Supplies!

For those of you who have followed our blog for awhile you will remember a post we shared this past July about the Kids Ministry at Hope Church raising money for our ministry through their annual VBS. Through the generous giving of the kids they we able to bless us with over $1,000 to be used for ministry here in Bolivia. This past week we had the privilege to witness first hand the incredible way that God took the sacrificial gift of children in Cincinnati and used it to provide hope, joy and educational opportunities for underprivileged children in Bolivia. Yearly, FH supplies each sponsored child with a packet of materials for school. In Bolivia, all students are required to have their school materials within the first 2 weeks of school or they are not permitted to continue. With that said, many of the families that FH works with do not have the income to purchase school materials for their children. Thus, their kids are left with little to no education and little hope of escaping the generational poverty that limits them. This year as FH organized their budget for school supplies they realized that due to economic conditions and the additional number of sponsored children that they were stretched to find sufficient money for this project. With the help of the Hope Church children’s ministry the necessary amount needed was exactly met and the materials were supplied for each child. For some, this project seems small and insignificant, but for the children of Orna C’Kasa this project provides hope for a better future. On behalf of 850 children in Sucre Bolivia…. thank you Hope Church children’s ministry for your generous gift. You may never realize the opportunity that has been given through your sacrificial giving. Below are some of the faces you have blessed some 4,361 miles away!

Preparing the supplies the day before...we had lot's of help, including the dog!

Supplies given to each child: 2 notebooks, 2 folders with paper, 2 pencils, 2 pens, 2 erasers, 1 pencil sharpener, colored pencils

Supplies bagged and ready to be given away!

Since we knew each and every sponsored child would be showing up to get their school supplies, we tried to get a few other things accomplished as well. Below are the steps each child took to get their supplies.

Step 1: New photo for their sponsors.

Step 2: Registration with Pastor Pancho

Step 3: Updating their information with Jhonny.

Step 4: Writing thank you cards to their sponsors.

Step 5: Doing their part. Each child was asked to contribute 3 bolivianos (0.40 cents) towards their supplies. Even though the cost of the supplies is much more than this, it reinforces a feeling of ownership and serves as a reminder that they need to take an initiative in creating a better future for themselves.

Step 6: Receiving their school supplies.

Next...Pictures of kids with supplies and happy faces!

Christian Carnaval

Some of the Christian churches in town, including our church, plan retreats outside of the city during Carnaval to give their members an alternative to the craziness that happens in the city. Our church rented a building outside of the city for 4 days. There are sleeping accommodations and bathrooms, although pretty primitive, and many of the families stay there the entire 5 days of Carnaval.

We went out on Sunday morning to join in on the activities. Below is a video of our worship time. We are singing a pretty common worship song. Can you name that tune?

Los Globos de Agua

Another aspect of carnaval that we haven't mentioned yet is "los globos de agua" - aka, water balloons! Two weeks prior to carnaval we started noticing kids with water balloons and water guns around the street. At times you could see parents driving around their pickup trucks with their kids in the back, throwing water balloons at people along the road. Up until carnaval we managed to stay dry, except for the occasion "drive by squirting."

But then Carnaval actually started...

Friday, I (Jennie) was working outside of the city, so at 6:30pm I jumped on a micro (public transportation) and started to head downtown. Along the drive there were all kinds of people in the streets, mostly kids, enjoying a little water fight. But as we got closer to the city, things seems to intensify. Once we turned down the main street, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It hadn't rained for several days but it looked like it had rained all afternoon. There were remnants of water balloons everywhere. There were tons of people everywhere, and 90% of them were completely drenched! There were old Bolivian ladies on every street corner filling up water balloons and selling them. People had purchased this white foam stuff and were spraying it at each other. The further up the street we went the more people there were. People with instruments were gathering in the street and people were crowding around dancing. Finally, the bus driver turned around and said he wasn't going to try to drive any further! The crowds had completely taken over one of the busiest streets in town and it had become impassable.

Great! I still had a good 4-5 blocks to walk in order to get home. Luckily I had a hooded sweatshirt on, so I put up my hood and did my best to blend into the crowds. The first chance I had to get off the main road I took. Just as I turned off the main road, I noticed a huge puddle of water on the sidewalk. I glanced up and saw 4 heads peering over the balcony at me. I immediately though, "Oh no, here it comes!", I put my head down and walked as briskly as I could, but it was two late. I got nailed! That was my only run in with los globos, and I made it home without any other incidents.

