January's newsletter finally put on the blog in March, better late than never!

Moulding Chronicle – January 08, letter no. 3

 

Dear Friends,

We hope that you had an enjoyable Christmas and that the start to 2008 has been a good one.  As some of you will be aware Christmas 2007 wasn't so enjoyable for us.  It was hard to stay awake to celebrate 'Bolivian style', Christmas day we didn't feel so great from having eaten so late, then to top it off Alana came down with a really bad case of diarrhoea Christmas day eve, which resulted in her becoming very dehydrated. 

 

However, God remained faithful and we were put in contact with a good paediatrician, who it turned out had worked for FH in the past.  She spoke very little English, but eventually we were able to work out what medicine we needed and how to administer it.  By the end of that day Alana was a bit better and within a couple more days she was back to her normal chirpy self.

 

New year was a much happier (and earlier) affair as we celebrated together with people at our church and prayed in the New Year. After New Year we enjoyed a well earned rest at a hotel just outside of Sucre.  We were able to play in the river and visit some waterfalls, just what we needed.

 

Sunday 6th Jan we moved into our own home, affectionately called 'Stonewall Cottage'.  Its on the ground floor and has 3 bedrooms, lounge/dining room, kitchen, bathroom and a small yard.  Buying household things here isn't quite as simple as in the UK, but we have had some help from a good friend who knows how to get things at a  good price.  We haven't finished yet, but it does now at least begin to feel more like home.   

 

It has been a good experience to live with a Bolivian family and a aid in our language learning.  However, it is nice now to have  our own space, Alana is certainly enjoying the freedom to roam and explore.

 

Re-starting language school was a struggle but we have slowly readjusted to the delights of language study once again and are now in our final 2 weeks. Ed hopes to start his work with FH just after the carnival season at the beginning of February.

 

Another turbulent chapter to add to Bolivia's history

After an interesting start to our time in Bolivia in being evacuated within our first month, life has since been peaceful with Dec 14th passing by with few problems.  However, the new constitution has yet to be accepted, therefore the future for Bolivia still remains uncertain, so please keep praying.

 

Christmas Traditions in Bolivia

Bolivians like to celebrate Christmas the moment it arrives, which normally involves going to mass  and staying up till midnight to wish everybody a happy Christmas.  Then there is the exchange of gifts followed by a large meal and eventually bed by 3am if you are lucky. The traditional meal is 'Picana', involving beef, chicken, a few vegetables and 'chocklo' (corn on the cob, only bigger) all served in a spicy soup. 

 

There are also special sweet breads which are made and then served for breakfast for several days after Christmas.

 

Praise God For:

·         Time spent with our Bolivian host family

·         Stonewall cottage

·         Our church and the new friendships forming

·         A good Paediatrician and Alana being better

 

Please pray for:

·         Our final 3 weeks of language study

·         Friends for Alana to play with

·         Opportunities for us to make friends

Ed as he starts work beginning of February

 

Ed, Sarah & Alana

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‘Nannan’ - Eva Olive Halliday - (1921 – 2008)

Friday 25th January, 3am GMT after a short time of being unwell, my Nan (Sarah) peacefully died in hospital with a nurse by her side, and has finally gone to be with her Lord and Saviour. Though we are sad at her parting and will greatly miss her, we Praise God for the life of such an amazing lady.

My Nan has been the most amazing and inspiring women I have ever had the privilege of knowing and loving. She may have been very small in stature but a giant in her testimony and witness of Christ, and who always put others before herself. I have so many happy memories of time spent with Nannan, she was always fun to be with and never had a cross or bad word to say about anybody. Her fruit trifles produced every Sunday without fail when we were growing up never could be rivalled.

She would tell us that she made a point of praying for us all every day, all the children, grand children and great grand children, which when you look at us all realize that was no easy thing, but we knew that this wasn’t just empty words to make us feel better but that was actually what she did, day in day out. She had been such a strong witness for Jesus throughout her entire life, from her single days of being a ‘cadet’ and kneeling beside her bed to pray in spite of any ridicule she may have received, to her last days still baring witness to Christ her saviour.

She has been the head of a family that have all known the Lord. A family that has been of great importance to her. Even in her last days of frailty she could still name all the grandchildren (7) and great grandchildren (10, going on 13) as well as each of their birthdays.

