Day-6, July 8, 2009

Ola from Cochabamba!

On the first stop on the tour of Cochabamba mission projects this morning, we visited Corazon Del Pastor which is a girls' home. It and another of our mission teams are sponsored by a foundation - Ninos con Valor. At present 21 girls from ages 3 to 13 are housed here including 4 siblings. At least one third of these came rushing to the front gate to shower us with hugs and kisses. These children were abused, neglected, orphaned or abandoned. There are tias or aunties like tia Maritza who takes care of the girls and sister figures like volunteers American Courtney Paine. Executive Director Tyson Malo hopes this environment will encourage the girls to develop a positive view of themselves and their futures. It appears the environment's having impact. For example one 8 year old now wants to be a policewoman "and put all of the bad people in jail." Another - a former street kid - wants to be a writer telling the stories of the children of alcoholics.

Our mission team here has come prepared with materials on developing self esteem and dealing with behavioral problems - and - 6 pounds of paint! Team leader Cassie Williams has been touched by the girls' outpouring of affection.

The other members of the children's team in Cochabamba are at a daycare and residence for babies and toddlers who are affected by HIV/Aids. It's the only centre of its kind here in Cochabamba as there is such huge stigma around HIV/Aids; tremendous lack of awareness. These babies are referred by Social Services and many are developmentally delayed. But the centre tries to meet their physical, nutritional, emotional, and psychological needs. Our team encourages the toddlers to slide and walk but they need no encouragement to smile.

As the media team was leaving the babies' residence there was good news and sad. We learned one of the babies had just successfully emerged from heart surgery. And as we were celebrating, word came that a street kid volunteer who had helped paint at the centre, had been stabbed to death the previous night.

Not far away, our construction team is scraping, painting, sealing and digging. In its 15 year history, la Trinidad Church has been homeless - moving from apartment to school to office. They are finally able to build a temporary sanctuary to house a congregation of 140. Team leader Brian Van Order (FYI this author's first cousin) is most moved by how this team has come together. He attributes this to the nightly bible study. I can personally attest that Brian is not a religious rather a spiritual man. However he says Amit Parasar, a 25 year old member of the team who is about to start his Masters in Theology has chosen the bible study time to put faith and provocative questions on the table. The team has discussed everything from relationships to group dynamics. As for Amit he says that he has amended his bible study program to suit his audience - "I'm happy they're willing to sit, listen and discuss the philosophy of Jesus. I tried to convey the importance of faith in the Bolivian culture. However I appreciate faith is a choice." By the way, Happy Birthday Amit!

Well the media team has gone M.I.A. or missing in action. We were supposed to fly out of Cochabamba at 8:15 p.m. Organized planners that we are, we went to airport at 5:30 p.m. We were so early we checked in and went for a nice dinner. When we showed up at the gate at what we thought was the appointed time, we learned our flight had departed an hour and a quarter earlier. We were stuck in Cochabamba an extra night. We accepted boarding passes for tomorrow morning. Good news (Air Canada might learn a lesson on customer service) at the local airline's expense we are housed in a hotel with the unlikely name of Cesar's Plaza. Again reciting the mantra of Susan (check earlier blog) "blessed are the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape!"

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock

Please note that the photos taken today of the children will be uploaded after we receive permission from Ninos con Valor to post their pictures.