Home Again

So I am back in my beloved Chapel Hill once more. I thought that living with little oxygen at 12,000 feet was going to give me a boost here, but I didn't factor in the heat. Just less than 24 hours of it has just about killed me.

Despite the fact that I was sick the entire last week in Bolivia, it was actually really nice. The conference was terrific. Outside of warmer weather, tasty food (which was probably the culprit of my nausea), incredible scenery, and fun outings with staff, it was a great learning experience as well. Members of the boards of education and health from each of the four cities with the program attended. It was great to hear their thoughts and ideas. The bottom picture is from from the hotel.

Upon returning from the conference my fellow interns and a few others from Save went to the Tiahuanaco for the Aymara New Year. Everyone stays up all night to wait for the sun to come up. The idea is to catch the energy from the first few rays of the sun. Its a really beautiful and fun celebration. It is suppose to be the coldest night of the year (I certainly found this to be true), and the key to staying warm is either dancing, drinking, or both. Unfortunately for me, the disgusting feeling in my stomach kept me from doing either and thus I was sick, cold, and tired. Furtunately for me, one our coworker's mother lived there and let me sit in her house after I reached my breaking point. The top picture is before I gave out.

With my last blog I will end with a few of the things that I love and will miss about Bolivia (in no particular order).

Mommas with babies on their backs wrapped in bright colored blankets (its the ideal MCH image, and actually this is in order. It's # 1)

National Bolivian music and the love that Bolivians have for it

Bolivians pride and love for Bolivia
Eating too much papaya

Fresh orange juice on every street corner

City women wearing traditional clothing

Diversity of the people and the land (and the potatoes!)

Cheap ice cream

The sweet bread that I ate almost daily

Mt Illimani

That everyone is involved and active in the political process

The graciousness that Bolivians have to give to a foriegner

Honestly, thanks for reading. When I started, I thought I was just going to be blogging for my mom and dad. Its touching to see that even more than my parents are interested in what I am doing.

Katie

I will give the update on work stuff first. So,Friday was the big national launching of the school health and nutrition program, which was going to be at a school in El Alto and the Ambassador was going to attend. When the demonstrations began on Monday Save staff called and suggested that it may not be the best situation. This communication was continued throughout the week and the embassy continued to confirm their presence until 6:15pm Thursday evening, the night before the event. Not only did the embassy say that the ambassador would not be ableto attend, which was probably the best idea, but they also added that we should postpone the event. Its kind of hard to deny your biggest donor. Needless to say, the staff at Save were pretty disappointed and frustrated. People from all over the country had come for the launching, kids had prepared poems, dances, and songs, and lots of food had already been bought. I will refrain from my diatribe about the situation. Despite this, we had the event for the kids, just without the officials, authoriies and press. Above is a picture of one of their dances.

To the fun stuff! Another intern at Save (Allison) and I went to Lake Titicaca this weekend. There was lots of big blue water, people living subsistence lifestyle, a phenomenal sunset, llamas and donkeys roaming, hiking, and laughter. We had a really great time.

Upon return we went straight to the Bolivia vs. Chile soccer game. I think that the crazy US and British kids that I went with were the rowdiest and liveliest in the crowd. Though Bolivia lost, it was a fun time.

This week I am wrapping up work. We leave tomorrow to go to a Save the Children School Health and Nutrition conference. Its in the tropical area which means it will be warmer. I am super happy about this.

Noticias

Its becomes more interesting everyday here in Bolivia. For the past few days the community of El Alto has been treking down the mountain the demonstrate in front of the US Embassy to demand that Washington extradite a former Bolivian defense minister who directed a military crackdown on riots that killed at least 60 people in 2003. TheFormer Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain, who is now a resident of Key Biscayne, Fla., told La Paz-based Radio Fides last week that the U.S. granted him political asylum more than a year ago. This caused an outrage in El Alto where the indigenous, anti-government rioters (previous to Evo) were gunned down by soldiers in 2003.

Evidently this actually is not anything too unussual. Bolivians are very politically active and seem to love a good strike or demonstration. It is affecting the School Health Program though. The national launching of the program is suppose to be this Friday in El Alto. However, the US ambassador is suppose to be there as well. The leadership at Save is afraid it may become a political site rather than a launching of a social-school program. Can´t we just uninvite the ambassador???

