Volunteer Life

Week 2

My blog is one day too late. But actually it depends from which cultural background you judge. My western part feels guilty, as I set the deadline on Monday. My Bolivian part, on the other hand, for as far as I’m integrated now, feels that I blogged perfectly on time! Just a little example of how things go here. Waiting, waiting and more waiting…

Tuesday 09:45 - The only place where things go as they’re supposed to go are between the four walls of El Deber. Georgina, my supervisor trusted me with a photo camera and a recorder to - all by myself- interview mr. Osman Arandic for a Christmas special of El Debercito. The appointment was set at 10:00 and at 09.45 sharp, I stepped into the car that would take me to Acri Color, the place where my interviewee owned his art studio. During the ride I was imagining all sorts of doom scenarios that could happen. What if the camera broke down, or the recorder didn’t work, or, in the worst case what if the guy turns out to be a total freak and kidnap me??

But WHAT, if one of those things actually come true?!!

Luckily, it wasn’t the latter but I still couldn’t believe this was happening! The camera really wasn’t functioning at all. We both tried for at least 20 minutes to make the little thing work again, but without any success…

Though in the taxi on my way back to El Deber, without an interview and without photos, the camera suddenly worked again!! The little b*stard! Luckily Georgina wasn’t mad at all, although I think she didn’t really understand my explanation about the camera, and she rescheduled the appointment to the next day. Everything went fine then!

20:00 - I’m waiting for Teresa to pick me up for the dance school… already one hour…

She hasn’t called yet, I can’t reach her either and I’m starting to doubt if we really had an appointment or if I had totally misunderstood her in Spanish. I decided not to wait any longer and went to the city with girls. Half an hour later, Teresa called to apologise and if it was possible to reschedule to tomorrow. Sure… I didn’t have anything better to do anyway (I mean that).

Wednesday 15.00 – At the dance school we agreed on free classes in exchange for lessons. This would be my first day as a salsa teacher and also my first day as an Argentinean tango student. But I waited one hour, two hours.. To eventually hear that there wouldn’t be any classes today. It’s really amazing how bad people can plan here! But then I also realised I wasn’t in Holland and that I should try to take things more relaxed and accept that things aren’t as strict here.

Thursday 13:30 - Teresa, bank, waiting, not gonna happen…

16:00 – Again I’m at the dance school. And again I get to hear there won’t be any salsa classes today. Instead there was a birthday of one of the kids from the school. It’s quite a relief because I was being pretty nervous of having to explain everything in Spanish, on the other hand it’s starting to annoy me a bit as well. They could’ve known yesterday that there wouldn’t be any classes. I spent the day with Nina, the owner, talking and strolling around in the city, waiting (again) until the 19:00 classes would start. At 18:30 Dorien joined me to take tango classes, but again, we went home with just another experience of waiting. The birthday went on for too long and the classes were rescheduled to the next day.

Conclusion: patience really is the magic word here and without it, it’s impossible to survive! That’s definitely the most important lesson I learnt this week!

Week1

In the Dutch newspapers, Bolivia wasn’t quite a hot item anymore, so I assumed it would be ok to nose around there. Though after reading Margarita’s notes on the Bolivian situation (September’s blog), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect…

I arrived at 6 in the evening at Bolivia Viru Viru airport. Once I got through customs, Teresa stood waiting for me in the arrival hall with a nameplate. This whole happening was already exciting as I always considered the people on those nameplates probably very important. Now I know better… But the surprise was mutual, as Teresa had expected to pick someone up at the age of 70! Small detail.

After we got that cleared we headed for the house I’m staying at, a small family existing out of Alvaro and Kattia and their three little hijos. Luckily, the other two volunteers, Nina and Dorien, received me with the same excitement as Teresa and I’m guessing they were just glad I wasn’t 70 after all.

That same night they already took me out for a birthday party which was a great opportunity to check out Bolivian life. I’m happy to say that, apart from the many graffiti’s on the wall: ‘Death to Evo’  to ‘Evo will save us all’  I didn’t have an unsafe feeling and the city seemed pretty calm to me.

I soon enough found out that going out here is somewhat different from going out in Holland. Alcohol is gone within a blink of the eye and karaoke is hot hot hot! While karaoke in Holland is not so hot (and definitely not cool either) and you basically only do it when you’re wasted, here it is serious business. It doesn’t matter if you’re good or not, you get the applause of a true pop star anyways! And of course there’s no party without  dancing. I traded house, pop, dance and R&B for fulltime salsa, merengue, bachata, tango and reggeaton. A lot to swallow on the first day and I slept like a rose in my new house.

