Just Around The Corner

Just…Around…The…Corner

 

Getting a break?? I didn’t know that sort of thing was possible down here. In Bolivia, the excitement of a break from school for students and a pause on work for teachers has been a long time coming. Everyone here has been waiting for our Summer break from months. After fighting fires, food shortages, storms, and blockades, break is almost here! Since we are in the southern hemisphere, summertime is just starting. However, like most parts of life down here, it comes with a few complications. In typical Emde fashion, here is a list of a few. (I explain a bit more down below)

•           Communication…the government.
•           Where do the kids go?
•           What about the kids who have to stay?
•           What about the number of volunteers?
•           What do we do now that there is no school?
•          Do we get a break?

The Government:

Of course, we abide by the standards set by the Bolivian government. Our school campus recently received accreditation and has all certified Bolivian teachers (we are rather proud of that fact). However, sometimes the communication from the government can be confusing. Days when we have/don’t have school, shortages of gas, bankruptcy of the government, we really never know what is happening. Therefore, it is hard to know exactly what a reliable plan is.
For example, last Wednesday (Nov 29) we were notified that school was to end on Friday (Dec 1) and some of the kids would go home in the following days. This meant that we had all of 2 days to purchase 85+ kids Christmas presents. So, we got to work immediately. All of us split up and used our donation money to get the kids everything from clothes to RC cars. Thursday was equally as stressful as we had to prepare the kids to leave and spend our final days with many of them.

Friday was the final day of school, so we had to do something special. All the kids had parties put on by the SMs for present opening, cake, cookies, birthdays and more. Which of course meant all of the SMs worked extremely hard to give the kids a memorable final day. Personally, I made 50+ cookies, 35+ cupcakes, granola, bread, distributed all of their presents, filmed videos and took pictures along with cooking meals and taking care of kids as normal, which was a lot. However, the kids were SO happy. They played with their toys all day, showed off to friends, watched movies and had a great time. It was a stressful day that took all of our energy. Friday night came and all of us slept like rocks.

Sabbath morning, we woke up and prepared for the final church service with all of the kids, while still being exhausted from the days before. When suddenly we got a dreaded text. “El districtal nos han informado que las clases no quedan terminar hasta el 8…” which means… the district has informed us that classes are now until December 8…a whole extra week. We had already celebrated classes ending and final grades had been turned in, so we had no idea what to do. Our director Melissa made the decision that it would be a VBS style setup instead of regular classes. With this came even more planning. Instead of getting the break we all desired, we got even more work. I didn’t know how I could do it. With everything happening, I was overwhelmed.

Several times through Sabbath I had to take a step back and say a prayer for energy. Finally, that night at 12:41am after all of us could wind down, one of the volunteers Lizianne sent a well known bible verse to our chat.

“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13.

I truly claimed that bible verse right then and it has carried me all the way through now. The SMs put together a plan for a morning worship till lunchtime and an activity in the evening to occupy our time. Our plan has worked well so far and the kids have been having a great time. We play games, do crafts, act out skits, watch movies and more. There has also been extra time to sleep this week along with rain which provides incredible weather for relaxing. So, it has not been all that bad!

 

My whole house together for a picture! They smiled!

Where do the kids go?

This is a commonly asked question for many people when I mention Summer break. Familia Feliz operates as an orphanage/boarding school. Therefore about half of our students have homes with parents. However, just because they can go home and their parents can pick them up, does not mean they come from the best situations. While we are a “boarding school”, it may be easier to classify us as a foster home for those who truly need us. It is hard to say goodbye to these kids. Some of them have left for good, and when you get to know them for 4 months it is very hard to see them leave. This is especially true when you know the home and living situation they are coming from. Some of them have gotten permission leave, so the goodbyes started this week.

You may remember Ivan. He is the teen that bakes, cooks and helps me out in the kitchen. We have perfected our method of making bread. But, he had to leave this last Wednesday. Knowing I will never see him again is a hard truth. I came, hope I made an impact on his life and don’t know how that will affect him at all. I can only hope and pray for the best.

 

Ivan just before leaving. I gave him my hat before he went.