This weekend I had some time to explore the city of La Paz a bit. We ventured through the markets and checked out several museums, restaurants, cafes, and bars. I have been so surprised at the variety of options here. There is everything from greasy meals in a bag to super fancy restaurants.

While wondering around the city Sunday afternoon we ran into a lively parade of women and men dancing in their finest traditional garb. I am not really sure what the occasion was, but it was a beautiful scene. We also went up to El Alto, which is essentially a city on its own and sits on the flat land on top of the city of La Paz. It consists largely of an indigenous population and offers a much different environment. The views from El Alto are also pretty spectacular. The third picture from the top is from one of the overlooka.

Along with a massive market on Sundays in El Alto, there is Lucha Libre, a professional wrestling show. Oh and what a show it is! They had everything from fighting chulitas to my favorite Ninja Turtle. Yes, the one and only Michelangelo. It was pretty spectacular =).

La Paz

Top picture is from Cochabamba. I just liked that there were donkeys in the middle of an intersection.

I had several goodbye dinners upon leaving Cochabamba. While there is a little party for every birthday, welcome, or goodbye at the Save office in Cbba, I have to say that my despedida was the best one I have seen there. It was complete with lively music and dancing. I guess I have talked about how much I liked pizza because I was fed me pizza three meals in a row in my last 36 hours in Cochabamba. I was really touched by everyone's sincerity and kindness despite the short time that I spent there.

I made it to La Paz and the city is exorbantly more beautiful and pleasant than I expected. Above is a picture from my room. Everyone warned me that it would be dreadfully cold and that the city is a bit ugly and dirty. However, no one told me how majestic the scenary is. The city is sort of shaped like a moler. Coming from the airport you wind down the sides and the lower you get the further into the city you are. Its much more metropolitan than Cochabamba and the area I am in is the business center. I live next door to the US Embassy. The cold really is not that terrible; maybe mental preparation for an iceberg has helped my perspective.

I should retract my statement about not seeing many people from the states. I have met several former peace corps volunteers and other students here. The PCVs have been giving me lots of good wisdom and warning for my future post. Though I am sad that I am not speaking Spanish the entire day as before, it has been fun to hang out with some gringos =).

My daily activities have changed drastically here. I am in front of a computer working with numbers and coding/scoring concentration tests rather than running from school to school chasing little Bolivianos. I am enjoying using my brain a little more, though I am sure that I will be wishing for some kiddo action again sometime soon.

Despite the majority of schools being on strike the entire week, except for Friday, we were able to complete all of the follow up blood tests and concentration tests. Friday was a wirl wind but all is well. The top picture is with two sweet little girls patiently waiting to get their little finger pricked. This is really special because patience in these classrooms is something extraordinarily rare.

Friday night Sibia and I went to Chapare. Its about three hours from Cochabamba and is in the tropical rainforest area. Essentially we saw some rare, but ugly, bats and birds and I got bite by a monkey =). Honestly, we had a really good time and it was wonderful to see something new in Bolivia. I should explain the monkey bite. There is a little refuge for monkeys who have been sold on the black market or have been mistreated. There they are taken care of and are trained to live in the wild again. The monkeys are extremely domesticated and will come right to you. The sweet fella in the picture was a little cold and enjoyed snuggling in my jacket. Though the monkey pictured above was docile and loving, not all were so. When I would not let one little spider monkey have my camera, he bit the living tar out of my pinky finger.

My friend from Switzerland that also lives in the house with me works with severely malnourished babies at the hospital for her nursing intership/practicum. I went with her to work this afternoon and was able to hold, feed, and rock some of the little guys and gals there. Most of these children are in the grave state that they are because of a very simple disease, diarrhea. All are from the campo (the countryside, or very rural areas) and their families have very little education and money. Due to living so far away and having the responsibilities of a family, other children, and their household, the parents have to leave their sick babies at the hospital and do their best return and check on them. It is usually once every three to seven days.

One little guy, Anthony, especially stole my heart. He is about five months old and weighs about 6.5 lbs. Just a few weeks ago, I held my new nephew (Tucker) who was also about 5 months old at the time. Yet, Anthony was a bit smaller than Tucker at birth.

