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,  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. 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 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 we only have three more weeks of training. The students all miss home, but we have become one big happy family. We share our problems and unite in prayer together. My friend Raphael from Nigeria received a call from him wife last night to tell him that her sisters were in an auto accident yesterday. One sister died, and the other is in serious condition. He was greatly troubled because he cannot be there for his wife, so we all prayed with him for her and her family. It is very hard for our international students being so far from home. The American students will be experiencing much the same when we travel to our various mission fields. This week we have continued in water and sanitation. Monday, we built a sand filter for cleaning and sanitizing water with sand. It is a very simple design perfect for people to use in their homes to have safe drinking water, which is one of the biggest problems in the developing countries. Living here in the U.S., we don’t realize the importance of clean water and just going to the tap whenever we want. One of our students said he walked 3 hours to get water from one of the villages where he works as a missionary. Tuesday, our class was on latrines with a visit in the afternoon to the water treatment in the big city of Wedowee. Wednesday came the fun part of the week. Well drilling!!!!!! We tried 3 holes and hit rock every time. The system we used was the one Addison learned in Bolivia and drilled 2 wells in Ixiamas, where I will be interning next year. Manpower does all the work. We all were covered in mud by the end of the day Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was our big outing to Auburn University. We met with one of the professors there and learned about Water Watch. They are teaching communities all over the world how to take care of their watersheds. We had lunch at Auburn UMC, a very mission minded church with 4000 members. They have been having mission teams since the 90’s and raised the money to help SIFAT build a bridge in Bolivia. On our way home we stopped in at Auburn’s fisheries and learned about fish farms. Many tropical communities have ponds of tilapia for cash crops. Auburn fisheries are the best in the world. The international students are going to Ft. Walton Beach for the weekend to speak at the First UMC there. A couple of the U.S. students are going to take the weekend off and maybe go hiking or to a movie – for sure out to dinner. We are supposed to get hooked up to DSL next week. We have been praying that would happen because out internet service is really slow. My seedlings in my tire gardens (my class project) are really growing and I’ll post some pictures on Facebook when we get DSL. Love to all, Becky Hola again from Bolivia…. I mentioned in my previous writing that bugs and insects have been a normal part of my  life here in the jungle of Ixiamas.  I wrote also that I was beaten by giant ants and wasp. To continue with my story. One time, I was cleaning my room; suddenly I noticed a tarantula crawling on my window. In my surprise, I screamed. “Aaah!†Well, I have seen several tarantulas around Internado, I was just startled to see it right in my room, that I didn’t realized I screamed. Then just the other weekend, some of us went hiking to the falls and I came back with sores and bug bites all over my legs and arms. Almost every night, Bolivar the cat, would be on the ledge of the hall on the third floor, waiting for a prey.  His supper is usually a variety of all kinds of bugs and insects, of different sizes, color and shape. One evening I was by the hall of the third floor where my room is. I was quietly reading a book, Bolivar suddenly jumped out from the air behind me! On his mouth was a small creature crying “iiik! Iiik!†At first I thought it was a tarantula, I could not see clearly as the light was not bright enough. With the “iiik!†sound, I recognized it must be a small bat. Bolivar played with it before he chewed on it, right before my eyes. I was yelling. “Bolivar don’t eat it here, go away. Enjoy your feast somewhere!†Anyway, in fairness, I have not seen such beautiful birds and butterflies as much as I have seen it here in Ixiamas. A Hike to the Falls The other weekend, as the kids took off for a short break from school, Rachel, Mateo with a couple of kids visited an American family who live in beautiful prairie land in the middle of the forest. Every weekend we wait for them in town as they sell fresh milk, cheese and other stuff from their farm on their horse buggy. It is always been a joy every time I see them on their buggy with their goodies. I feel like being back in time, like the year of 1800’s. Oh, how I love going to their house in the middle of a beautiful pastureland. It is a rough and rugged road through the woods driving to their place, but it is always worth the trip. The trek began from their field in the middle of the forest.  It was a team of 3 Americans, 2 Bolivianos, 3 kids, me and 6 dogs. (Two of the dogs are from Internado). Our guides, the Bailers, the young guy came with his hunting rifle and hunting knife.  We passed many tall, small and old trees, bushes, ferns, and all kinds of wild flower, grass and plants. The kids treaded the forest like deer, they went fast. However, the Internado older folks were all careful and slow with our paces and strides as we went under and over some huge, old fallen trees and logs. Then the trail wound up to a river and stream. We continued hiking and treading over big rocks, some are mossy and slippery. I was all careful not to get my hiking shoes wet, but there was no way to keep it dry. When I can’t climb through the rocks, and between small stones, I just walked right in the water,  and didn’t care that my hiking shoes are all wet. We  stop once in a while to drink from the cool water of the stream. We stop and rested on some huge rocks after an hour hike as we passed a tall and high falls, with little water cascading down to a small stream at the bottom.  