What about the kids who have to stay?

For the past 4 months I have had to provide every part of the day for 13 boys ages 5-15. However, in about a week my house is supposed to be down to only 4 people. The children who have to stay are only the ones that truly have nowhere else to go or cannot go back home. The government may have sent them, their parents may not be able to support a child, or they have even been dropped off at our doorstep with nothing else to their name. The kids here truly come from all walks of life.

Across campus, we will go from about 100 total people to about 40 which reduces costs significantly and makes life quite a bit easier. While I am sad to say goodbye, a break is still something that calls my name.

What about the number of volunteers?

You may remember our situation from my last blog post. At that time, we had only one girl that would be here for the next semester. That would be one volunteer that would take care of 25+ girls…unbelievable to think about, but it was a possibility. Thankfully we had a few months in between that would allow us to prepare for what was to come. We are in a much better position now. We will most likely have 2 Bolivian female volunteers stay for another semester which will give us the ability to operate as normal.

What do we do now that there is no school?

To be honest…I have no idea. However, I do know that I will do my best to sleep. I will have no reason to wake up at 5:30 anymore, no reason to make meals for 17+ people on a daily basis and no reason to stress about what will happen on a daily basis. What I do see happening is a lot more projects around campus. We were blessed enough to receive donations for projects like new bathrooms, roofs, and patios for houses. I am excited to see all of this get underway.

My personal project will be researching about chicken coops! Eggs are expensive here and one of the only forms of protein. So, I want to find a way to make a sustainable chicken coop! If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! 

Do we get a break?

YES! As I said, break has been a long time coming. Before arriving in Bolivia, I knew that I would want to travel. My dad has definitely placed an enjoyment for travel in my genes and I am excited to exercise that while I am here. I saved up travel money before coming and am taking a 2 week vacation to Peru and Brazil in January with a few of the other SMs. This trip is something I am VERY excited for and can’t wait to see these cultural hubs of South America.  It's also been fun doing my own travel planning (with the other SMs), something my dad usually did for my past travels.

Gas...

Right now, Bolivia is in a very interesting situation financially. As a current finance major, I have found it very interesting to look into what is happening economically with some South American countries. Right now, all of Bolivia is having a problem with getting gas to gas stations due to the overall financial situation the country is in. 

This whole week we have had people stay in the gas lines with hundreds of other people. One of the workers (Hermano Juan) ended up staying in line for over 2 days just to wait for gas. Once it was his turn, they limited him to only 100bs (about half a tank) of gas. The country is now struggling to get gas to their gas stations because of a possible bankruptcy. People also constantly wait in lines at banks and other government supported corporations to receive pay and other necessities of life.

Christmas!

As I mentioned earlier, we got to celebrate Christmas last Friday! Everything was very last minute and it was quite a bit of work to pull it all off, however it was perfect. While it was nowhere near a "white Christmas" (more like 95 degrees and in the amazon jungle) everything still felt like Christmas. The kids were smiling, cookies were eaten, cakes were baked and good food was cooked. All of this hopefully created a never ending memory for our kids. They were SO happy to receive gifts and feel special for a day.

I try my best to document what is happening around me, however when the kids were opening their gifts I completely forgot to take pictures. I was upset for a while, but realized that there's some moments that truly are meant to be enjoyed without stressing about pictures and videos. I'm sure the kids appreciated opening their gifts without a camera in their faces as well.

Gifts for 3 houses packed together!

Christmas cookies!

The boys watching "Arthurs Christmas" after opening their gifts.

To all of those who supported our Christmas endeavors, thank you SO much. These boys ate good, had fun gifts and made memories that last forever!

Here's some photos from the last few weeks:

Gladly can say that I'll take a 3 day rain storm over fires any day of the week.

The ground was drenched.

Babies gotta be transported!

One of my best batches of granola yet!

Aron showing the boys our group photo!

Leones and Yhostien wanted a selfie with me in my man bun...if you can even call it that.

Ivan wanted to make bread with me one last time.

We killed the recipe!

My package from southern got here! It was filled with American goodies and notes from friends.  This was a wonderful blessing!

Rojer and his mullet. He liked it!