The extent of loss that poverty inflicts has been so real to me the past few days. Whether it is the loss of minds due to little resources for education, the loss of innocence due to four year olds having to sell gum or beg on the streets, or the loss of lives due to lack of information on how to prevent the easily preventable.

Top picture is of one of the thousands of mountains of oranges. Its orange season and they are everywhere.

The second picture is of me and my friend/coworker Sibia.

So we have had a slight bump in the road on our first day of data collection. We began the day early and arrived at the school only to find not kids. The teachers decided it was a good time to have a strike after celebrating Mothers Day. Today and tomorrow as well as this coming Monday through Wednesday is "un paro nacional" (a nation-wide strike). Evidently this is not anything too unusual. It was pretty common about five years ago but things have gotten better. However, my co-workers tell me that it is beginning to go down hill again. Though we were told the strike is a call for an increase in pay, my supervisor tells me it is not much more than teachers wanting to enjoy a longer break.

Despite the suprise and panic, the team rolled with these punches in excelent humor and effort. After buying an extremely large amount of chocolate milk for the students, my supervisor commented to someone "vamos a tener que bañarnos en chicolac" (we are going to have to bath ourselves in chocolate milk).

After calling the schools we were supposed to visit this afternoon we found, two that were not observing the "paro". Above is a picture of one class having their blood tested. Though this will put us behind a bit, we think that things will not be too far behind schedule.

On Monday we realized that I will need to go to La Paz to work with the analysis of the data we (and other Save programs in Bolivia) are currently collecting. Therefore I will leave this coming Wednesday for La Paz. I am happy about this in one the sense because there I will have a specific responsibility and role; whereas here, I am more of a general support and I really do not contribute any specific skill. I am a little sad though because I have become quite fond of my co-workers in Cochabamba. It is also ridiculously cold in La Paz!

So, the real problem with washing clothes by hand is not the effort or the time consuming nature of it, but BIRD POOP!!!! You clean and scrub and then the birds come and poop on all your hard work. As if I needed another reason to dislike birds!

So, guess who is La Vitamina A?????

The second picture is of a group of kids waiting to putting together a puzzle of lots of fruits and veggies with Vitamin A. The promise of a picture is about the only way I have been able to keep kids in a line and not beating up each other or our toys. It is truly a mad house at these events!

I was thankfully able to get out of the city for a bit this past weekend. I have realized how much I need green, fresh air, and movement on something besides pavement. On Saturday I went to this sweet, tranquil, and beautifully decaying colonial town outside of Cochabamba called Tarata. On the way back I stopped at La Angostura (a little lake with several restuarants and paddle boat rentals) to eat a little fish. While walking around the lake path I met a young couple. They invited me to hang out with them and several of their friends. I ended up spending the rest of the day sitting by the lake with them and hearing their life stories. Its was really beautiful.

On Sunday I went hiking with the couple from Belgium (who live the same house as I do) in Parque Tunari, which is in Cochabamba. It was quite a hike, but the views were fantastic. The third picture above is from one of the lookouts.

Today we have been going around to the schools giving out little parental information forms for the children in the upcoming study. However since tomorrow is el Dia de la Madre (Mothers Day) we have run into a few obstacles since many of the schools do not have classes either today or tomorrow. Excluding Christmas el Dia de la Madre is probably the biggest holiday in Bolivia and quite possibly the most revered including Christmas. People here love their mommas! Evidently the system is that each individual school can decide whether to take off the day before or the day of Mothers Day. Either way the kids get two free days, because whichever one of these days is not chosen is filled by elaborate activities. Every school that decided to have class today had some serious festivity going on. Fancy costumes, coordinated dances, and lots of loud music.

The top picture is of a third grade class taking their iron tablets.

The second picture, of my favorite escuelita thus far, Alto Cochabamba, is true to its name. The city of Cochabamba is relatively flat, but climbing out of the valley onto the mountain are the poorer areas, yet all the more beautiful views. This little school sits on top of a hill and the neighborhood it serves is the poorest I have seen here thus far. As I wiped out my camera to take some pictures (I have officially become the program photographer) of Sibia explaining a few details to the Principal, students flooded the office and crowded the desk wanting to be in the picture. Since the view from their little school is so amazing, I convinced them to take the picture party outside.

