Holy Thursday

On Holy Thursday I again attended mass at the parish of El Hospicio. There was a reenactment of the Lord's Last Supper. As is traditional in many Catholic churches a priest of the parish washes the feet of 12 parishioners. Here it was 12 men and they played roles of the 12 apostles. The mass order was changed a little to accommodate the Gospel story. The hand shake of peace was earlier, and acting was put on hold to say the Eucharistic prayer. After communion, we returned to the story of Gethsemane, there was a processional around the church and all were invited to remain in prayer until midnight.

Some remained and others headed from the traditional visiting of other churches. I have heard it is traditional to visit 7 or 12 churches (or however many you would like). One must walk from church to church, which may sound difficult, but being in a city in a predominantly Catholic country, it is easier to do walking then driving, especially since all the roads are closed down in the center. My first year I could only find 6 churches, so I returned to the first and prayed longer, which was great because at that time of the night it was darker and quieter. Last year I went to the mass at San Carlos, which is a long walk to the other churches, and as I lived in the outskirts of the city, I didn't want to return home too late, so I only prayed at San Carlos.

This year I started out with 5 people then we added 3, but shortly after, by my fifth church we were down to three people. When Johnny finished his 7 he was ready to return home. Vania and I were on number 9, so we retraced a few steps, and continued on the journey. The last two churches I had seen but had never been in, the last was in the market place not far from San Carlos, and there were far less pilgrims in the street at that location and hour. I like that my final destination was quiet and reflective and we sat a while before heading out. Final photo 11:07 PM, mass started at 6, close to 8 we had started our pilgrimage.



I did take photos at each church, but I will just post these two.

Good Friday

The Parish of San Carlos



I have joined the Stations of the Cross procession with the parish of San Carlos, for three years now. Above Pilate (Roger with Manolo) offers Barabbas or Jesus to the people to choose one to release.




The Roman soldiers and the parishioners of San Carlos look on as Jesus falls the second. At each station the scene is acted out. A local theme is prayed for such as the children of the parish. Between each station, Fr Edwin ofm, and other leaders in the parish, lead singing and praying, aided by an amplified megaphone.



At each station a family sets up and altar, which you can see at the top edge of the photo. Altar "boys" and altar "girls" lead the procession, here they watch as the fifth Station was acted out. Teens from the after school programs and Confirmation classes take on various roles, as well as parish leaders.




The Pharisees and Sadduccees (Jhimmy, an after school teacher) join the procession as well as many wailing women, including Mary the mother of Christ.



A view from the back of the procession (quite a crowd), as we approach Cerro San Miguel for the final stations of the day. At the hilltop of Saint michael, Jesus was stripped, nailed to the cross, and put to death.

Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil at the Parish of El Hospicio started outside in the Plaza Colon. The parish is situated on the southside of the plaza. The paschual candle is prepared and lit, and the parishioners solemnly process into the church pausing, in a call and response three times, to give thanks to God.




The flame is passed on to light our candles, which we kept lit for the litany of reading and prayers. We relit them for the renewal of our baptismal vows, later in the mass.








Dramatically after a burst of thunder the stone rolled away from the tomb. The curtains opened and revealed the Risen Christ, where normally the Crucified Christ resides.


¡Aleluya! He is Risen!

Voces Para Cochabamba

After sharing so many bucolic scenes surrounding the therapeutic center as part of my work for Voces Para Cochabamba, I will now bring you down to earth with some of the day to day reality of life for children and teens living on their own in the streets of Cochabamba. The above image, that was used for communication posters and postcards, speaks of the over 500 children/youth that remain living here on the streets of Cochabamba, slowly loosing their lives. It goes on to say "For what are you waiting? S.O.S."

The eerie part of this poster created in this year, 2012, is that among the 15 disguised faces of homeless children surviving on the streets, three have died just this year. Adding their names to the growing list of children/youth that have died in the streets of Cochabamba.



The problem is complex, and I will share bit by bit over the next few months my understanding of the situation. First of all a little background. There are hundreds of groups that work with children and adolescents in the city of Cochabamba, as a recent statistic stated over 38,000 children are at risk in this city of being left out or put out on the streets or desire to runaway from their dysfunctional homes. These programs are varied and include the programs like the ones I worked with at the Parish of San Carlos. The before and after school and lunch programs, have teachers and social workers working with and keeping a watch on the children, a one type of prevention program.

There are scores of orphanages that have children dropped off constantly, as well as children who are abandoned in the market place. These children usually are not technically orphans as their parent are still alive, their parents are just unable or do not want to care for their children. Unfortunately adoption remains a stigma here in Bolivia. I met a couple who had adopted a baby, their friends were quick to tell me that it is a secret, they wanted to keep it that way, so I could not congratulate them on adoption. Too bad the doors aren't open to the US, with so many good parents waiting for a chance.



Teens are also abandoned to homes for teens, a place where runaways may also be brought to. There are also night shelters for kids, a nice place to stay (if you have been living on the street) to have dinner, take a shower, wash clothes and maybe store things until the next night. There are also other homes with programs and long term stays, they are all voluntary.

