Moulding Chronicles January 2012

Dear Friends,

Before returning to the UK on our Furlough in February we wanted to take this opportunity to write a longer newsletter in order to explain in a bit more depth about the work of FH here in Bolivia and the small part that we play in it.

FH has now been working in Bolivia for over 30 years.  Today it is working in 236 communities in 4 of the 9 departments (similar to states within the US). The focus of FH is upon the most vulnerable people within the most vulnerable communities which ultimately relates to mothers and children. This focus has lead to the creation of a single program that forms the basis of all the work that FH does; Child Focused Community Transformation (CFCT). In a nutshell is it about seeking transformation through changing the way people think and perceive the world around them i.e. their worldview. 

By changing a persons worldview FH is enabling poverty stricken people  from a fatalistic society to seek their own solutions to problems and to  break themselves and their  own communities out of the poverty cycle.   This is done through working with three key groups in any community; the Churches, Leaders and Families. 

In every country where FH is present its outworking of the CFCT looks a little different according to the specific needs of the country.  Within Bolivia the major need is food security. A lack of food security creates a vast range of  problems and so specific projects themselves are varied ranging from direct agricultural interventions such as in the creation of vegetable gardens (see our Blog for examples of such projects with Jose and Don Nacho) to projects involving health, water and sanitation and education.

Chronic malnutrition is one such problem (Approx. 20.8% nationwide) compounded by basic health issues such as Diarrhea which in itself causes a very large number of infant deaths, a problem that in the majority of cases could be avoided by such simple acts such as hand washing. 

Projects incorporating education function on a number of different levels from direct input within schools, after school clubs, youth groups and  family groups teaching biblical principles and values which specifically target some of the more visible problems.  As a result of such teaching there has been a significant increase in the number of children (particularly the girls, who within the culture have less value than boys) involved within the projects of FH who have completed their formal education and who have gone onto university and started their own businesses and who have learnt not only to dream dreams but also how to achieve them.  

Specific teaching to family groups has resulted in families spending time together as well as a renewed respect between family members, adult to child, husband to wife and vice versa, a rare sight in a strong machismo society. 

The other two groups with whom FH works are community leaders and churches.  This again is done through the teaching of biblical principles and values and effective leadership and role within a given community.  For community leaders this has resulted in them taking an active role in leading, planning for the future and guiding their own community, identifying problems as well as the solutions to those problems from internal resources. 

In recent years work with the churches has been limited to one region (El Alto) however after seeing the positive results and changes of the churches becoming actively involved within their communities FH Bolivia is now going to be making its church strengthening project a priority.

Transformation of the mind brought about through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Rom 12:2) is key because we believe that if we can teach people and help them adapt a biblical worldview then they will be able to find freedom and new life.  This is because we believe that being free from poverty is not just about physical issues such as in food and money but also spiritual, emotional and social issues. Ultimately being free from poverty is  about living in healthy relationship with God and his creation (which includes other people).   

This process of transformation needs to be effective not only for those we serve in the communities, but also for our staff and donors, a process we refer to as Mutual Transformation, where all parties involved are transformed in some way or other through the process of both giving and receiving. 

So where and how do we fit into this big picture of transformation? 

On a personal level there is our own process of  transformation as we learn new things, review our own British culture and measure that against a Biblical/God honoring culture.  In the last four years we have had much cause to think about what values and principles we want to live out and promote firstly in our own lives, the lives of our children and then in others. 

On the work level much of what we do is in the background; forming relationships, encouraging others, supporting the Country Director and other staff with translations, organizing, planning, taking on aspects of some of their jobs to enable them to concentrate on more important tasks. We are also here to support and encourage other international staff  with FH helping them to serve and reach the potential that God has put in them. 

So to conclude, we are here working in a supportive capacity in the background to be transformed to be able to complete the plan and purpose God has for us, which involves walking with and serving both national and international staff so that they can walk with and serve the most vulnerable people in Bolivia so that their lives can be transformed and God glorified.