John had a similar experience earlier in the week on the way home from work when he got caught by a group of youth dumping buckets of water off a house balcony. Once again, John was lucky that Bolivians (especially drunk ones) have no aim and he escaped with only a few drops of water on his back pack.

We pretty much stayed in for most of the weekend. But, living on the 5th floor, we couldn't help but join in on this part of celebrating carnaval.

We tried to be prepared at all times!

Ella's first Carnaval experience!

Last Thursday morning I dropped Ella off at school as normal. I had a ladies outing that morning to celebrate Claire's birthday. On our way home, we were walking past Ella's school and I heard what sounded like a marching band coming from inside the building. I thought that was strange, so Claire and I went in to investigate. I was quite surprised to find a full fledged party going on inside! There was a band playing as loud as humanly possible and parents and kids everywhere armed with water guns and cans of spray foam. Utter chaos is the best way to describe what I was seeing. In the 5-10 mins it took me to find Ella, I was hoisting my camera up in the air to try to get some pictures.

It turns out Ella was right in front of me in this picture and I didn't even know it!

Ella and I in foam! Ella was shell shocked the whole way home.

I finally found Ella in the arms of one of the teachers. She seems like she was in some kind of daze. I think the party was way more stimulation than she had ever experienced! But the other Bolivian kids were living it up! With Bolivian parties, it seems like the louder the better, and they were having a great time. I was glad that I happened to run into one of the teachers who proceeded to inform me that there would be no school the following day, Friday. News to us! Ella was also off school Monday and Tuesday for the holiday, so we have had a nice break to celebrate!

Carnaval - What is it?

We are in the midst of the Carnaval Celebrations in Bolivia. It's basically Mardi Gras on steroids and it takes place all over South America, with each culture having it's own specific meanings and traditions. As promised, below is some general information on what Carnaval is. We will include some of our own personal experiences in blogs to follow.

"Carnaval takes place for the eight days preceeding Ash Wednesday. Unlike carnaval in Rio De Janeiro where the escolas de samba choose a new theme each year, carnaval in Bolivia always begins with the diablada or devil dance. The diablada is a centuries-old ritual surviving unchanged from colonial days.

Next are hundreds of devils in monstrous costumes. The heavy masks have horns, bulging eyes, fangs, long hair and in contrast to the frightening masks the devils wear sparkling breastplates, silk embroidered shawls and golden spurs. Between the devils, groups of dancers dressed as monkeys, pumas and insects caper to the music from brass bands, or pipers or drummers. The noise is loud and frenzied.

Out of the devil dancers comes China Supay, the Devil's wife, who dances a seductive dance to entice the Archangel Michael. Around her, dance the members of local workers unions, each carrying a small symbol of their union such as pickaxes or shovels. Dancers dressed as Incas with condor headdresses and suns and moons on their chests dance along with dancers dressed as the black slaves imported by the Spaniards to work in the silver mines.

Family members led by the matriarchs in yellow dresses appear in order: first the husbands dressed in red, next come the daughters in green, followed by the sons in blue. The families dance their way to the football stadium where the next part of the celebrations takes place.

Two plays begun, as medieval mystery plays, are enacted. The first portrays the Conquest by the Spanish conquistadores. The second is the triumph of the Archangel Michael as he defeats the devils and the Seven Deadly Sins with his flaming sword. The results of the battle are announced and the Patron Saint of the Miners, the Virgen del Socavon, and the dancers sing a Quecha hymn.

Although the references to the Spanish conquest and the downtrodden state of the Bolivian peasants are very clear, this festival is based on the pre-Colonial ceremony of giving thanks to the earth-mother Pachamama. It commemorates the struggles of good and evil and the early Catholic priests allowed it to continue with a Christian overlay in an effort to pacify the local natives.

The celebration of carnaval continues for days (normally 5 days in Sucre) as the diablada dancers break into smaller groups and continue dancing around huge bonfires. Onlookers join the procession at any point and with the consumption of strong Bolivian beer and the very potent chicha, made from fermented cereals and corn, they get rowdy. Many sleep in doorways or where they fall until they awake and continue celebrating."