I Praise God for the life of such an amazing lady, and for the privilege of having been her granddaughter and for having been able to share all of my 28 birthdays with her. I love you Nannan, and will miss you dearly, but thank you for all that you have taught and shown me in my life.

Picture of family

C is also for Carnival

A five day festival at the beginning of February, with much music, dancing, alcohol and water – lots of water. Carnival begins on the Friday as people have the day off from work or finish early to begin the revelries of music and firecrackers, and stock up with water bombs.



It being a rather heathen affair with a lot of alcohol and violence breaking out as a result most of the evangelical churches organise church retreats and ‘camps’ during this time and flee the city. From talking with many of the lecturers at the language school we discovered that many of the locals decide to go else where at this time and we were soon to discover why.



Having seen many videos at the language school depicting carnival we thought it would be a good experience to see the processions with their vibrant costumes, fervent dancing and music. We were however very sadly disappointed by what we did see. Over the weekend there were 2 or 3 organised processions through the city, we were told the safest to attend particularly with Alana would be the one for the children on the Saturday morning.



In true Bolivian fashion the procession arrived at the plaza an hour and a half later than what had been advertised and what followed was a handful of bands, all playing pretty much the same tune, with different groups in some kind of costumes just jigging around in circles, nothing at all like what we had imagined, in fact the carnivals in England had been far better. But apparently it is all due to the lack of money and resources now available for such frivolities.



Throughout the next few days the same monotonous music could be heard throughout the city as individual groups would wend their way through the streets.



So where does the water come into it?



Well I think that the water must be the most integral part of the whole thing as passing groups get pelted with water bombs or sprayed with water pistols, or any other passer by for that matter. Thankfully for us Alana proved to be a pretty good deterrent that made people think twice before soaking us. We also made a point of avoiding any processions (yes maybe it was a bit cowardly but we didn’t fancy being wet and cold as the weather wasn’t too favourable for the first few days). People would be gathered on most street corners with buckets filled with full water bomb for people to purchase and use. Several groups of younger people would travel around in the back of a pick up and soak any unsuspecting passer by who looked a little too dry. After just the first couple of days the streets were literally littered with the remains of colourful water balloons, even the dog poo round our area started to look pretty as it was flecked with many different colours.

Tuesday afternoon when the weather had become considerably warmer we joined in some of the fun and had a water fight with the neighbours. I don’t think Alana quite understood what was going on but did seem to enjoy holding on very tightly to the water balloon she had been given, and despite all the squeezing it still didn’t burst.


Tuesday was the last day of carnival and was the day dedicated to the honour of ‘Pachamama’ (mother earth). Throughout the morning fire crackers could be heard sounding off all around the city, people would decorate their cars or other things acquired during the last year with balloons and streamers, and would pour alcohol over these things as a sign of good luck. Didn’t really understand that as they would spend ages making their cars all clean and shiny only to then pour sticky alcohol all over it. The other thing to note was the burning of coal in small tins outside of homes or small businesses that were still open, on which were burnt something, not sure what as a further offering to Pachamama.


It was interesting to see all that went on, and gave us an opportunity to relax a bit but I think next year we will join the church on retreat.

C is for………….

Where would you expect to see lots of people coming for a walk on a sunny day, to read, revise for exams, meet loved ones and generally relax?











Yes you have guessed it C is for the Cemetery











Believe it or not people do that here in Sucre and Sucre is one of the best cemeteries in the country, apparently others are a bit more like the UK. It may sound very odd but it is actually a very beautiful place (in parts). The first time I went there I thought it was an odd and strange place with so much activity. I went with my language school professor and he said you’ll want to bring your camera and I thought why would I want to do that. But on my second visit I thought actually it is a nice place. It was three or four weeks after Christmas and some people had left musical Christmas cards for their loved ones! (A good test for how long there last for!!!). The cemetery also has some important people buried there, ex-presidents, including one who set up the first orphanage (and there is a mausoleum for those children from that orphanage), and the first mental hospital, because his wife had mental health issues. There is also a memorial to the war in which Sucre lost two of the three pillars of government (the seat of goverment, legislative and judicial) keeping only the judicial pillar.



