Wednesday, May 20

From Jujuy in Argentina, we went in 3 days by bus to Sucre in Bolivia. Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, even though La Paz is the governmental capital. It has a beautiful colonial centre with all the buildings painted white. Most of Bolivia's tourist attractions are in other parts of the country, but in Sucre a lot of people take Spanish classes. And so did we.

After arriving in our host family Sunday afternoon, we started our classes on Monday morning. We were both in a different class, with only 1 and 2 other students. We learned a lot, even though it was difficult as well. The school organises a lot of evening activities as well, like Salsa lessons, cooking class and we went on an excursion with them last Saturday.

It was nice staying in a family house, to learn how (middle-class) people live in Bolivia, to share their breakfast and almuerzo (big lunch) and discuss actual topics. The father of the family had his birthday that week and on the Sunday that we left, we shared the big birthday lunch with them. It included the whole family with several aunts, uncles, grandparents, nephews and nieces. We started with a whiskey, and as it seems to be common here, people left as soon as they finished their plate, even when some others were still eating.

Since this week, we're staying in an apartment on the top floor of a big family house. We have a bedroom, a small kitchen, a huge sun terrace and even bigger living room. The last one we partly share with the maid who needs to watch soapseries in the early evenings ;-)

Hogar de ninos "Tata San Juan de Dios"
We also started our volunteer work this week. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and you see a lot of children living on the streets. We work in an orphanage for children from 0 to 6 years old. We play with the kids, feed them, change diapers, but most of all: give them a lot of attention. There are 48 children in the orphanage and it's run by 3 nuns. There are about 5 fixed workers to take care of all the kids. Besides that a few people for cleaning and cooking. So they need a lot of volunteers to attend to the kids.
The children are split in 2 groups: the 0-2 year olds and 2-6 year olds. The oldest ones go to kindergarden in the mornings. Last week, we spent 2 days with the young ones, this week we started with the older ones. They are really nice kids. The young babies are really cute, but the older ones we can communicate with more, get to know them a bit. They cling to your legs, want to be picked up, want to show you what they can do etc. And all adults are called "Papa" and "Mama" by the kids!
For Bolivian standards, the orphanage is well provided for. They have a lot of toys (all broken), books (most are torn and creased) and clothes (old and sometimes with holes). They have a place outside where they can play on swings and slides and run around. But the kids have nothing of their own. No own doll or toy, they share all their clothes and sleep in a big dormitory.

We have bought several things for the orphanage as a donation: books, coloured pencils, waterpaint, toothbrushes from our hotels in Japan, some shirts Marloes didn't wear anymore, powdered milk and baby food. There is much more that we would like to buy for them, for example new clothes and body's (rompertjes), because many of them are old and torn with holes. Or some new toys or puzzles because they have no complete ones anymore. But we need help and want to ask for your support!

If you would like to support the children, then please donate money. With that money we can buy clothes, toys, games and babyfood. Everything is very cheap here, so even with a small amount we can do a lot.
Please use the Paypal button below to make your donation and do so within the next 2 weeks. That way we have enough time to buy all the materials and give it to the orphanage. They will be very greatful!

The pictures show some of the kids and the baby dormitory. We will post more pictures in the next few weeks and tell you more about our "kids-adventure".