Ready! Set! Go!
We hit the ground running.
After a little over twenty four hours of travel, broken up by a three to four hour nap in La Paz, we arrived safely in Cochabamba. The “Garden City” of Bolivia. Living up to its name it boasts of mild temperatures which coax the growth of beautiful foliage, and the skyline in every direction is lined with blue heavens, fluffy white clouds, and gorgeous mountain ranges.
But we had places to go and people to see. So, we dropped our bags off in our rooms, hopped on a bus, and headed to our first day’s destination – The World Vision Area Development Program (ADP) in Tiraque.
Throughout the day we were warmly greeted by moms, children, and World Vision staff each of whom made us feel warmly welcome. More than that, they humbled us by making us fully aware of the difference their community has seen over the last thirteen years through the help of World Vision.
World Vision Sponsors have raised up their community by sponsoring their children.
These are some of the programs World Vision has been able to implement through the generosity of people like you and me:
- A Working Library that benefits the entire educational system.
- A Working Dam that has taken a system that provided water to a handful of small farms and now serves to water 178 larger properties, feeding families and producing small incomes. Something that is vital for a community where the average family income is $450.00 annually.
- A Bakery that began with five moms and now employs twenty at a better than minimum wage hourly rate, and produces 30,000 units of bread daily to feed breakfast to school children in Tiraque as well as neighboring communities.
- A program which helps families to have small cuyes (guinea pig) farms. Each beginning with a gift of ten cuyes and once that farm has grown large enough it will provide ten cuyes to another family. It turns out that guinea pigs are a very healthy low fat meat that is very easy to raise. Once again providing food and income for a family.
We visited a mom raising eight children. She generously showed us wonderful hospitality with grace and kindness.
The other group of bloggers visited:
- A preschool where the children are taught lessons while the moms help each other learn skills while providing encouragement and emotional support to each other.
- A mom of a handicapped child whose life was dramatically changed through heart surgery that was made possible through the help of World Vision. (Check out the World Vision Bolivia Bloggers page to read their stories.)
What did I learn today?
I was right when I believed that moms are the same everywhere. They all dearly love and want the best for their children. However, in this community their best is simple yet filled with joy through the blessings of World Vision sponsors.
Won’t you consider sponsoring and blessing a child and raising up a community in Bolivia today?
Lord, I have given up my pride and turned away from my arrogance. I am not concerned with great matters or with subjects too difficult for me. Instead, I am content and at peace. As a child lies quietly in its mother’s arms, so my heart is quiet within me. Psalm 131:1-2