For the Bolivian people it means a lot to them, as they are a Catholic nation and remembering the dead is very important. Especialy on 1st November for ‘Todos santos’ (All saints day). On this day the front of the cemetery is a hive of activity selling flowers and food for remembering the dead as well as food for the living. The people come and leave gifts, alcohol, water and food. Then prayer by the burial place, because they believe that on ‘Todos santos’ this persons spirits comes back to earth and joins them. But this is only for one or two key people in that family, for example grandparents. After visiting the grave there is food at the family home with out much music or laughter.



There are many different types of burial options here. If you have the money you can have a family mausoleum built to house all your family, and these range from the simple to extravagant. The next type is for those who work in a particular industry for example transport, police, medical or judicial. The company owners take a little from your wages all your life so when you die you have a place to rest which generally looks very smart.





Small family mausoleum








Grand family mausoleum








Industry mausoleum



For most other people the are to be put in one of the hundred or so terraces, that go on for ages and are five or six levels high (with a separate area for young children).

It was so odd seeing them for the first time, because they are normally so well kept and always seem to have flowers and other gifts there. These terraces are also a mix of those buried who had money to make a nice posh front and those who could only do the basics. But you have to keep paying to keep the place! I didn’t ask what happens if you don’t keep paying! For those with not much money towards the back of the cemetery is some land where there are small individual burials that look like kennels, these are only guaranteed for a couple of years before they are removed to make way for other things or people! It was a surprise to me but there was also a separate area fenced off just for Jews, who’s gravestones look a bit more like those in the UK.

Poor graves

Separate area for Jews

It is such a popular place that you can have guided tours. As well as there being people (mainly it seems the lame, blind or old) that will, for a fee, pray for your loved ones to help see them through the after life. It is truly an interesting place even if a little strange.

Stonewall Cottage

 Why 'Stonewall Cottage'?  because of the simple fact of a bare stonewall running the entire length of the house.

 

Our humble abode is situated in a quieter part of town near to an open air theatre (so not quite so quiet when there is a concert on).  We have a ground floor apartment consisting of three bedrooms, (so for the first time in her life Alana gets a proper room all to herself) an open plan lounge/dining room, kitchen with gas cooker, bathroom, and a small yard.  There is also a small outside toilet where we can get a washing machine hooked up.  We don't hav any hot running water (just like the days of being flloded in Gloucester last summer!!!) but we do have an electric shower that generates hot water quite well.

 

Prior to moving in the rooms were all repainted so it has all been new and fresh to move into.  The yard has also been resurfaced making it a bit safer for Alana to play and toddle about in.  Julie (the previous tenant, also a SIS with FH, from the US) sold us some of her furniture meaning that we didn't have to go and buy everything, praise the Lord, however there were still some bits and pieces we were lacking.

 

Thankfully before she left, Julie put us in contact with a man who knows, and who more importantly was very happy to help us out in getting the bits we needed, and for a decent price too.

 

Its not quite so easy to go and buy household things here like it is in the UK.  It reqires a lot more thought and planning and lots of trips to the market, but we are finally getting there and the place is beginning to feel more like home.

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C is for Christmas in Bolivia (it should be N for Navidad but that would be way to late)

It has been hard in the lead up to Christmas to feel at all Christmassy. Firstly in being so far away from family, secondly the weather is just all wrong, hot bright sunshine (with a few intermittent rain showers), and thirdly it hasn’t been rammed down our throats with excessive commercialism (which was actually a nice change). Decorations and Christmas trees are only just catching on in this part of the world, so things in general are very low key, as well as only being put in at most 2 weeks before the big day.

We were enticed into festivities however by being invited to a number of different festive events. The first of which was a Christmas meal in a hotel with all the staff and families of the FH office. We felt a little out of place in being the only white faces amongst a sea of brown faces, particularly as we knew so few people at the time. On our way to the hotel I had to keep reminding myself it wasn’t going to be the usual turkey roast with mince pies and Christmas crackers, particularly as that image had firmly fixed itself in my mind. Instead we had the typical Bolivian Christmas dinner – Picana, which consisted of chicken and beef, cooked in a spicy stew with veg and served with ‘Chocklo’ (corn on the cob only bigger). Sadly there were no mince pies to follow but it was an enjoyable evening all the same. We also got to see some video clips of the areas in which we are to be working which was encouraging to see the places and people.