I asked our guide, Marvin, “ Is this the fall? It’s beautifulâ€. He said, yes it‘s one of the Falls, but there‘s more we are just half way. . I was already feeling exhausted, but hearing it was only half-way, meaning another hour of hike. We moved on and continued to follow the river trail. I noticed the small dogs struggled as I heard them cry and yelp whenever they could not go over some high trails. One of us would help them to climb up, or just carry them. A few times I saw Snicker, the Internado small dog, slid down  from the big  rocks. Some of the bigger dogs just swam straight to the stream as they follow us.  Some of us adults had slid down the slippery and mossy rocks. Then, I whenever I look at our guides, they were patiently waiting for us, as they would be sitting and relaxing over the huge rocks. (In fairness they have been going to that trail for the last 7 years.) They literally grew up playing and hiking in that trail. When we got to the end of the trail and saw this gorgeous and breath taking falls right in the heart of the jungle, I forgot all the exhaustion and from the hike. It was about 20 feet tall falls  with plenty and clear water flowing from the top  down to a small looking-like a -lagoon that is connected to the river and stream. The water was clear and clean. I was praising God for the beauty of His creation! However of all the time to capture the gorgeous scenery,, lo and behold, my camera was not working! Earlier in the trail I tripped over a huge rock and my camera went down to the  water. ooouch, I was not hurt but I cried for my camera. (As of now my camera is working after drying it, thank God!) What’s been going on at SIFAT? A lot! We’ve finished Learn & Serve for the summer and welcomed Practicum students. Schools and groups are coming weekly for CARES field trips, not to mention the retreats on weekends. Wow. Busy! We have asked Practicum student Becky Forrest to let us publicly post the recaps e-mails to friends and family. Becky is an accountant who has been called to missions. Three years ago, she went on a short-term mission trip to Panama. In 2007, she traveled with an UMVIM group from South Carolina to Ixiamas, Bolivia to work with SIFAT. In 2008, she returned to Ixiamas to work with SIFAT again. Now, she has quit her job and is taking part in our training to prepare for being in full time ministry. 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, and welcome to the SIFAT blog!
Chaco Day, A Bugs Life, The last few weeks have gone by quickly and here are some of my adventures here in the Amazon Forest. Chaco Day. Few weeks ago, for 2 weekends, the Internado folks  (workers and kids) had to go to chaco  (farming field) to work. Its about 3 miles from the Internado Property. Hermano Andres works there everyday taking care of the banana trees, cacao and other vegetables. For 2 Sundays, we helped him weed the plants. On the first Sunday, we worked all day using machete to cut the tall weeds and other wild grass that grew around the field.  Few kids were assigned each row. I paired up with some of the girls, and since I was not familiar with how they do it, I had to ask her where is our area. As I carpir (cut) the tall, wild grass and other weeds, I was excited cutting anywhere. So the girls had to  tell me several times, “that is not our rowâ€. Besides the heat of the sun, we also had to work through some attacks of the bees and other bugs. I tried to be careful as I was already beaten by a wasp just few days before that. Sad to say, Rachel was beaten by some wasps. She is okay though Mrs. Marsha. We brought our lunch ( a vegetable salad with sardines and rice of course) and had a picnic at the barn. After the long day work, some of the girls walked to the nearby river or streams of water. The following day  I didn’t realized how tiring it was, and I was sore and achy all over. I thought it was the age, but some of the girls had the same thing.    We all showed each other the callous and cuts we had on our fingers from the carpir. I enjoyed though working with the earth. The following weekend, some of the kids who didn’t get to go the previous weekend, had to go. For which I had to stay in the Internado to watch the kids who didn’t go the 2nd Sunday. A BugS Life. Back to the story where I was beaten by a wasp couple of weeks ago.We normally have wasps and other bugs flying around (of course) esp at night when there is light, all kinds of bugs in different colors, shapes and sizes fly around. One lunch time, as a usual thing there were some wasps flying around, I did not notice one on my drinking cup, until I felt a sharp pain and sting on my mouth. I screamed but it was too late. (most of the kids were gone in the river, they did not hear my scream.)  Just after few minutes, a kid noticed my lip is different. For a couple of days, half of my lip is swollen, and I felt the sting, eventhough I put some hydrocortisone and took some paracetamol.   Just before that, I was also beaten by giant red ants that left some marks around my right hand up to now. Its funny for me that it seems coming here in the jungle has change my prayer from he place where I used to be. Before, I would pray, “Lord protect me from watching eyes, and from dangers of being caught by the country authorities because of the work I do for you.†Now my prayer sometimes is like this, “Lord protect me from the bugs†and when I go to the river, “Lord let me not meet a bibora (snake) today, or something like this “ I would not really appreciate a visit of a cayman, not today!â€Â Some kids claimed that they saw some snakes in the river. To be continued…a Bugs Life  |