Next week we begin the first round of the evaluation of the program here in Cochabamba. While I love visiting the schools and health departments and I learn immensely from doing so, my actual contribution to the program is within the evaluation. Baseline data (prevalence of anemia, giardia, parasites, ability to concentrate, etc) was collected on 10 schools with the program and 10 schools without the program before the children recieved any Vitamin A or iron. Now, three months later we will see if the program has made a difference in the schools with the intervention.

This week I have been preparing graphs for a meeting held today with members of Board of Education and Board of Health here in Cochabamba (the program is centered around and dependent upon the collaboration of such national entities). As much as I cursed Stata this year, I would have done anything to have had it this week. The data was in excell and it is just not capable of all those fun tricks. However, we will be using a statiscal software for this coming round of data collection. Ojala it will be one I am relatively familiar!

Todaywas the 89th birthday of Save the Children. We celebrated with some delicious chocolate mint cake and some Bolivianish singing.

Yesterday we visited El Cristo, a statue of Christ that is just over 33 meters and sits on top of a hill/mountain that overlooks the city. You get a terrific view of Cochabamba.

Also on Sunday we went to a parent meeting at one of the escuelitas (little schools) to give a little promo for the program and vitamins that their children are taking. In Bolivia it is customary to have parent meetings on Sundays mornings which often run until the afternoon. I thought this to be a little odd, but its the best day to do it since everyone works during the day and Saturday is used to buy groceries and run errands. It was impressive to see about 240 parents (I know because it was my job to count) at this meeting without any more incentive to come than to hear what is going on in their school and community. Even more impressive was that it was not just moms. There was quite a showing of dads.

Working here has definitely demonstrated to me how much my Spanish is lacking. I fee like I am learning Spanish for the first time. There are so many words they use that I have never heard and so many words they use that they have never heard. Yesterday, my co-worker, Sibia who is Boliviana, was trying to explain a kind of fruit to me "una palta". I eventually realized she was talking about an avocado and said you mean an "aguacate", the only word I have ever heard used for avocado and a word, to my knowledge, very commonly used. However she had never heard of "aguacate" before and kept saying no its "palta". After a 40 minute bus ride of this conversation, Sibia found a "palta" on the street and it was in fact an "aguacate"....just not in Bolivia, here it is a "palta". Something of this nature occurs at least everyday.

This was during one of the school activities. It looks like the kids really like me here, but really they just love the camera.

Katie in Bolivia

So I am here in Cochabamba, Bolivia working with Save the Children on a school-based health and nutrition program. Although located in a valley and surrounded by towering mountains, Cochabamba stands at about 9,000 feet above sea level. I arrived this past Sunday (May11th) and have been running ever since.

A little about what I am doing here:

So the program I am working with distributes Vitamin A and iron tablets to the 50 poorest schools in Cochabamba. The idea is to train the teachers to administer the vitamins and to educate the students on why its important to take them and to eat more foods with these nutrients. The program also meets with the parents, has activities for the children at school, and coordinates workshops with the health departments to promote the consumption of vitamin A and iron.
Getting to many of these schools can be arduous as they are in fairly remote areas and the staff uses public transportation to get there, an adventure in itself. I have been impressed by the comittment that the two managers (Sibia and Crispin) and the one coordinator (Ccoya) have to the project. Each day this week we have worked from about 7:30 am till about 7 pm. Needless to say I have been exhausted! BUT, it has been incredible to go into these schools and meet with the teachers, principles and students!

Everyone (from the staff at Save the Children to those living in my house here) has been so, so incredibly wonderful. The people here in general seem a bit skeptical of foreigners, but once a connection is made, they warm up really quickly and then take personal responsibility to make sure you are taken care of. I have seen very few non Latinos and I have not met anyone else from the United States (except the Executive Director of Save). Its kinda fun cause people seem to think I am interesting =).

I am living in a house with several other folks who are also here volunteering or doing internships. They are mostly from Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, etc.). I think the owner said I am the first American. It is super nice and cheap and I am enjoying the company there. I washed my clothes by hand today. Despite the time and labor, there was something so satisfying about washing my clothes by hand. You should try it!

That´s all I have for now. I will try to be a bit more witty and interesting next time. Thanks for reading!