Our next engagement was a little more of what we are used to, in singing Christmas carols with a group consisting of other missionaries who are working in Sucre. This was a very enjoyable evening as we were able to have fun and laughs, enjoy good fellowship and food, and Alana had some other little friends to play with.

Sunday evening we went to the carol service at the church which as lovely (apart from Alana being a bit grumpy as it was past her bedtime). We got to sing some more carols then the children did a number of different sketches and dances. Finally it was beginning to feel a bit more Christmassy.

Christmas eve whilst Ed was busy painting cupboards at our new house I spent the day in the kitchen helping Delphina prepare large quantities of cake and other foods. Part of the plan was to prepare some mince pies, but Delphina had not been able to get all the ingredients, so sadly this year I had to forgo my mince pies. There certainly was no shortage of other cakes however. We had planned on going back to our church for a Christmas Eve service, but time had passed to quickly. We were also then due to go to mass at 10.30 with the family, but the weather had turned stormy with heavy rain so that didn’t happen either, which in part was a blessing as we didn’t really want to have to disturb Alana for a second night.

In Bolivia Christmas day is celebrated the moment it arrives, so we struggled to keep ourselves awake the whole night, with two power cuts early on in the evening. But we made it we kept our sleepy eyes open, to drink cocktails and wish everybody a happy Christmas. We then exchanged gifts and at 1am tucked into a roast turkey dinner, finally by 2am I was allowed to head bedwards.

Not too surprisingly we didn’t feel too good the next day, so Christmas day passed in a bit of a blur, and quickly became forgotten, as Alana turned ill with sickness and diarrhoea. Having never been ill before it was a bit of a frightening time for all of us particularly when she became dehydrated. We thank God though for a good paediatrician, who in fact turned out to be the auntie of our contact person in the FH office here and who herself worked for FH some years back.

After a couple of days of medication and a simple diet of rice, carrot and chicken, she was doing much better and getting back to her normal confident, cheerful self.

New year was a much happier affair celebrating with friends at church, another late night meal, but not so late as Christmas. It was something special to be with other Christians to pray in the New Year. Being the sleepy people we are, we were very happy to be home and in bed by one, unlike the rest of our household who didn’t return till 6am.

We look forward to see what God does in and through us in 2008-01-02 Happy New Year!

The midnight meal

Nativity sesne in our hosts house
Nativity sense on one of the University buildings

Christmas day pics

B is for Bolivia

This is an interesting country and has many contrasts. Where to start? To the west are the Andes that run down the country in two parallel chains. Inbetween these is the altiplano, an area at high altitude that is dry and arid, with many salt lakes (one of which can been seen from space, so its big). Many of Bolivias indigenous population struggle to eek out an existence in this harsh area. As you come down the Andes you enter the highlands and valleys where we live in Sucre. Here there is a different type of geography, still with some of the effects of altitude. Much wine is produced in this area, that’s pretty good. From this area you can travel further down into lowlands of the Amazon rainforest, a much hotter climate and home to a lot of the Spanish descendents.

There appears to be two major groups of people here in Bolivia, the ‘haves’ and ‘have not’s’, the ‘haves’ being those of Spanish descent and the ‘have not’s’ of differet indigenous groups. For years the indigenous people have been suppressed by different rulers and have felt undermined and left out. In December 2005 when the first indigenous president was elected to power there was much excitement about what the future may hold. But two years down the line people are beginning to wonder if they did the right thing, as concerns are rising as the propsed new constitution seeks to be passed through the legal system.

As a result of which it seems that’s Bolivias turbulent political history is set to continue into the new year. Local opinion is that trouble is likely to return around Febuary time after carnival season.
Over the past 20 or so years Bolivia has had its problems but in general the people have always respected the institutions. The police for example would always be obeyed, however in recent months something has changed, people no longer respect the established institutions. So please pray with us that as the time comes for decisions to be made on the proposed constitution there would be peace and dialogue with the different parties and that the president would not be able to push though a constitution that is illegal in Bolivia’s current constitution.