The next day the girls took me to the market in the city centre where I witnessed my first attempted robbery. Too bad though the person that got robbed was me! After having ignored all the good advice from my friends, who told me not to wear anything precious, the bill got presented to me that day. Attached to my golden necklace was suddenly a big fat Bolivian whom I desperately tried to shake off. Luckily though, I WAS warned before, so I knew in an instant he was going for gold and I was able to grab my necklace before he did. Lesson learned. No more jewellery for me…

On Wednesday I would then start my new job. I was kind of anxious to leave those 4 safe walls between which I was living after the little incident on the market, but of course nothing happened and I already forgot about the whole incident when I had entered the big building of Bolivia’s biggest newspaper, El Deber. Expecting to be a flashy news reporter, I was then a bit disappointed when I found myself sitting behind a desk looking for images of emoticons. Luckily the girls at home told me that it was normal to be thrown in the deep on your first day, but that it would soon be better. So, while I’m waiting for that to happen, I might as well check out the food and the life here and try to find some more stories to write about next week.

Fingers crossed…

Fei An Tjan, a volunteer from Holland has arrived in Santa Cruz Bolivia to volunteer in the Media & Graphic Design Program.  Fei is going update us weekly about life as a volunteer in Santa Cruz. Her fist week was quite and exciting…  Read her report below.

The situation in Bolivia the past weeks was very difficult with violent protests in the streets of the centre of Santa Cruz and other cities that claim autonomy for those departments like Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija where they got majority of votes to the autonomies in the referendum of May .

All the conflicts started with the elections on December 2005 when the current president Evo Morales got a 53,7% of the votes (it was the 1st time that a candidate wins with such high percent and he is also the first indigenous president.)  His politic of nationalization of all the natural resources and companies that were capitalized during the government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada on 1995, redistribution of the financial incomes to reach the underprivileged communities is going against the interests of some groups from the opposition and it is causing a conflict between the Orient (Autonomists)  and Occident of Bolivia and increasing the existing discrimination and division between both sides.

This conflict got worse after the recall referendum of August 10th in the election all Bolivians were called to vote for keeping the current president or not and to keep or not their regional governor of their department,  the results were 67,4% of the population voted to keep the president in power, but in the other hand most of the regional governments got important results too like the governor of Santa Cruz who got 87% in Santa Cruz, so in that election everyone won and now they are showing who has more power in the country the government of Santa Cruz started to make the situation worse by approving his own laws and taking the offices and institutions that belong to the main central government located in Santa Cruz, it was impossible for  the police to take control of this situation with an 87% of the population of Santa Cruz claiming for the autonomies.

After this events the department of Pando tried to follow to Santa Cruz and started to take position of the airport and some of the government´s offices in Pando but the Central Government reacted by taking a big group of militaries to that department to control the situation and declared that department under state of siege to stop all the press measures that were taking the opposition groups.

After all the conflicts the Central Government called to one of the regional governments of the Orient the past Saturday 13th of September to attend to a meeting as a representative of all the other governors and currently they had already 3 sessions where both sides showed flexible and accessible to solve the conflicts,  in the last 2 days there is a calm view in Santa Cruz again as in most of the other Bolivian regions too, most of the blocked roads are back available and you can see groups of people in the streets with white flags praying  and hoping for peace.

In the news today they said that an agreement between the Central Government and the regional representative is going to be signed in a few days, in that case most of the conflicts would be solved and the country should get back to peace.

All these issues caused problems with the US Government and the US ambassador was asked to leave the country because there are rumors that the US government is economically supporting the movements of violence in Santa Cruz last week.  This decision caused that companies like American Airlines canceled most of their flights to Bolivia.

Myself as the in _country coordinator of the Volunteer Program in Bolivia would say that there is not a significant risk for those volunteers that booked for the next weeks, I can assure that the current volunteers were and are not in danger at any time, and they were working in normal conditions since all the protests took place in the centre of the city, and as in every country that has political problems the best way to stay safe is to keep away from protests and conflicts.

The volunteer´s home stay is not in the centre and the projects are still more far from the protests. Bolivian airline) that has flights from Miami to Santa Cruz they have 4 flights every week in this rout and the service is very good, no one of their flights are cancelled only in extreme conditions, they also flight from Argentina, Spain,  Perú, Brazil and Chile.

If anyone would like to contact some of the current volunteer please check the following e-mail addresses.

Margarita Misniakiewicz, misniakiewicz@courtauld.ac.uk , Journalism Project

Katrina Collins,  katrinacollins@DAL.CA,  English Teaching

Words from our Local Partner and Volunteer Coordinator in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

=====================================================================================
DISCLAIMER
=====================================================================================
The opinions expressed by the above post  do not reflect the opinions of UVOLUNTEER or any employee thereof. UVOLUNTEER  is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by this post. We advise that all volunteers currently considering travel to Bolivia should follow the Travel Advise Warnings issues by their Governments.
=====================================================================================

BOLIVIAN UPDATE - NEWS FROM THE BBC

On a rainy afternoon in August, San Ramón volunteers and uVolunteer staff members convened in La Sabana for a game of fútbol organized by Volunteer Coordinator, Allan Baez. Large sticks were used as goalposts, which easily penetrated the muddy field in the downpour. Staff members donned dark t-shirts with the uVolunteer logo, in order to visually establish their team. The visiting team, composed of San Ramón volunteers, had a lot of energy which intimidated the staff members. However, both teams played with a lot of spirit as they ran, slipped, kicked and slid across the field. In the end the volunteers beat the staff members 3 - 1. As the volunteers and staff left the field they reflected on the game. Many players, dripping wet, said that playing fútbol in the rain had been one of the best experiences they’d had in a long time.