Thank you for being a part of our own personal transformation, we look forward to talking with many of you in person over the course of our 6 months in the UK.

Thank God for: 

• A good relaxing Christmas holiday with family and friends
• Continuing safe development of baby No. 3

Ask God for:

• Stress free preparations for furlough and safe travels with no delays and easy transfers
• Favor within the NHS system upon our return to the UK
• Protection over our home here in Bolivia whilst we are away

Much Love 

Ed, Sarah, Alana, Isaiah & Bump

Unique sounds of a new year in Bolivia

I’ve never really considered before how different a New Year can sound depending on where you are when you celebrate it yet last night as I lay awake listening to the fireworks I realized how different the sounds were compared with New Year celebrations I remember in the UK.

From 11:30 begin a trickle of soft bangs as fireworks begin to be set off across the city, building up to a crescendo like the sound of a constant hailstorm, which isn’t so much caused by the intermittent big booms that cause the whole apartment to shudder, but rather more the sheer quantity of fireworks and fire crackers being set off from what appears to be every other home across the city, including being fired out from apartment windows! Intermittent with these sounds are the dogs barking and the car alarms set off by some of the bigger bangs.

By 12:15 the fireworks fizzle back down to the steady trickle of noise only then to be replaced by music blaring from loud speakers from a house party across from our apartment which continues unceasing until 9am the following morning.  On occasions such as this I glad for New Year only being just once a year!

A Christmas of many firsts

This christmas time we were able to add to the positive lessons learnt from last year and enjoy the celebrations of the birth of Christ, with the added bonus of a number of firsts.  The most exciting of which was being able to celebrate Isaiah’s first christmas. Being 10 months old he was very alert to all that was going on around him and enjoyed ripping off shiny wrapping paper, investigating it from all angles and then typically enjoyed the boxes that gifts came in more than the actual presents themselves! This form of present opening was painfully slow for Alana who desperately wanted to help him rip it all off quickly, but she did good at being patient and then eventually enjoyed his presents with him.

One of the things we felt lacked in our celebrations last year was how to bring Jesus back into the centre of all of our celebrations.  Through a random search on the internet we stumbled across the Jesse Tree, which fitted exactly with what we were looking for and so became the first of a new tradition we hope to carry out each year. In a nut shell the Jesse tree takes an overview of the bible and connects it all with the arrival of Jesus and his birth, a different key bible story is read for each day of advent with a special ornament/picture added to the tree each day that represents the story of the day.

Another first was to have family here celebrating Christmas with us. Over the three weeks of their visit we enjoyed a good time with Ed’s parents, showing them around a few more new places and taking them along to see Alana in her end of year kinder performance. 

With having visitors we indulged in another first and took a weeks holiday right before Christmas down in the wine producing region of Tarija in the south of the country on the Argentinian border. Despite arriving in a torrential rain storm, circumnavigating a strike and having a puncture on the back road in the middle of nowhere in the heat of the day with no shade, we had a pleasant restful time enjoying the warmer, cleaner air with more O2 available to breath, and the pleasant green surroundings and wildlife. We even took a morning doing one of the famous wine tours visiting three very distinct wine producers which of course meant sampling the products too :o)

Christmas day provided another first by going to church and actually hearing about Christmas.  The focus of the message was upon 4 key people within the christmas story, Mary, Elizabeth (Luke 1:44), Simeon (Luke 2:28) and Anna (Luke 2:38) whose response to Christ was that of pure adoration, a response that we too should have putting Jesus at the centre and the focus of our celebrations, praising him for coming in order to restore our relationship with God.

Now this may sound a little odd to most of you who are accustomed to a big christmas build up, however here in Bolivia the Evangelical Church has gone to the extreme of trying to distance themselves from the Catholic Church and rarely mention let alone celebrate the key events of the Christian faith such as Easter and Christmas.

As this christmas now passes we look forward to what 2012 holds for us as a family in the challenges, the blessings and the times of growing and learning together.