Happy Early V-Day!

Today was my (Jennie) first day of official work with FH. I only worked in the afternoon because Ella didn't have school today so I had to stay home with her in the morning. So in the afternoon I ventured out on the micro bus and made it to the Horno Ckasa office on the outskirts of Sucre. Today there wasn't a whole lot for me to do as it is the day before The Carnival Holiday here in Sucre (This holiday deserves it's own blog, coming soon). But I did help with an after-school program and the highlight of the day was teaching the kids how to play hangman!

When I finally got home at 7pm, drenched from water balloons (a part of the Carnival holiday here...again, for another blog,) I walked into the door and was meet by a clean house, a happy V-Day sign, and my two favorite people in the whole world. Oh, and they made this smilebox creation for me.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Look out! Jennie's in the Kitchen!

While we were in language school we learned a lot about Bolivian culture. We also found that the teachers were very interested in our own culture. In November many were curious about Thanksgiving, how we celebrated it, and most intriguing, what we ate! Of course the most important Thanksgiving day food is pumpkin pie! However, I found it difficult to explain what pumpkin pie was like to someone who had never tried it. I felt the best way for them to comprehend pumpkin pie was to taste it. So.... next was the adventure of making one. Adventure, because they don't have pumpkins in Bolivia! Since then, many of the teachers have been asking me for the recipe.

So...last week, while John was in La Paz for work, I invited some teachers over to our place for a cooking class. (I must preface this story by making sure you are all aware of the fact that I am not an expert in the kitchen. I love to cook, especially bake, but I am very much a learner. Especially with pies. I think I had made 2 pies prior to this little "lesson".) The night started off in true Bolivian fashion with the earliest guests arriving 45 min late and the final guest arriving 1 1/2 hours late. Then, all the teachers ended up bringing their children, which I hadn't counted on. So there were 5 adults total and 4 children, all under the age of 3! So, once we finally made it into the kitchen I realized quickly that my brain was a bit frazzled with everything, especially since I had to explain everything in Spanish. We finally got everything mixed and put into the oven, and then it was time to sit down and relax a bit. We all went to sit down in the living room to visit. About 20 minutes later, I went to check on the pie. As I entered the kitchen, to my dismay, I noticed a can of evaporated milk sitting on the counter...unopened. I quickly realized that we forgot to add this integral ingredient to the pie! Needless to say the pie did not turn out. While the cooking lesson was a bust, we still had a nice time together!

Lili, mixing up the pie (sans evaporated milk!)

First day of School!

There have been a lot of "firsts" in our lives in the past 6 months, but today was an exciting first for all of us. It was Ella's first day of school! She is definitely a little on the young side for starting school. But, because summer time is November thru Janurary here in Bolivia, the school years starts in Feb. The pre-school we found for Ella allowed her to join the 3 year old class even though she won't turn three until May. Socially we felt like Ella was definitely ready, so we decided to let her go. While Ella is probably the youngest kid in the school, you would never notice since she is on the tall side, and in general, Bolivians are pretty short!

I must admit that this day was more difficult for me (Jennie) than I expected. When I took Ella to school this morning, I really didn't know what to expect. The school started off with an 1 1/2 hour long "program" for the parents and the kids. I couldn't help but wonder how different this experience would have been, had we still been living in Cincinnati. Ella would have gone to preschool at our church. I would have known the teachers and many of the other kids and their parents in Ella's class. Instead, here I was, leaving my child with complete strangers. I was looking around the room and I didn't know a soul there, and to top it all off, communicating with anyone is still a daunting task for me. But then I watched Ella grab her teacher's hand, turn to me with a big smile on her face, and wave bye. I realized that all those expectations for this day were mine, not hers. This is her experience, and although it is very different from mine, or from many other kids in our culture, it's not bad or lacking anything. It's just different.

I was so anxious to go pick Ella up and see how her morning went. When I got there, she was playing just like all the other kids and having a great time. On the way home I was drilling her with questions about her day, to which she didn't answer in a manner which satisfied my curiosity. It's strange to think that everyday she will be having experiences that I no longer will know every detail about. I guess that's all a part of watching your little ones grow up.

If you want to read about Ella's first day from her perspective you can check out her blog. There are more pictures there too!