Hola de Ixiamas! Believe it or not, I  only have 3 weeks left here in Bolivia, and only  couple of weeks with the kids! I am having all kinds of mixed emotions.

The kids at the Internado finishes their school year by the 3rd week of November.  I will be in the USA for 2-3 weeks in December to visit SIFAT,  then back to the Philippines for Christmas time.Yeah, time flies!  
 It has been an interesting and challenging time being in a new continent and a different culture from Asia.  As I mentioned earlier,  Bolivia I would say is a unique nation and very diversed compared to other Latin American nations.  I enjoyed the warm weather in the tropical jungle where I live with the Internado folks, and the same time,  I also enjoy my visits to the cold- weather highlands in LaPaz.   I see more and more the beauty of God`s creation in this place.   As I get to know more the culture and  the people I have come to appreciate more  this nation. I observe that Bolivianos seemed to be the most polite and the sweetest people I have met.  They are very humble people too but, they also have an interesting  way of expressing themselvesas their history have accounts of  a series of revolution, civil wars, political unrest, violence.Anyway, God has been so gracious to me allowing to be part of the ministry of SIFAT Internado, even though it was only for a short period of time. It has been a challenge, fun, adventure and a great blessing too. I had fun with the jungle tours I had been, the hike to the Falls, knowing all kinds of trees and shrubs, fishing piranhas with the alligators in a muddy river, and playing with the kids in the river. Washing my clothes in the river has been a normal way for me to have clean clothes.. For more than 6  months I survived without a phone!  I wish I could share more my fun and adventures here in Bolivia. But just to update you with the Internado folks.

Life Goes On in the Internado…

It’ Spring -Summer here in the tropics of Ixiamas. The weather is great at night and early mornings. And of course very warm on daytime.  Only two more weeks left for the kids to be in school, and It´s more challenge for Rachel and the dorm parents with the kids as they become more restless, awaiting for their grand school vacation. The kids are also busy with their school tests and completing their school requirements. 

Within the 6 month I have been, it seems to me that most of the kids have grown a inch taller, or maybe just my imagination. However, Snicker the used -to- be small pup has grown bigger for real. Scott the white-brown dog still chases the motorbikes, the pigs , chickens, and continues to pick up fight with the other dogs in town. He is now a mainstay on the road, and rarely visits Internado. Stronger the other dog, seem to support Scott more being on the road. The used to be three little pigs of Internado, are now two big fat pigs.

For about 2 weeks,  we had a new member in Internado, a brown squirrel that kids held in a small cage and became their pet. Rachel being merciful, let go of the poor little creature, and sent  back to the mother nature. Construction of the new building has done a lot of progress. The rabbit house is all ready for the rabbits to come.

I continue to take kids in the Internet to learn this technology. The kids are enjoying learning to write emails to our past interns. I really appreciate the Auburn interns as they faithfully answer each email of the kids.

Anyway, would appreciate your prayers for all of us as we finish the year. I would like to have a meaningful time with the kids for these coming weeks.

God bless yall!

Ciao, Vicky 



 

We have asked Practicum student Becky Forrest to let us publicly post the recaps e-mails to friends and family. Becky is an American and has just begun full-time missions after 29 years as an accountant. Through her posts, we hope you will understand a little more about what the Practicum is and what students are learning. Below is her most recent e-mail. Thanks for sharing with us, Becky!

Last week. Wow, I can’t believe the last week of training is here. It is bittersweet. I look forward to returning home, but I will miss my new family I have made here so very much. All 16 of us have gotten so close, and we realize most of us will not meet again until we see the pearly gates. I have gotten very close to two of the Nigerians, and maybe one day I will get to visit with them. I plan to stay in touch with email. The internet is a great tool for keeping in touch. Friday night we have our graduation ceremony, and it will be very special for all of us.
Last week, we learned about solar cooking, HIV and AIDS prevention, Christian sexuality and family planning, and we ended the week with “Where there is no Dentist”. We were shown a method taught to community health workers in developing countries of how to drill out tooth decay and fill it. A local dentist goes to countries and teaches this method. We had teeth set it plaster that we actually drilled with hand tools and filled glass ionomer cement. This last week we will be learning about “Where there is no Doctor”. The information we have learned in these 10 weeks is incredible and can be useful in so many places.
When I get home I look forward to sharing with anyone that wants to listen to me.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and regardless of the color of our skin or the language we speak we are all God’s children.
Blessings,
Becky

2009 SIFAT Calendars

Our 2009 SIFAT Calendars are here! Order yours now! Each calendar features beautiful pictures from our projects in Bolivia and Ecuador. Inspiring verses and quotes accompany staggering statistics about world poverty, which SIFAT works to combat through our training and short-term mission teams.

Fundraising Opportunity: We suggest you sell each calendar for $10. Your short-term missions team, Learn & Serve group or missions fund will receive $4 for each calendar you sell. SIFAT receives $6 – a $4 donation and printing fees.

To order calendars, please contact Marie, lanierm@sifat.org. or call the SIFAT office.