Moulding Chronicles November 2011

Dear Friends,

What is your life purpose? What are your passions, dreams, goals in life? How has God uniquely designed you? These are some of the big questions we have been thinking about and mulling over in these last few months as we have been working through a book called ‘A leaders life purpose’.

In working through this book with Heather our Global Staff Care Manager, we are being given a gentle introduction to life coaching.

For us both it has been an enlightening and encouraging experience as we begin to look at how God has uniquely designed us, through the passions and gifts he has given us as well as the life experiences that have shaped us up to this point. 

The main purpose of doing these exercises has been to clarify for ourselves what our God given dreams and passions are  with a view of then using what we learn to see where God might be drawing us  to in the future.

A secondary purpose has been for us to personally go through the process of life coaching to grasp a better understanding of how it works and the benefits of such a different approach to that of counseling, mentoring or discipleship.  

The concept behind coaching is to ‘help leaders take responsibility for their lives and act to maximize their own potential,’* the theory behind it is ‘helping people learn instead of teaching them’* believing that people are able to solve their own problems*.  It is based around asking questions as to how the person could solve their own problem, rather than telling them how to solve it, by doing so it makes it far more likely that changes are made and problems solved. 

In the kind of work that FH does as an organization we can already see the potential benefits on all levels where such an approach would be of a great advantage to both individuals and entire communities, from the level of Country Director right down to the very people living and working in the communities where FH is present.

We have a lot to learn, but it will be well worth the learning process and time and effort involved.

In the meantime we are busy making plans for furlough next year from the end of February until the end of August, along with the necessary preparations for another new arrival within our family due in April.

God is and continues to be so good, we are so blessed.  Each of you are a part of God’s blessing to us, Thank you.

Thank God for:

• Provision of a home during furlough
• Gods perfect timing
• Opportunities to grow and develop ourselves

Ask God for:

• A car to use during furlough
• Safe growth and development of our new baby
• A good time with Ed's parents over the christmas period, safe travels and good health for them and us during their visit

Ed, Sarah, Alana, Isaiah & Bump :o)

A visit to Oruro

We are gradually building up Isaiah’s experiences in travel.  We began with a 30 minute flight to Cochabamba, followed a few weeks later by a 45 minute flight to Sucre, this last month we thought that we would stretch it further with a 4 hour bus ride to the city of Oruro to visit some Bolivian friends of ours who moved there 2 months ago in order to pastor a new church plant.

We arrived early teatime with just enough time for a toilet break and dumping our bags before being whisked off to a spring celebration in which their daughter was participating, an event which our friends regretted partaking in as it was very long winded, very loud and very repetitive. By the end we were glad to finally make our escape with 3 over tired and hungry children, only then to head across to the church to catch the final part of the first discipleship evening.  That night we were all quite glad to get back home and find a bed to sleep in.

The next day began with a children’s club and an exploration of the regular weekly market which takes over a number of the streets of the city.  Amazingly people travel from as far as Santa Cruz (About 18 hours on a bus) to come and shop at this market because prices are so much lower than those found in other places such as La Paz as the products arrive direct from Chile.

Oruro is an interesting city though not one where we would like to live.  It is situated at a higher altitude than La Paz at approximately 3710m and exposed to the open planes thus making it extremely cold throughout the year, particularly in the winter months, to the point that a jug of water left standing in the kitchen would freeze over.

Unlike many other places here in Bolivia, Oruro appears to be more of a matriarchal system where the mother wields the greatest power and control. Unmarried children, and sometimes even when married children will remain living with their parents well into their 40s. On the surface people are very friendly and affectionate greeting with two kisses and big hugs as opposed to just one as is common in other parts of the country, yet underneath lie so many complications to life, as our friends are quickly discovering, that all stem from the deep corrupted beliefs of the people.  

