Round two of ICS project visits in Bolivia was with an agency in the consortium called International Service. International Service has ICS volunteers in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Palestine and Bolivia, so a really diverse range of countries as well as diverse volunteers.
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and with streets as steep as San Francisco at an altitude of 4000 metres above sea level, it's not a place to stroll around unless you're feeling like superman. So with project visits in La Paz, El Alto (much higher) and the nearby community of Mallassa in Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) my ears were constantly popping, but it was great to see such a variety of different activities.
With the same two main objectives as for my Tearfund project visits, it was really interesting to see some of the differences and similarities of a different ICS agency's programme operating in the same country.
I spent my first morning in the International Service office, doing a presentation/Q&A type session with staff and volunteers, followed by each of the four teams doing presentations on their respective projects. I was really impressed by the critical thinking of the ICS volunteers, many of whom had strong opinions on the role of youth volunteering in international development and the impact of the work they were doing.
My first of four project visits was to a children's centre in La Paz itself, supported by ChildFund Bolivia. The main focus of their ICS volunteers' project is to deliver pilot education sessions to the children about preventable diseases with the aim of producing a preventable diseases education manual containing the sessions that have worked the best. As well as this main focus, volunteers have also committed to providing general support at the four children's centres around the city (ChildFund support a total of 50), playing games and painting murals.
The next day I visited two more projects around El Alto and La Paz. I was particularly impressed with the first project linked to a local partner organisation called Focapasi which supports/trains women to build their own greenhouses/plant vegetables to a) maintain the health and nutrition of their own family and b) sell their produce to contribute to their household income. I was impressed to see that ICS volunteers who previously had no knowledge of urban gardening can now talk knowledgeably about the best environment to grow plants at altitude because of the experimental planting they're doing in the training greenhouse. As well as doing planting themselves, the volunteers have been involved in training the women in different gardening techniques, as well as marketing their produce to various cafes and restaurants in La Paz. As a sideline to these activities, volunteers also go into children's centres run by the partner Aldeas SOS and teach children about healthy eating and nutrition. So I watched as they played games like "pin the udder on the cow" and sang songs about how carbohydrates giving you energy, before demonstrating with the breaking of polystyrene sheets what happens to your bones if you don't drink milk!
The other main project visit of the day was to an awareness-raising event for the parents of children at another centre, about the prevention of cervical, breast and prostate cancer as well as HIV/AIDS. The event was really well attended (14 women and 8 men) and as a result, most of the women committed to going to a health clinic for a pap test. ICS volunteers will be supporting this process as well as conducting more awareness-raising events.
While we were driving around La Paz, we also got to see the community volunteer zebras in action, a project that ICS is looking at working with next year. In short, young people hang around at zebra crossings, from time to time stopping the traffic (which is chaos in La Paz) and helping pedestrians cross safely. Perhaps the Bolivian equivalent of lollipop ladies?!
On the last day, I went just outside the city to Mallassa in the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) where ICS volunteers are working with a local community-based organisation called Up Close Bolivia. It's a family-run Bolivian-British initiative with widespread community participation all based around a children's centre but also delivering projects in response to community need such as "Nuestro Espacio" (Our Space), a very similar initiative to one of the Tearfund projects in Cochabamba. Rather than paying to rent/build a permanent space, Nuestro Espacio works on the same basis as the recent London trend of pop up shops, using existing community infrastructure on a temporary basis in order to provide a safe space for children to go after school while their parents are still at work. At the children's centre, the mothers all contribute to the running of the centre ranging from a rota for baking bread to covering for the teachers/carers when they have to go into the city to get their wages. I've rarely seen such a genuine model of community participation and seeing it in action makes it clear how sustainable it is. Because Up Close is run by volunteers (including those with ICS) and doesn't pay any salaries, it's one of those small organisations where you can know that your money is going directly to the people who need it. So if you're looking for a project to support, either through volunteering or donating, I really recommend getting in touch with Emma and her husband Ronaldo: http://upclosebolivia.org/
At the end of the three days I wrapped up my time with International Service with a debrief meeting with their Country Director, followed by some horse riding on the ranch in Valle de las Flores just down from Mallassa and a fundraising pub quiz in La Paz where ICS volunteers raised money for Up Close Bolivia.
I've now got 3 hours to get some sleep before I have to get up at 1:30am for my 4:30am flight to Nicaragua via Colombia and Costa Rica. Not sure it was the most direct route, but pretty sure it was the cheapest!
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and with streets as steep as San Francisco at an altitude of 4000 metres above sea level, it's not a place to stroll around unless you're feeling like superman. So with project visits in La Paz, El Alto (much higher) and the nearby community of Mallassa in Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) my ears were constantly popping, but it was great to see such a variety of different activities.
With the same two main objectives as for my Tearfund project visits, it was really interesting to see some of the differences and similarities of a different ICS agency's programme operating in the same country.
I spent my first morning in the International Service office, doing a presentation/Q&A type session with staff and volunteers, followed by each of the four teams doing presentations on their respective projects. I was really impressed by the critical thinking of the ICS volunteers, many of whom had strong opinions on the role of youth volunteering in international development and the impact of the work they were doing.
My first of four project visits was to a children's centre in La Paz itself, supported by ChildFund Bolivia. The main focus of their ICS volunteers' project is to deliver pilot education sessions to the children about preventable diseases with the aim of producing a preventable diseases education manual containing the sessions that have worked the best. As well as this main focus, volunteers have also committed to providing general support at the four children's centres around the city (ChildFund support a total of 50), playing games and painting murals.
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| Harriet and Archie check the plants' progress |
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| Piloting innovative ways to keep the soil warm over night - rainwater in plastic bottles works! |
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| Harriet soil sieving and worm rescuing |
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| Learning about a balanced diet |
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| Little girl in pink not so into the "plants grow tall" song |
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| Open discussion about prevention of cancers |
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| Giving out leaflets after the event |
On the last day, I went just outside the city to Mallassa in the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) where ICS volunteers are working with a local community-based organisation called Up Close Bolivia. It's a family-run Bolivian-British initiative with widespread community participation all based around a children's centre but also delivering projects in response to community need such as "Nuestro Espacio" (Our Space), a very similar initiative to one of the Tearfund projects in Cochabamba. Rather than paying to rent/build a permanent space, Nuestro Espacio works on the same basis as the recent London trend of pop up shops, using existing community infrastructure on a temporary basis in order to provide a safe space for children to go after school while their parents are still at work. At the children's centre, the mothers all contribute to the running of the centre ranging from a rota for baking bread to covering for the teachers/carers when they have to go into the city to get their wages. I've rarely seen such a genuine model of community participation and seeing it in action makes it clear how sustainable it is. Because Up Close is run by volunteers (including those with ICS) and doesn't pay any salaries, it's one of those small organisations where you can know that your money is going directly to the people who need it. So if you're looking for a project to support, either through volunteering or donating, I really recommend getting in touch with Emma and her husband Ronaldo: http://upclosebolivia.org/
At the end of the three days I wrapped up my time with International Service with a debrief meeting with their Country Director, followed by some horse riding on the ranch in Valle de las Flores just down from Mallassa and a fundraising pub quiz in La Paz where ICS volunteers raised money for Up Close Bolivia.
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| Valle de las Flores - Valley of the flowers |
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| With Naomi, one of International Service's Team Leaders, based with Up Close Bolivia |
I've now got 3 hours to get some sleep before I have to get up at 1:30am for my 4:30am flight to Nicaragua via Colombia and Costa Rica. Not sure it was the most direct route, but pretty sure it was the cheapest!