These 2009 Calendars make a great Christmas present. In today’s economy, every gift counts – so give a Christmas gift to your friends and family that they will enjoy, and one that also benefits SIFAT.

We have asked Practicum student Becky Forrest to let us publicly post the recaps e-mails to friends and family. Becky is an American and has just begun full-time missions after 29 years as an accountant. Through her posts, we hope you will understand a little more about what the Practicum is and what students are learning. Below is her most recent e-mail. Thanks for sharing with us, Becky!
I can’t believe I have been gone 2 months today. The time has just flown by. My brain is trying hard to retain all the information we have been learning. We have covered such a variety of subjects.
This past week we spent most of the time learning about microenterprise and microfinance. Our instructor was from the Chalmers Center at Covenant College at Lookout Mtn., Ga. He was a wonderful teacher and had spent 20 years in Africa helping to set up MFI’s. We learned about the premiere example, The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. It is a fascinating story of how it has helped bring people out of poverty by making small loans for starting micro enterprise. If you have time Google it and find out more.
We also picked up again with Christian leadership. We worked out of a book the 3 Colors of Ministry. We answered 180 questions to determine our top 5 gifts out of 30. My top 2 were Missionary and Voluntary poverty. Can you believe that? I guess I am finally in the right field. God has been really confirming that I am doing his will in many different ways lately. I knew my life was never going to be the same after I came here, but it is really hard to explain how different my life seems now.
We cooked street foods on our cookstoves we made several weeks ago to show how money could be made from selling foods cooked over an open fire on the street. It was our lunch, and we all thought we would starve before we finally got everything cooked.
Thursday came food preservation, canning, it had been many years since I have done that but it is such a good way to preserve foods. Many things I have learned in my past have been very valuable with some of our lessons.
We had Friday off, so I learned how to blog on SIFAT’s website, so when I get to Bolivia everyone can keep up with me by reading the blog.

God Bless,
Becky

Hola from La Paz! I`ve been here in LaPaz this week for visa stuff. Again, I thank God for working it out. Prior to coming here it was quite an ordeal. Last week, I was in Rurre for my visa extension (again), then to La Paz for the US visa. However, in the middle of this travelling, there was a huge “marcha” or rally from different parts of the region to the main city of LaPaz last Monday.  My appointment with the US Embsy was moved to another day…and thank God, it worked out.

While stuck in Rurre, I saw the news about the huge rally in La Paz, and it was kinda scary. However, thank God it all work out, and it was not bloody nor violence. The people of Bolivia are having issues with having a new constitution. So, I got here in LaPaz 3 days ago safe and sound, and had a wonderful long bus ride again thru the Death Road. This time, I enjoyed more the bus ride.

I realized I only have few weeks left here in Bolivia. Time flies so fast.  I started to reflect on my time here  and would try to share them with you the coming weeks.

I am appreciating more being here and learning about the culture and the people. I am enjoying more and more the beauty of this country. Bolivia is special and unique in different ways. I love the diversity of this nation. Much as I like warm weather and simple life in the jungle (Ixiamas), I also like the beuty of the landscape of the highlands (LaPaz and Altiplano), as well as the cool weather.

Anyway, back to Ixiamas,just to share with you some stuff I had with the kids before I left for travelling.

After few months of teaching English and Computer to the kids, it is still a challenge for some of the kids to grasp foreign stuff to them. I started teaching Internet to my class. Since our facility at the Internado does not have Internet connection, I have to take the kids to the town for the class.I take 2 kids at a time,
 The small town of Ixiamas in the middle of the jungle has only certain hours of electricity in a day, (actually the electricity is run by public generator) which conflicts with the time of the kids at school. Sometimes, I have to take kids at night, which is not a preferrable time because it is usually dark to walk. And before I left Ixiamas last week, we usually were having power off nights..Anyway, it still work out to have internet classes.

 It still amuses  me  that with most of the kids ( middle and high school),  are their first time to know about the amazing wonder of Internet. With limited Spanish I try to explain to them how Internet works and how useful it is and it would be for their studies.
Anyway, for some of the older kids they are using more the help of computer with their studies.
I try to encourage them how it would be useful in the future especially in getting jobs or to get to university. (I still try my best to simplify the usefulness of Internet to aid them with their daily studies as the school in Ixiamas do not have library).  For a lot of kids in the countryside, I heard they usually do not think about going to the university for education, maybe because of poverty.
With my role with the kids, for me it is not just about teaching them knowledge or skills, but I also try to encourage them to dream, to hope, to believe, and for them to know how God could be real in their lives. When I look at their environment, the poverty and the seemingly hopeless
life in the middle of the jungle, I could agree with them how on earth could there be hope in life.
But when I think and remember what God has done in my life, how he brought me from a very small and poor little town in a place in the Philippines where no one would know, I know God could do it also in their lives.

Thank you for your prayers for the Internado kids. Let us continue to pray for them for God`s purposes and plans for each of their lives.

Ciao, Vicky

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