B is for….. Bananas

I never knew there were so many different types of bananas! I thought that there was only the standard uniform looking ones of the EU. But we have found three different types here. There is the type we get in the UK, a smaller sweeter type and finally a cooking banana which has a black skin and the blacker the skin the better it is, now there is something that would normally go against the grain! Black bananas are good!! Being in Bolivia we also don’t have EU constraints on what is a good looking Banana, and so a couple of times now we have come across in our purchases siamese bananas! Pictured below.

Post

Since coming to Bolivia before this week we had only received one piece of post also though we knew that more had been sent. But finally we received lots of post. It appears that the post office had been hording them, as they`put all the cards and postal slips into one big envelope and sent that, somewhere, all a bit strange, particularly because nobody knows quite why, but at least we have them, our birthday card display now look a little more happy. And we had four parcels that we opened yesterday after Lunch which great to get some toys and clothes for Alana and some Cadbury´s chocolate. Don't think I have ever been so expected about cadbury's chocolate buttons. Some of the chocolate here is not to bad up its just not cadbury's.

 

It appears that most stuff only took about 8 - 10 days to actually arrive, so we will see what happens in the future.  Anyway, thanks again.

 

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An interesting Weekend

An Interesting Weekend

    Its been sometime since I last wrote and I have finally got around to putting up the tal of our interesting weekend 23rd to 25th November.

   

            As some of you will of already heard we have had an interesting weekend! It all started on Friday when the leftist president Evo Morales and his party tried to bring in a new constitution. This would "allow the president unlimited re-election and would give central authorities greater control over public revenue payments at the expense of state governments." Protestors clashed with Police and through the afternoon and into Saturday these continued. Saturday night these increased and we had to stay at home all of Sunday. In the afternoon the clashes stopped, as the Police were withdrawn from the city.  This resulted in complete anarchy Saturday night with prisoners escaping from the prison, the fire station being torched, vehicles being bunt out and other properties being ransacked and burnt.  As a result of the violence three people have died, one of whom was a nephew to a member of the FHI staff.  Monday things were beginning to quieten down and as we understand it local communites were forming their own neighbourhood watch groups in order to take care of their citizens in the absence of any police.  So there are positive things coming out of the chaos.

 

Ed went to Language School Monday morning with the thought that the worst was over, but in the afternoon we were called by our head office in La Paz and told that they wanted us to go there for a few days, as it was likely that the protests could start again. So we are writing to you from La Paz and will keep you informed as to what happens next.

 

The following weekend

 

Thank you for all your prayers over this last week, as it turned out that there was no more trouble in Sucre after we left on Tuesday morning, and so on Saturday 1^st December we went back. The time in La Paz served as a good break from Language School and gave us a chance to see some different surroundings as well as an opportunity to speak with people in the office about my job. Sarah also got to speak with Jana (who we were staying with and is having her first baby in 6 weeks), about helping her in some of her jobs she is doing. This could include helping in the preparing for Missionary's coming to Bolivia , some translating and other stuff. Sarah came away feeling positive about the opportunities even if a little daunted by it.

 

The situation in Sucre

Last Tuesday or Wednesday the police were told to return to Sucre and things have remained quiet. The city is now back to normal and the only signs left are the graffiti and damaged buildings. Things are likely to stay this way for now, although they may heat up again around the 14^th December when the constitution goes to a referendum. Today (3^rd December) we heard on the news that in Venezuela the President Hugo Chavez has failed in his attempt to bring in a similar constitution to Bolivia in which he could have stayed in power indefinitely. These seems to have given Bolivia 's opposition parties some hope for preventing this proposed constitution. I have included another missionary's view on last weekend to give some back ground.

 

On the political front, having taken the constitutional assembly to the military base and out of the city (a decision which was one of the main factors behind the anger of the people), the number of constituent members present (almost entirely representing the ruling party) were able to make quorum, and, in a turn of events that surprised everyone, after a year and a half of virtually no progress in writing a new constitution, approve a whole new constitution. It appears now that, having worked on their own constitution for some time behind closed doors, the main reason for getting the Assembly to a new location, was to do what they did, and approve their own constitution, without the presence of the opposition members to slow things up. However, the approval was only on a 'general' scale, and the constitution still has to be approved in detail, and approved at national referendum level. So, there are a lot of complicated factors still in the process, (the constitution has been declared illegal and invalid by the opposition) and added to that, with the anger at how things have been done, we are left with a volatile situation. The general feeling is that, with the official end date of the Constitutional Assembly being December 14th, there will be a time of relative calm for a while, until we get closer to that date.