 Visit the Photo Gallery for the Match

On the 16^th of July, our volunteer coordinators accompanied 6 of our San Ramón volunteers to the conservation project of Madre Verde in Palmares. In order to generate a consistent water supply for future generations of Palmareños, Palmares citizens established the reserve project to plant as many trees as possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

We recently received a story from one of our San Ramón volunteers, Ekta Kumar. For four weeks in June and July of 2008, Ekta donated her time and energy to the Special Needs School for children with physical and mental disabilities. If you are interested in reading about Ekta’s experience in Costa Rica please read the following introduction and click on the link below.

Project: Special Needs School in San Ramon

“Costa Rica rocked my world. Not gonna lie, I was a bit worried about living in a different country, but I’m glad I made the decision to volunteer abroad.”


Read the Rest of Ekta Kumar’s Volunteer Story

The adventurous volunteers of San Ramón set out on a trip organized by uVolunteer to La Fortuna this past weekend for some scenic hiking, horseback riding and deep breathing in local hot springs. The group of 8 volunteers that signed up for the weekend getaway met after the weekly meeting in the Aroma café, their backpacks ready to go. As they shared their expectations and excitement with one another, they filled the seats of the private van. The chauffeur then whisked them away to the canton of San Carlos where the Arenal volcano and the town of La Fortuna are located.

View more photos from this trip 

Read the rest of this entry »

In a thoughtful story written after the completion of his program in Costa Rica, Greg Flaxman details his experiences as a volunteer in the English, Physical Education and after-school programs of Samara in June of 2008. If you are interested in reading about Greg’s experience in Costa Rica please peruse the following introduction and click on the link below.

Project: English, Physical Education and After-School Programs in Samara

“A month in Costa Rica. Most volunteers stay longer than a month. I’ve been given a briefer glimpse than most of life here in Samara, Costa Rica. During this month, I’ve had the opportunity to get a taste of the Costa Rican lifestyle.”

Read the Rest of Greg Flaxman’s Volunteer Story

We are excited to announce the arrival of 3 new staff members.

WELCOME ALLAN!

Professional Background: Allan has been hired as the new office manager for uVolunteer. He is also spearheading the development of the new environmental project in Perez Zeledon. As a geology graduate student of the University of Costa Rica specializing in management of natural risks, Allan has happily hopped on board, offering us his expertise in geology and other fields beneficial to the organization. To be more specific, Allan completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Costa Rica while gaining a vast amount of information in the field of geography through courses he took while he was a university student. As a Costa Rican citizen raised on the Caribbean side of the country, Allan has always been interested in the environmental and social dynamics of his country. Therefore, before joining our team at uVolunteer, Allan spent over 2 years working as Intern Program Coordinator at a different volunteer organization where he was able to apply his skills in sociology and geology, and develop good managerial skills.

Personal Information: In his free time Allan enjoys hiking, spending time with his friends, playing soccer, working on his farm, listening to music and playing the drums.

WELCOME DANIEL!

Professional Background: Daniel has been hired as the new Graphic Designer for uVolunteer. Hailing from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Daniel speaks fluently both Spanish and English, as well as basic Serbo-Croatian. In addition to studying graphic information design in London, he has 2 years experience working with various companies in freelance internal marketing for promotional material. As our new creative and hard-working designer, Daniel is giving a new and updated appearance to our website (which we hope will be up and running soon!).

Personal Information: In his free time Daniel enjoys listening to live music, practicing Kung-fu, socializing with friends, going to the cinema or theater and spending time outside when it’s sunny.

WELCOME SARAH!

Professional Background: Sarah has been hired as the new content producer for uVolunteer. As a United States citizen having recently moved to San Ramón after a 9-month stint in Mexico, she enjoys researching about Costa Rica and practicing her Spanish. Sarah has been writing for a long time, most recently producing empirical research papers as a psychology undergraduate student and an education graduate student. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Sarah has moved various times throughout her life. This has sparked her interest in cultural studies and led her to participate in internship and volunteer programs in both Mexico and Costa Rica. Through her past experiences as an English teacher in various bilingual settings, Sarah has had the chance to work with spanish-speaking children and adults bringing about her fluency in Spanish. Using the knowledge she has gained from past experiences, she will bring you the “inside scoop” from volunteers and program coordinators.

Personal Information: In her free time Sarah enjoys reading, writing children’s literature, hiking, dancing, watching movies, playing piano and surfing.