These boxes were sent at the end of Augest and arrived late November. Great timing for Christmas!

The boys think I look like a llama. I'll let you be the judge. (I did not take this picture)

Leonardo playing cars

Daniel playing with the pipe cleaners I brought from home.

The process of making cookies.

It kills me how uneven the oven bakes :(

Still edible and all of them were gone within the hour.

Zoro and Joel chillin in the room.

Had to make 36 cupcakes for another house's birthday on the day we celebrated Christmas as well. This was my first time ever making them and they were so good!

I was Joseph in our play.

We had so much fun! Even though I don't think I got a single one of my lines correct.

More granola!

I debated putting this picture in...but it tells a story. This was after the 2 days that we spent ALL of our energy on preparation for a Friday Christmas celebrations and sending kids home on Sunday. 2 hours before I took this is when we found out the kids were not going home yet and we had to prepare VBS for the entire week. While teaching sabbath school I had to walk out and go in another classroom just to cool my head a bit. I was exhausted and just needed to lay down. Like I mentioned earlier, times like this are when you just have to push and make it to the next hour. (Sorry for the jump scare...it got me too. Don't worry, I don't always look like this.)

Sean, Leonardo and Zachariah in church.

Zoro and I made a killer meal for Sabbath Lunch!

One of our girls and here little chicken.

Zachariah ended up leaving on Sabbath and a few more boys have left throughout the week. However, the mass exodus has not begun yet.

He rode 6 hours in the back of this truck with 7 other people...

Moments with the SMs together.

Sean made killer roasted potatoes!

Made pizza for the boys recently! Ignore the two burnt pizzas...they made sure to let me know that the top was black.

Leonardo sitting like a man. We were all cracking up.

The first day of VBS! We performed skits, conducted warship, sang songs, did crafts and played games every day of the week.

Leonardo and his craft!

Otto with his paper.

That afternoon we started to clear land for rice fields.

If we don't plant soon, there will be no more season left for some other crops.

This was HARD work to say the least. I had a machete and would whack through the brush and then the chainsaws would cut down the bigger trees.

Starting to look like a rainforest again!

We are watching "Pilgrim's Progress" on YouTube each night this week. It is very frustratingly to wait for internet to load, but if we start it buffering early enough, it should play the whole video.

Pancakes were the snack our first night.

One of our volunteers appreciating the things that my church sent! We have so much to use now.

Zoro, Leonardo and Otto.

Sean and I taking some pictures for the clinic.

With rain comes bugs...lots of bugs.

We also celebrated a successful year of Pathfinders.

The kids love Pathfinders and look forwarded to it each week. They are happy and sad that it is over. 

Finally got to do the Cross hike again!

Memo standing in a very safe area.

It is such a cool place.

Brynlee and I giving the camera a smile.

Rojo luz! Verde Luz!

When one of the kids was leaving, all of the SMs found ourselves standing in the general area. Aron said, "Guys it's time for a picture!" We took him up on that opportunity.

Conclusion:

Waiting for break to come is the definition of bitter-sweet. Having all of the kids gone is going to be extremely sad. My entire life has centered around these boys for 4 whole months. Now a good amount of them are leaving, and I don’t know what kind of situation all of them go back to. When they leave, it hurts but makes me hopeful that I truly did make an impact on their lives. Staying up for insane amounts of time to take care of crying kids, understand a new language, talking to one of my boys or even do things like make cookies, bread, granola, pizza, rice dishes and other special treats have all been a learning experience. All I hope is that these kids leave with the message that even though they may not have the best life at home, there are people that really do care for them...and that God cares for them even more.

Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who has supported our fundraising efforts over the last few weeks. Familia Feliz was really struggling at the time of my last post, however thanks to quite a few people in our community, we have been able to make it through the toughest part of the year. Now that there are less kids on campus, the strain financially will be significantly less than it has been previously. We have been fundraising for food, salaries, and even a new clinic on campus. All of these things are extremely close to my heart and it is incredible to see other's taking an interest as well.  There are still many months to go, and funds that will be needed, but we are all thankful for what has been given so far.

1 Peter 5:7

“Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.”