Please continue to pray for Sucre in this interesting time.

 

Give thanks that the violence for now is over and pray for those families who lost loved ones.

 

Give thanks for a good break in La Paz for us and for finding out more about what we will be up to in the future.

 

Give thanks for our safe return and getting back into view in Sucre .

 

Please pray for peace in this country, it has a turbulent past and is likely to continue for some time to come.

 

Please pray that as we head towards the 14^th the different parties would talk and not be stirred up into violence again.

 

Finally please pray for us as we continue to settle into Sucre . We have found a Church to join, so please pray for the building of some good friendships.

 

God Bless

Ed, Sarah and Alana

An Interesting Weekend Its been sometime since I last wrote and I have finally got around to putting up the tal of our interesting weekend 23rd to 25th November.

 

As some of you will of already heard we have had an interesting weekend! It all started on Friday when the leftist president Evo Morales and his party tried to bring in a new constitution. This would allow the president unlimited re-election and would give central authorities greater control over public revenue payments at the expense of state governments. Protestors clashed with Police and through the afternoon and into Saturday these continued. Saturday night these increased and we had to stay at home all of Sunday. In the afternoon the clashes stopped, as the Police were withdrawn from the city. This resulted in complete anarchy Saturday night with prisoners escaping from the prison, the fire station being torched, vehicles being bunt out and other properties being ransacked and burnt. As a result of the violence three people have died, one of whom was a nephew to a member of the FHI staff. Monday things were beginning to quieten down and as we understand it local communites were forming their own neighbourhood watch groups in order to take care of their citizens in the absence of any police. So there are positive things coming out of the chaos.

 

Ed went to Language School Monday (26th) morning with the thought that the worst was over, but in the afternoon we were called by our head office in La Paz and told that they wanted us to go there for a few days, as it was likely that the protests could start again. 

 

As it turned out that there was no more trouble in Sucre after we left on Tuesday morning, and so on Saturday 1st December we went back. The time in La Paz served as a good break from Language School and gave us a chance to see some different surroundings as well as an opportunity to speak with people in the office about my job. Sarah also got to speak with Jana (who we were staying with and is having her first baby in 6 weeks), about helping her in some of her jobs she is doing. This could include helping in the preparing for Missionarys coming to Bolivia , some translating and other stuff. Sarah came away feeling positive about the opportunities even if a little daunted by it.

 

The situation in Sucre

Last Tuesday or Wednesday (27th or 28th Nov) the police were told to return to Sucre and things have remained quiet. The city is now back to normal and the only signs left are the graffiti and damaged buildings. Things are likely to stay this way for now, although they may heat up again around the 14th December when the constitution goes to a referendum. On the 3rd December we heard on the news that in Venezuela the President Hugo Chavez had failed in his attempt to bring in a similar constitution to Bolivia in which he could have stayed in power indefinitely. These seems to have given Bolivia opposition parties some hope for preventing this proposed constitution. I have included another missionarys view on last weekend to give some back ground.

 

On the political front, having taken the constitutional assembly to the military base and out of the city (a decision which was one of the main factors behind the anger of the people), the number of constituent members present (almost entirely representing the ruling party) were able to make quorum, and, in a turn of events that surprised everyone, after a year and a half of virtually no progress in writing a new constitution, approve a whole new constitution. It appears now that, having worked on their own constitution for some time behind closed doors, the main reason for getting the Assembly to a new location, was to do what they did, and approve their own constitution, without the presence of the opposition members to slow things up. However, the approval was only on a 'general' scale, and the constitution still has to be approved in detail, and approved at national referendum level. So, there are a lot of complicated factors still in the process, (the constitution has been declared illegal and invalid by the opposition) and added to that, with the anger at how things have been done, we are left with a volatile situation. The general feeling is that, with the official end date of the Constitutional Assembly being December 14th, there will be a time of relative calm for a while, until we get closer to that date.

 

Please continue to pray for Sucre in this interesting time.

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