Problems of adultery, abuse and rape are common place, amongst the church as much as within general society.  The animistic spiritual beliefs run deep with many of those turning to Christianity finding it very hard to let go of the old practices, traditions and beliefs.  One of the big things that reinforces this each year are the celebrations of carnival, a celebration to the devil, where people come from all over Bolivia as well as from other countries to participate and watch.  One of the beliefs in this celebration is the need to get as drunk as possible so that all the evil spirits and bad things are able to leave one’s body.  If a person remains sober, then they are not able to relax enough to be able to release the bad spirits.  Obviously a city full of drunk people does not result in many good things happening at that time of year.

Despite all of the rubbish and evil going on, there are small beacons of light pushing through.  The church our friends are pastoring is a plant of the one we are a part of here in La Paz.  It started with just a small handful of people but is steadily growing in number of new Christians.  Their premises is very small with just a single room so the children's meeting is held on a Saturday morning to which there are now about a dozen children regularly attending.

The weekend we visited they had just begun a discipleship group with the hope of going back to basics and laying some of the key important foundations of a Christian life. A number of people were interested in this to know more, so it will be interesting to see how that progresses in the future.

Our friends by no means have an easy task ahead of them, but our God is a great God and able to do immeasurably more than we can ever think or imagine. We hope that over the course of the coming months and years that we will be able to visit regularly in order to be a support and encouragement to them.

Note that the photo above was taken at the beginning of the Sunday service.  Bolivian people are not generally known for their punctuality, arriving anything from half an hour to an hour or more late to church services, by the time the preach started all these seats were full!

Moulding Chronicles September 2011

Dear Friends,

What holds people in poverty? – At the beginning of August Ed took part in the annual evaluation of the work zones in Cochabamba. During this time  he discovered two factors that hold people in poverty. The first of these was geographical.  A large number of the communities that FH works with exist between an altitude of 2,500m – 4,000m+ above sea level (Ben Nevis the highest mountain in the UK is 1,344m). Families in these regions generally live off of the land of which they may have 1.5 - 2 ha.  Living at this altitude is harsh with limits on what can be grown because the geographical conditions are tough. Just by dropping down a few hundred metres the conditions become more favourable for growing a greater variety of crops.  However, in these lower regions, people are still living in poverty, therefore it is due to more than just  simple location.

The second and greatest factor that holds people in poverty is their Worldview (the way a person or culture interprets the world around them and how they react and interact within it). There are 3 main world views (animism, secularism and biblical theism) as well as a variable mix of all 3. In Bolivia the animistic worldview is the greatest where by the spirits control the physical world. A person can do nothing to change their situation therefore the result is a fatalistic people.  So whether a person lives at 4000m above sea level or 100m it makes no difference if a person was born poor they will always be poor and so will their children. This belief system is particularly strong in the rural areas (including the Churches) and further compounded by being told by outsiders that they cannot do anything by themselves without outside help. 

FH has worked hard in these areas for the last 10 years seeking to chang peoples worldview little by little.  After all this time some have still not grasped the idea and continually look for handouts.  However, with others there is encouragement seeing where slowly people are beginning to change the way they think and do things realising that they are able to change their current situation, that creation is not something to be worshiped but something they can have dominion over.  

Don Nacho was one such person who back in 2003 had nothing.  With the help of FH and other organisations he has experimented with new ideas and farming methods such as a trout farm. 

With such a radical mind shift and way of life required, FH has identified the need to work with and strengthen the local churches. Many people here are first generation Christians and so their faith is often mixed with animistic beliefs and Catholic traditions from their colonial past. Therefore the churches need to be equipped to teach the truth of the bible so that this generation and the ones to come can learn the truth about the creator of the world and what that means to their outlook and way of life.

Thank God for: 

• A healthy family
• Being a part of Gods work changing lives here in Bolivia
• Godly leaders from whom we are learning so much

Ask God for:

• Wisdom and patience in raising our children
• Greater cultural understanding for walking with our work colleagues
• Greater centralization and strengthening of the work FH is doing with local churches

Happy Birthday our little princess

Birthdays seem to come around very quickly each year so I am very grateful that I began the planning process for this one some time ago having finally gotten an answer from Alana as to what theme she wanted this year. Princesses seem to be a very popular theme for this age so I was able to gather plenty of ideas.

