Tuesday, 10 February 2009
The Weather
The first is of Sarah's parents garden and the other is of us in the grounds of a big old house on the outskirts of Sucre last Saturday. Another friend was visiting some waterfalls the same day. He forgot his sun cream and came back very red! Just a bit warm here then, but we are gutted to have missed the best snow in year though.
A snippet of La Paz
Lake Titicaca
In this last meeting we looked at what the leaders thought they needed in order to help their communities develop and then individually to choose the top 3 things that were important to them. Then my colleagues worked with them to select from these ideas what would help develop the environment, as this is an environmental project, then what they could get funding for from the project. In all of this my colleagues were not undermining the validity or importance of any of their ideas, but helping the leaders to realise that there was a limited scope of options available within this project. But at the same point wanting their ideas as to what will help them and also looking to seek other options for some of the other ideas they had.
The last part of the day was to talk with the leaders about a name for the project in Aymara. The name in the proposal is long and scientific so we wanted the leaders to choose a name in their native tongue. The came up with 7 or 8 all really good, then we had to work on persuading them to choose one of the names that was shorter (as well as pronounceable by other Bolivians let alone us foreigners) and would work when introducing the project, so in the end they selected the name ‘Wiñay Jakaña’ meaning ‘vivir siempre’ in English ‘living always'
So within this project what is my part going to be?
Well at present it is not completely clear but it will involve making maps of the watershed area (the area of land from which precipitation or surface water flow is drained into a receiving water body), working out ways to monitor the quality of the water and implementing it and running training (in Spanish!) on environmental topics as well as and slightly more scary training challenging some of their believes that will help them develop personally.
Picasa
Alana the pirate
I is for...
We have three times had a late night visitor in our bathroom which most certainly wakes you up when you walk in late at night. A small scorpion! I once caught one in a tub and kept him hoping to have a closer look at him when he died but he didn’t so he went the same way that goldfish end up going. Down the loo.
Quite often we have found these big bugs or beetles in our garden (usually stuck on their backs). They look like quite cumbersome things but do have some impressive horn structures on them.
Just today we had a giant dragon fly (body length of about 7cm) flitting around our house trying to find a way out
The last visitor and thankfully only once was a ventuga bug which is a very unwelcome bug for the diseases it spreads so thankfully we found it and not the other way around.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Moulding Chronicle Jan 2009
Happy New Year to one and all,we hope that you all had a joy filled Christmas time. We have thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations having special time just as a family and time celebrating
together with friends. For new year we were blessed with the visit of old Aberystwyth friends
and we enjoyed much fun and laughter.
All change for 2009
Over the course of this last month many changes have taken place, the structure and locations of all the FH Bolivia offices have changed as well as our own roles within the organisation. Jana
the previous Seconded International Staff (SIS) coordinator has moved onto pastures new leaving an opening for us to fill in a combined effort as the new SIS coordinators for FH Bolivia. This means that we now have responsibilities of taking care of all the international staff working for FH Bolivia which at present is 8 adults and 3 children in La Paz, Sucre and Cochabamba with another family due to arrive in July. This is a great answer to prayer as now Sarah can find her niche within FH. With the job comes new responsibilities as well as challenges figuring out how the job works and how we fit in the travelling to visit and encourage those working in this country.
Ed's new job
With all the cut backs and resulting changes Ed's project came to an end requiring him and FH to look at where his skills could next best be used. In late December he went to visit a new project starting on Lake Titicaca, that is seeking to tackle some of the problems with pollution and ensuing health issues. He was excited by what he saw and felt it to be the right thing to take on. It will be a great opportunity for him to grow and learn new skills as well as being stretched
and challenged in new areas. The only down side to this is that it requires us to move to La Paz, and so in March we shall be on the move again and finding our feet in a new city. This wont be an easy move to make but we are trusting God to provide all the things we will need. He hasn't let us down yet.
Thank God for:
• A happy Christmas
• Good fun and laughter with friends
• Our new jobs
Ask God for:
• Positive last few months in Sucre
• Wisdom in our new jobs
• Somewhere suitable to live in La Paz
• Safety during the vote for the new constitution, Jan 25th
Ed, Sarah & Alana