimes the kids have to move the mouse with one hand and click with the other because the mice are so big and the aged, roller-ball mice can be difficult to move. This gets the newer technology where it’s really needed (Institute) but also improves my ability to educate, versus frustrate, students at the Kinder.

The Institute and Kinder classes which teach basic computer skills are aimed toward students who do not have access to computers at home or at libraries and so are at a disadvantage. Computers are taught in some grade schools but not all. By high school, students are expected to come in with certain basic skills and if they don’t have them they just fail instead of being ‘caught up’ by the teacher (another product of huge class sizes). The same thing happens in Universities, students are expected to use Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint but no classes are offered to teach them these skills. So students have to take extra classes at an Institute in order to be able to pass their university classes. For many students the Institute works to supplement where their high school education was deficient. And though Bolivia is technologically behind developed countries, the reality already is that you can’t get into any professional position without basic computer skills.

Two generous donations have already been pledged from our family members and we’d like to invite you to join with them so that this computer purchase can make the biggest impact. It’s always better to buy ‘in bulk’ as far as prices and to have as many of the same computers as possible which makes lab maintenance easier.

To make a tax-deductible donation, you may send a check to:
Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
attn: Bolivia Mission – Montero Computers
866 Cambria St.
Cresson, PA 16630-1713
USA

Federal ID # : 75-236-912

Or if you’d like to send the money directly to us (arrives faster) you may send a check made out to Thomas Kent to Tom’s parents:
Thomas Kent
Bolivia Operations
10342 Colorado Rd.
Bloomington, MN 55438

Thirdly, you can click our Paypal button:

Thank you helping us to continue to improve the educational offerings here, which is a key step in ending cycles of poverty. This is one of the few ways that we can make ‘lasting’ change in the community, and leave something behind that will continue to help.

This is the conversation I had today with one of my Kindergarten students. It was precious.

Oliver: Profesora Laura why is your face pink?
Me: When I’m out in the sun, the sun makes my skin pink.
Oliver: No…when I go out in the sun I only get brown.

::putting our hands side-by-side::

Me: Well look, our skin is different.
Oliver: No that’s just what happens when you scrub the dirt off really hard.
Me: ::trying to understand:: So maybe my face is pink because I scrubbed it really hard? Maybe, Oliver, maybe.
I love that kid.

Sometimes the children at the Guarderia stroke my arm and say “How did you get so clean?”

Oliver Addendum from Aug. 10th:  He’s playing with his toy airplane at Kinder and comes and sits down next to me.

Oliver: Profesora Laura what are these?  ::pointing to the freckles on my arm::

Me: Those come from the sun, when I’m out in the sun they appear.  (I can never remember the word for freckle here)

Oliver: Well you probably just need to wash yourself with a brush and scrub really hard.  Sometimes you even have to use a plate scrubber (referring to the sponges with brillo pads).  That’s what my mom says to do.

Me:  Ok, Oliver maybe I’ll do that.

Last Saturday, July 23rd, was National Friendship Day here in Bolivia. I don’t why it’s on July 23rd particularly but it’s celebrated very similarly to Valentine’s Day in the US. The market stalls were overflowing with pink, white and red teddy bears and things saying ‘Love’ sell at a premium. It is also common to do a “Secret Friend” gift exchange. So amongst my youth group and amongst my co-workers at the Guarderia, I drew a secret friend’s name out of a hat. Not knowing exactly what was a customary gift, but trying to give something useful, I bought some eye shadow for the college student and put together a bowl of cooking supplies and a cookie recipe for Madre Inez (my secret friend from the Guarderia). She had complimented me previously on my oatmeal raisin cookies and in general Bolivians do not know how to make American cookies so I thought she might appreciate it.

On Saturday we had a party with all the youth groups from the center to eat, dance and exchange presents.

I gifted the eye shadow and received a white teddy bear that played a song that I didn’t recognize. In one of my classic cultural blunders, the college student who opened the eye shadow said, “oh I’ve never worn makeup, I don’t even know how to put it on.” Despite the fact that she wears nice clothes and always has on jewelry, I guess I hadn’t adequately taken into account what a luxury item makeup is and that most young people don’t have expendable income to that level. Oh well, I hope she enjoys learning how to use it.

Also some people gave out Valentines at the party.

The next day at the Hogar I passed my teddy bear along to our god-daughter, Carmen, along with a head band and some pictures I’d printed out for her. She had been worrying that she was invited to a birthday party that day and didn’t have a present to bring so I told her she should pick one thing from her present to re-gift. She decided to re-gift the head band. I was happy to have an opportunity to teach about sharing and generosity.