Bolivian birthday parties don't always constitute to much fun with both child and parents sitting around not sure quite what to do with themselves (or at least that has been our experience of some) so I like to plan things that will be fun (hopefully) for both the parents and children.  This of course has to be tempered with the fact that people never arrive to birthday parties for the time that you state on the invitation so activities need to be flexible.

We were not expecting anybody to arrive for the 3pm start time on the invitation however by 4:15 when still nobody had arrived we were beginning to get a little concerned that in fact nobody was going to come. But thankfully by 4:30 the princesses did began to arrive in a steady flow until the last one arrived at about 6pm!

The festivities began with a painting of the nails and putting on eye shadow and lipstick, which the girls loved, then we moved onto making crowns.  During the corse of this time more had arrived so once everyone had finished their crowns we could play some games beginning with parcel parcel and the usual few reluctant to pass the parcel on in the home it may stop on them. Then we played 'kiss the frog' where by each in turn were blind folded, put on lipstick and had to kiss a picture of a frog.  We then finished of the games with 'musical thrones' (Basically just musical chairs).

It was then time to eat and for Alana to blow the candles out on the cake and then to take a bite of it (A bolivian tradition here).  Once everybody was satisfied with full tummies (Apart from Alana who was still sat eating way after everybody else was done) the princesses then got to decorate their own party bags ready to take home with them some party goodies.

Whilst all this was going on the parents were happy sat playing games together such as Uno and Jenga.

Alana had a great time and I like to think that the other children and their parents did too.

Day of the pedestrian

This year La Paz decided to institute a new national day, that of the pedestrian.  This means that for one day a year no vehicles are permitted to drive about the streets, as a way to try and combat the pollution and congestion that normally clogs up the city. So from 8am in the morning until 4pm in the afternoon the streets are completely clear of any traffic.  This makes for a really nice tranquil sunday with lots of people milling about along the streets, on skateboards and bicycles.

New and old friends

One of the advantages of our job is that we are able to travel as a family in order to visit our expat staff living in different parts of the country. This gives a great opportunity for our children to form and grow relationships with other children of similar ages who experience many of the same struggles and joys of living within a different culture.

Isaiah was very happy to share his hat with his new friend Virginia in Cochabamba.

Isaiah enjoyed his crash course in lessons of how to roll around the floor from his new friend lydia, who believe it or not is a month and a half older than Isaiah!

Alana enjoyed getting to play again with her friend Ella as well as her old friend the lion in the main plaza of Sucre.

6 months old already

Time is flying by and it doesn’t seem possible that our little baby is already 6 months old. We praise God for a very healthy and happy baby who is developing in all the right ways. He now weighs a good 7kg and is just about at the point of being able to sit up on his own.

Being a true moulding he has a very healthy appetite and is tucking into 3 solid meals a day as well as his regular milk feeds. So far he has been enjoying most of what he has been offered though has made some amusing faces along the way.

He is often fascinated by his own hands and its fun to watch as he suddenly notices one, studies it closely before then putting it into his mouth. He also loves to watch his big sister and smile and giggle at some of her antics. He has also taught himself how to keep entertained when nobody else is about to do so, by rocking himself in his chair, a skill he mastered quite early on. As he gets more excited his arm moves faster and the harder he rocks himself.

At the age of just 6 months he is already becoming well travelled with having just completed a trip to Cochabamba and this last weekend to Sucre. He got a little hungry whilst our first trip was delayed, thankfully we had a banana to hand he could tuck into. The remainder of the journeying he pretty much spent sleeping. All good practice for the long haul visit to the UK next year!

Getting all the relevant paperwork completed for a child born outside of the UK can be a little arduous at times, but we are thankful now to be almost at the end of it all as we just wait to receive his British passport. Having heard some of the nightmare tales from other expats having children here we realize how blessed we have been with the relative ease in actually being able to get all the appropriate documents completed and in order.

We now look forward to see what the next 6 months bring!