There are many outreach programs that bring clothes and food, but they could be considered enabling children to remain on the street. If people bring you food, clean clothes, and you have a nice dry bridge to sleep under with friends, what is your incentive to get off the streets. In a country where a large percentage of college grads never find a professional job, what kind of job would a child with 3rd grade education find. Besides should children be working??

One of my organization's (Voces Para Cochabamba) goals is to create a coordination amongst all the groups that work directly with this population, so as to actually create steps between the various programs, a tool to lead each child to success, and not to hop scotch between the lower steps of programs.

The pictures of the post are copyrighted and provided by Voces Para Cochabamba and/or Voces Para Latinoamerica, with permission.

Jornada Mundial del Enfermo

Bolivia seems to have as many special days to celebrate, as greeting card companies in the US have to hawk their cards. In February, we celebrated the Annual World Day of the Sick. I have been working, part time, in the Archbishop's Office in health ministry since relocating to city center. We had programmed masses to be celebrated at various hospitals and medical centers throughout Cochabamba.



The day of, we went to three of the centers to make sure everything was prepared and ready to go, before heading to mass at the Caja Petrolera de Salud. Cajas de Salud are medical associations or centers set up for one group of workers, in this case those of the oil industry. Other centers are for teachers, miners, police, and so on, in each related city.

The priest who celebrated the mass at Petrolera de Salud (top photo) had his own health issues, so I felt the people could well relate to him. This mass was broadcast live (thus the woman holding the cell phone to the priest) on a local Catholic radio station. Thus sharing mass with home bound people too.



Most people were wheeled in from their rooms, though some were ambulatory. The music was led by a couple from a local parish. After mass, prayer cards and refreshments were served. We also brought communion to those who were unable to make it to the mass. Briefly we visited and prayed with those who were unable to take communion, and brought them prayer cards too.








We headed back to the Caja Nacional de Salud, a quick walk away, arriving for the end of mass. What was very beautiful is the priest offered a blessing and annointing of each person who so wanted. At all locations volunteers who normally visit people in the each health center, organized the mass. Below is the chapel of the Caja Nacional de Salud, it was very pretty, but a free standing chapel so far away from the hospital rooms, that only the strongest of patients were able to make it.

The New Commute

One of my first views when arriving at the therapeutic center is this lovely old adobe structure, which is one of the outbuildings on the property. There is a little cluster of buildings, where the caretaker lives, and small guest cottages. After moving from the the outskirts of the city, from the countyside like setting of Tiqti to the center of the city of Cochabamba, it is a real treat to be able to go at least once a week to the center and accompany the teenage boys for a day and a night.



This is the view out the dining room window. There isn't enough room in the kitchen to eat. So this dining room table serves for both meals and work. The guys can work on homework, learn new skills, plan out programming, the staff sometimes has meetings here. I would take this over any "corner office" in a major U.S. city. The view below is of the town of Sacaba where I worked in 2002-2004. I sometimes gaze out the window, trying to locate the church and other landmarks.




Walking from the town of Sacaba to the Center takes about 45 minutes. Usually there is someone coming or going to the center and I can hitch a ride. But it is also a nice walk if you are not carrying too much. It also takes about 30 minutes in a van to get from the city to the town, if you can find one with a empty seat.

City Scapes My Neighborhood

I was asked in a recent interview what was my neighborhood like, since I had just moved from Tiqti Sud to the city, I really had nothing in my blog nor even in my camera to depict the radical change that was happening in my living situation. I tried my best to give a verbal picture, but as you go out in any direction from my apartment you could encounter very different scenarios. The views in this post only capture a slice of southwest from my apartment, and mostly looking northward from points 3-5 blocks away.



The national police were out in force one day as a protest march arrived a the Plaza Principal. They are kept busy in a country where protest marches and blockades are weekly experiences somewhere within the country, sometimes lasting for days and weeks.




These views are from the Archbishops Office where I work 4 mornings a week in the Health Ministries Office. As I climb the stairs to the 3rd floor (think 4th floor in US) I rise above the street level and get a little seen view.





This photo shows old adobe buildings with red tile roofs (lower part of picture) in the heart of the city. Near by are new modern structures. Both show the impressive mountains that edge the city, north, east, and west of the city. It is even more incredibly beautiful in person.




This photo as well as the first one of this post depict one of the main streets in the city. Four lanes, two in either direction, can be jammed with traffic during rush hours or can be totally empty when blockades cut off any vehicular traffic. These are the older buildings, but the modern ones are literally around the corner.




I like this last one best because it is the type of view you can see from many different streets, that of old buildings with small balconies on the second floor. One way traffic to allow parking on one side of the street and then in the distance the mountains rise up over the roof lines 14,000 - 16,000 ft in altitude just a few kilometers outside the city center. The view down most north running streets gives this view without having to climb up a few stories. The outskirts of the city climb up the bottoms of the mountains, every year they climb a little higher.