Despite what the picture would suggest, she was actually very excited about the bear. It’s kind of a cultural thing here to look serious in photos. I think she learned it from her mom, anyway that’s why she’s rarely smiling. (I think it’s because people have such bad teeth, just like in the US 100 years ago when no one would smile. They’re still in that practice here. With adults, it’s understandable since many have golden crowns or are missing teeth.)

In other events, I also got pooped on by a pigeon, which the Italian volunteer, Georgia, insisted was good luck.

And we handed out lollipops to all the girls for Friendship Day. This is Carmen and her older sister Ana Paola. We in general have a no-sweets policy for the Hogar girls since they have such bad teeth and we don’t want to be part of the problem, but I said, well just this once.

On Monday, we had a dinner with all the Guarderia staff and exchanged our secret presents, but we never got to find out who actually gave us the present which disappointed me. Anyway I think Madre Inez liked her present. I put in a few already-baked cookies as an example and the other workers joked that if her cookies didn’t turn out the same she should ‘return it.’ I received a fluffy pink ‘Love’ pillow which made me quite glad I had already passed along the teddy bear, otherwise our living room might be in cute overload. I guess what I learned from both gift exchanges is that Dia de Amistad is generally celebrated with fluffy, pink, useless gifts.

I apologize for the ‘radio silence,’ we’ve been getting used to new schedules here since the end of winter break. So to catch you up:

Thursday June 23 was the feast of Corpus Christi and we were off school and had a big mass in the stadium with a cold and long procession afterwards back to the parish church. This was more or less the first COLD day!

The night after Corpus Christi mass everyone has a San Juan (St. John) dinner which involves eating barbecue at midnight, dancing and doing silly things like taking cold showers and walking on hot coals. We just had some barbecue with the Sisters and went to bed. Of course there were fireworks though!

July 1-2: Feast of the Sacred Heart
We had two really nice masses followed by dance presentations Friday and Saturday night. I (Laura) danced in both. Friday night was the youth groups of the parish center so I danced with my “Followers of Christ” group and then Saturday night was at the Hogar and we danced with all the other volunteers to Boot Scoot Boogie! Everyone loved it. At this point there were six of us: Tom and I, Paris and Annamarie (UK), Georgia (Italy) and Melia (US).

Happy Feast Day Sisters! Left to right, back: Sr. Christina, Sr. Dorotea, Sr. Anita, Sr. Fatima, Sr. Paola, Sr. Andrea, Sr. Clara, front: Sr. Rosario, Fr. ?, novice, Sr. Angela.

July 3: We leave for Peru!
Tom took a week off from the Institute and I had two weeks off from Kinder so we did a quick tour of Southern Peru. Our friend, Bob Zager, from St. Louis flew down to join us and we spent 7 days touring through Cuzco, Macchu Picchu, Arequipa, Puno, Lake Titicaca and finally La Paz, Bolivia. We also had the great fortune to meet up with two other great friends, Caty Hughes and Emily Fifield in Arequipa. It was great to see so many familiar faces! Some of the highlights from the trip were petting llamas, eating Guinea pig, seeing huge viscachas at Macchu Picchu (and the ruins too), reaching 14,905 feet on a bus, seeing flamingos at 14,000 feet, eating at McDonald’s (for Tom), eating Twix bars, eating trout from Lake Titicaca, and visiting the group of knitters that Emily F. works with in Arequipa. They’re economically-disadvantaged women providing for their family by knitting sweaters, gloves, finger puppets and selling them to local tourist shops but Emily is helping them improve their products for the U.S. fair trade market- in stores now in Des Moines, Iowa and hopefully someday St. Louis too.

Group in Arequipa

Me and my new best friend. We were told later it was actually a vicuña not a llama.
Lake Titicaca

July 10: We returned from Peru and winter had ended . It basically was only two coldish weeks. We’re still expecting a few days in the 60′s here and there before September but nothing that will stay. This was a hard reality at first for me to accept but we do indeed live in a tropical climate. ::sigh::

July 11: Tom graduates his first 6 students from Intro to Multimedia at St. Sebastian Pelczar Institute.

July 12: New semester starts and I’m officially an English professor! Madre Clara even went to Santa Cruz and bought me top-notch English textbooks and I have 9 adult students that I’m teaching English to three nights a week! I really enjoy it so far even though it makes for some long days for me. Tom’s classes are doing well also he now has two sections with 5 in the first and 12 in the second.