Feria de la Mujer and Toilet Trouble

Yesterday the entire Ascender crew went to La Guardia to participate in a Feria de la Mujer (Women´s Fair). Ascender worked in conjunction with other organizations to put on this big event, which turned out to be a huge success. We expected about 500 people to attend, but the number was closer to 1000. Quite the extravaganza!

Each member of the team had a job: handing out soy milk samples with recipes (Bolivia is the 4th largest export of soy. Who knew?), teaching children the importance of dental care (every child swished with fluoride then watched a pretty awesome puppet show about brushing teeth), and providing info on sexual health. Fernando gladly passed the responsibility of teaching the sex ed portion to us, which we in turn, happily accepted. We created two very large posters explaining the different methods of birth control. Doug Mortenson, our roommate, was quite intrigued with our project. He kept asking us questions like, “how do you not get embarrassed when talking about this?” and “are you really going to talk about that?” Apparently our nursing and social work educations have sufficiently desensitized us on the subject. There is a great need for sex education in Bolivia, which is not taught in most schools. It was very interesting to talk to women about different methods of birth control and sexual health, and we tried to provide some good, solid, and concise information.

Doctors were supposed to be in attendance to the event to offer their services to the women and children, but fell through at the last minute, which was a bummer. Although Amanda was able offer aid to some, she was unable to help the majority without the needed supplies and help of other trained personnel. There is an obvious need for health education! We were surprised at how many people were diabetic but didn’t have the means to control the disease, or had eye strains but had never had their eyes tested. We hear stories about boys who have been blessed with amazing talents to play soccer but get periodontal disease which leads to arthritis and heart defects and hinders their ability to play. We find ourselves wanting to talk to everyone and help everywhere, but are conscious that we are very small parts of a major movement to improve the economic and physicial health of Bolivia. We also try to be conscious of differentiating between genuine needs and things we just percieve as needs based on our backgrounds.

We’ll end on a lighter note. It seems that since we arrived in Santa Cruz we’ve had a lot of trouble with our toilet. It never has worked right, but according to Luis, our boss, we are the reason why. It started out with our toilet continuously running. One night as we attempted to stop the running problem we accidently dropped the toilet lid inside of the top part of the toilet (which apparently houses all of the important stuff). The heavy lid definitely broke something because the toilet was shooting out water after that happened. The only way we could make the water stop gushing out was to hold one of the pipes at a certain angle. Seeing how it was in the middle of the night we couldn’t call the plumber and we weren’t smart enough to figure out that the knob on the side of the toilet was to turn the water off.

Being the geniuses that we are we make-shifted a leverage system out of a hanger and bag which stopped the water from leaking:

The plumber came and “fixed” the toilet and now it makes this awesome sound every time you flush it. Erwin says the toilet is crying after being used, but Carmen thinks it is singing with joy. The jury is still out:

We love our Bolivian family and how they wear sweet glasses with us:

Video Blog Week #1

Bienvenido a Bolivia

Hola! Amanda and Annika here - we are interning at Ascender Bolivia in Santa Cruz, and loving every minute. Until August and July, respectively, we are working with the staff here in developing their ongoing programs, refining the evaluation and research processes, and learning about the intriguing historical and cultural perspectives of Bolivia. Here are a few of our impressions these first few weeks:

These people know what they are doing. The staff here is organized and efficient, and their programs are carefully thought out to be appropriate and meaningful for the communities and families. In San Miguel, a small rural village, we have met families who don’t have much, but do have plenty of space and great soil. Carmen, Health Director at Ascender Bolivia, is teaching the women in San Miguel how to create and sustain family gardens. While Ascender provided the first seeds, some instruction, and lots of encouragement, these women are the driving force behind making their ¨huertos¨ (family gardens) a success.

In Nueva Esperanza, Jhon (another staff member) is teaching budding enterprisers from a small community about the foundations of business. In the last class, we learned about the difference between short and long term goals, how to set appropriate goals, and how to change dreams into reality. Even in freezing weather, there is always an impressive turnout to the biweekly classes, and we can see the wheels turning as the students think about how to empower themselves and their futures.

Bolivians have big hearts. Everywhere we go, we are impressed by the hardworking, generous, and kind nature of Bolivianos. This street vendor was PSYCHED when Amanda bought orange juice from him, couldn’t stop grinning, and even gave her a free refill. As we spend time in more rural parts of Santa Cruz, we find that those who have little, give much. One woman, living in a house with dirt floors and no running water, was excited to give us soy milk she had learned to make in a class with Ascender – we recognize that her offer to us is probably a sacrifice, and feel so honored to be around such great people.

We are getting fat. Anyone who knows either of us will not be surprised that our short term goals usually include trying out the food at a new street vendor or comedor. Yesterday, we literally walked three hours in search of the perfect meal. One staff member thinks our obsession is particularly funny, and often refers to our “lugar favorito,” (favorite place) – an open market food court bustling with hundreds of vendors and food from Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, and even Austria. We figure we brought enough Pepto Bismo to allow us to try any and all. 