Teaching English

Teaching English

This week we had the opportunity to teach an english course at the school! Take a peek at our experience. :)

Week 4 Already!?

Week 4

Another amazing week here in Santa Cruz! We're keeping super busy. :)

"Me gusta el baño!"

Baño en Basilio

This week at Ascender Bolivia several programs were completed and we had the opportunity to see various graduations and a lot of happy, satisfied people. However, one of the most memorable events was the completion of the new bathrooms at a school in Basilio. I really wish we would have been here to see this project begin, but being able to help finish the bathrooms and see the result was incredible. This school is very large and it holds classes for kids of all ages, from first grade to twelfth. That is a lot of students that had to share only one small bathroom. The old bathrooms had one cramped stall for the boys and one for girls. They were disgusting... dirty and smelly and clearly used to their limit. The new bathrooms that Ascend constructed are way bigger and so much nicer! The boys and the girls each have seven stalls and three sinks. We had the honors of giving the girls the first tour of their new bathroom. This is a huge upgrade for these kids and they were so excited! We are so glad that we got to be a part of this project!

Viva Santa Cruz!

Bolivia. Week TWO

Week two was a huge success here in Santa Cruz. We really kept busy this week, working on all sorts of projects from soy classes in Yotau to construction in Basilio! However, the highlight of the week was the Ascend Business Training class graduation in Santisteban that we had the opportunity to attend. Jhon Acuña is an excellent business teacher and his students really respect him. It was incredible to see the students both in their class environment and also at their graduation. Most of the people didn't have a chance to complete their education in the past so receiving this graduation certificate really meant the world to them.

We are loving Bolivia more and more each day! With all of our amazing "spanish teachers" here at Ascender, we are learning more than we ever imagined!

Mucho Trabajo

Bolivia. WEEK ONE
Lets start off by introducing ourselves... Hailey and Amber, the newest interns for Ascend Alliance here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia! Since day one, we have been blown away by how different it is here compared to Utah, which is where we are from. We've been here less than a week and we have already had so many opportunities to help out. It's so amazing to see how much of a difference that the various Ascend programs have for these Bolivian people. They are always grateful and so willing to learn all that they can. We are loving Bolivia so far and can't wait see what this week will bring us! Stay tuned!

ascender peru: whats going on out west in cusco

Amanda and I just returned to Bolivia after a brief stint in Cusco. We spent a week in beautiful Peru, checking out our first Maravilla del Mundo, and getting a feel for how our neighbors at Ascender Peru do their thing. We were:

energized by the structure in which Julia, Ascender Cusco´s manager, conducted this group dialogue between leaders of the community Patabama. Using some great visual processing, the group of leaders discuss community issues, what tactics have been tried in the past, obstacles and consequences of those efforts, and ways to improve the efficacy of Ascend´s involvement using available resources from both ends. Very grassroots, creative, and valuable way of communicating.
owned by altitude. Our hike to the top of this peak was both beautiful and educational (thanks, Geoffrey), and we loved every moment spent huffing and puffing from the few extra thousand feet. Saw some great ruins, talked to some cheerful local farmers, gaped at the views of Cusco Valley and surrounding mountains.

appropriately awed by Machu Picchu. I´m not sure there is much we can say about the Lost Incan City that hasn´t already been said by many people more eloquent than ourselves…the place is incredible. Worth the hype.

intrigued by the rich setting in the Cusco area. The political, cultural, linguistic, and historical context for Ascend´s work there is very different than ours here in Santa Cruz, something we want to be conscious of as we work in these communities.

impressed by the staff´s organization. We sat in on a planning meeting for the upcoming Ascend Expedition to Cusco, and it was evident that the small-ness of their team encourages them to be well-coordinated and organized. Also impressive is the great spread of work they have created in several communities: from health campaigns, reforestation and construction projects, a thriving greenhouse at an orphanage, various community classes, and a slew of other projects. Busy busy!

It is wonderful to be back with our Bolivian staff, where we have exciting work to do and our toilet sings. A big fat thank you to our wonderful hosts and guides, Perú interns Kyle ¨Carlos¨ Grey and Geoffrey ¨Weirdo¨ Strom, as well as Julia and Ruben. They have their own set of blogs as well, check them out here and here.

First Class of First-Aid

Last Friday we taught an awesome first aid class to 15 + women in Nueva Esperanza. We have a friend who is a Med student here in Santa Cruz who was supposed to help us teach the class, but last minute (11:30 p.m. the night before) he backed out. Thank you, friend. I guess you could say we were a little frantic the next morning trying to pull everything together. Carmen, our Bolivian side-kick, wasn’t going to be able to come with us either because she too had a class to teach in another community (23 de Octubre), so were on our own.

A wrong bus ride and a lost taxi driver later we made it to our humble open-air chapel to teach the class. We used a manikin to teach CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver to the women and each of them had the opportunity to practice their mad life-saving skills on Little Anne (the manikin). Afterwards, we taught general first-aid care which included the following topics: skin infections, fever, diarrhea, dehydration, snake bites, chagas (a common parasite), bleeding, etc.

Apparently the class was a success because we were asked to teach two more classes to a group of boy scouts. Wish us luck!