Reunion in Bolivia

In the fall of 1999, I entered orientation with the Franciscan Mission Service in Silver Spring MD. We were the 14th or 15th Orientation Group. We were a class of 6 and 1/2 as we called Annamaria, who was 3 months old when she came for orientation. Pictured above is the reunion of 4 and 1/2 though, that half is obviously full grown now! (from left to right, myself, Diego, Annamaria, Lorena and Peggy)

Five of the six were missioned to Bolivia. The sixth, Tom, worked in El Salvador then in Colombia. Both Peggy and Debbie committed to a second 3 year term after completing their first three years. Lorraine (aka Lorena) was already in her second term when we met in orientation. I returned in 2010 for a second term. I was the only one of my group not to complete my original 3 year comissioning due to serious health problems.

Peggy returned to Bolivia independently this year, and is working with Franciscans International here in Cochabamba, the offices are located on the corner of the same block, in the Franciscan Peace and Justice Center.




As you can see we literally renuited right on the steps of San Francisco (The Church of Saint Francis). It would have been great if Tom and Debbie could have made it too!! Hopefully we can all reunite at the next FMS returned missioner retreat that takes place about every three years in the US. I often think of Tim and Cecilia who I was in mission with briefly toward the end of my time in Bolivia, and who hosted me for a later visit after my recuperation. They are in mission again with FMS, but this time in South Africa, they inspire me with their blog and email newsletters.




The man behind the first two photos is pictured in the third, Fr. Ignacio OFM. Brother Iggy as we know him is a major support for all the FMS missioners spanning 3 decades!! (90s, 00s, & teens!) Iggy knew Lorena before she met and married Diego in the 1990s. He has been working and living in Bolivia for over 30 years. My first time in Bolivia, Br. Iggy was living in La Paz, but he always made time to check on those of us who were in Cochabamba. He has also organized various retreats for FMS lay missioners over the years. He also likes to connect people together, from various walks of life. I had the privilege of meeting his two sisters when they came for a visit.

I Am In Bolivia

I know I am in Bolivia

When I see a truck fly by with wooden sides & 30-40 heads sticking up over the cargo area.

When I see people throw trash out the bus windows.
When a vendor doesn't have change for a small bill.
When no one gives up their seat on the bus to the old lady who just boarded the bus.
When I see a dog taking itself for a walk.
When I peek in an open doorway on a dirty desolate street and I see an oasis inside.
When I arrive at the International Airport and my 1/2 hr flight to Cochabamba gets canceled and there isn't another flight for 12 hours.
When it costs more to make a local call then to call the US.
When friends get robbed or assalted going to or leaving church.
When someone cuts in front of of a long line of people waiting.




When I see incredibly majestic mountains almost surrounding me in the distance and yet close up is severe poverty and dirty streets.

When I had parasites in my stomach.
When you just need to pick up something simple and it takes hours (and many walking miles) to locate.
When there are blockades on the road preventing you from going to work.
When there are strikes.
When you must say good afternoon and not just hi!
When you can buy a banana for 2 cents, a red bell pepper for 5 cents, and a pound of tomatoes for 8 cents (note in season!!)






When the exterminators come on motorcycles. (see above)
When a motor cycle passes with a family of 5 without helmets, and carrying shopping bags.
When children's education seems to be memorization and poorly done.
Yet the same children learn a higher level of practical items above their US counter parts.
When it snows in the Bolivian summertime.
When 30% of the people you know have lice.
When 35% of the children you know are malnourished.
When 90% of the children have parasites.
When you can still see children playing with marbles and wooden tops with strings. (see below)

An Eye on the Neighborhood

I like to keep my eye on the neighborhood or maybe I should say the properties that surrounds the Center here at Tiqti Sud, since currently there are no neighbors.



I keep my eye on the cacti up the hill, where the sun currently rises. Are the people picking prickly pears called "tuna" here, or are the children playing war games, where they take machetes to the cacti? Are the women harvesting bugs from the cacti to make homemade lipstick? What are the goats eating today, will any dogs be attacking them? Will the walking ice cream vendor pass on the road above the cacti or will he come down the path that switchbacks through the cacti?



To the west is a company (see photo above) that wholesales building supplies, but looks nothing like Lowes or Home Depot. A team of 4 -12 men (see photo below) bend rebar in half and stack it in another place. Two men hold one end, and two or three others run the other half around until the two ends meet. Then one or two guys walk the bent piece to the new pile. The guy at the tip has to do a lot more running than the others! I woke to this sound early one morning about 2 or 3 AM, when I first moved to Tiqti and I was worried that someone was robbing the company. It took me twenty minutes because of the dark to figure out they were just working. I since found out that the men like to work this night shift so that they are not out in the strong sunlight all day. I really don't check out this direction much, only when I hang out my clothes to dry.





To the south or down the hill (see photo below), nothing much goes on. I just found out they will be putting a road along this southern wall as the neighborhood becomes more developed. The Center's upper patio does give a good view down to the 4 lane highway below, where I can look out to see if there is a strike or blockade affecting the flow of traffic.




To the east or what I think of as the east because I first saw the sun rise from this direction, are many property lots (see photo below). The closest ones to the Center have been sold, and bulldozing has changed so much of the topography, that a surveyor has had to come in yet again to remark the property lines. I met the surveyor because the dogs were barking (rural doorbells!!) and the man seemed suspicious, closely passing our northern and eastern walls, so I went out to talk to him. He explained to me that the various owners were fighting over the boundary markers, because of all the bulldozing.







I met the woman whose lot has become the garbage dump of the neighborhood. I can't understand why, as the garbage pick up comes each Wednesday and Saturday morning. Two men arrive with a 3' X 6' metal basket framed cart, they start up hill and let gravity bring the load to the highway, what happens from there I don't know!! The first time I saw them the skinny guy was in front acting as a human break! The garbage was piled over 6' in the air!

I met another woman and her family when they came to visit their lot, which is located next to the "garbage lot". Her property has three exterior walls which after the rains, transformed it in to a bit of a swimming pool, with trees in the middle. She dug a ditch along the street to detour future waters from her property. A few weeks later a road grader came through and changed up a bit of her work.

There is a nice guy that is building one lot over from our southeast corner. He first built the property walls, and then built 3 or 4 rooms on the northern wall. He just painted the "front wall" ( the one that will face the street) a mauvy plum color. It really spruces up the construction zone (the two properties below his were begun a month or so after he started.) Work has begun on another lot this week (see photo below).





I met the family that brought the three lots up hill from this man. Recently I noticed someone setting fire to these edge of this property. I went to check it out because burning trash is so toxic here because of all the plastic that gets burnt. It ended up being the father of the 3 siblings that brought the 3 lots, he came to burn some grass and weeds.

I learned from him that no one should take a nap under the Molle Tree, especially a child because the devil will enter their souls. There are quite a few of these trees on his children's lots. He also informed me, strangely enough, that you could take the branches of this tree (with leaves attached) and boil them, and add another ingredient and after it cools you coat your legs with it and you will be cured of a certain (I forget what) infirmity. I guess I should have taken notes.

Other things I have "learned" in Bolivia is that if you rub a child's kneecaps they will learn to walk more quickly. If a child doesn't master walking fast enough you can bathe their legs in cow's urine and that will cure whatever ails them! If a child is sick it is because something scared them (which I figure could be true sometimes but not all of the time), not because they sat next to a sick child at school.

So there's a quick view of the neighborhood, and my eyes taking everything in.