Last Day

On the streets of El Alto

Me and Omar

(It's taking too long to upload photos...)

Today was our last day in Bolivia. It´s been a full week of getting to know the children at the Kaya Center, visitng the three group homes, walking the streets of San Francisco and El Alto, filming, interviewing, taking photos, teaching songs to the children, playing games, cooking, teaching the recorder to the kids, interacting with the staff, and learning more about the organization and its future goals. Combine this with the intensity of the work being done here and I am totally exhausted! But it´s been such an amazing time and now it´s time to think about how to apply what I´ve learned back in the States.

What we did today...

Joy and I went to Plaza San Francisco to do a little shopping although we didn´t really purchase anything. We toured the coca museum. Did you know that they used to put cocaine in coca-cola but after it was banned they just use coca leaves for flavoring? Yes, I think that was my main take away from the museum.

Afterwards we went to the Kaya Center to have lunch with the kids but one of their mini buses broke down and they didn´t return from their outing until later. The children went to a park where there were several giant slides. Lynn out some good footage of it. Looked like a lot of fun although I heard their bums burned on the way down from the friction and you had to climb back up the hill to go again.

Some thoughts...

The children are so loveable and the staff is so committed to them. Some of the older boys were playing soccer against another school yesterday. All the boys from the homes came out and so did the house parents. There really is a family feel to the homes. The younger boys who are not ready to get back into the school system look up to the older boys who go to private school in the mornings and come to the Center during lunchtime. When the doorbell rings during lunch, the younger boys try to guess which of the older boys are coming and give them a warm welcome. When the older boys go to school they wear uniforms. The four boys who are graduating this year from high school wear suits on certain days. The whole community here is just so proud of them and they are such a testiment to the work the God is doing.

On the Kaya brochure there is a quote from one of the boys that says:

Once when I was sleeping in the grass, these ladies passed by and they said, "Look at those punks. They should just die." I was really sad in that moment and sometimes you want to do crazy things and I just wanted to go up there [on the bridge] and throw myself off...

I look at these children and there is so much hope and life in them. It saddens me to think that they once felt worthless and felt so much pain that they would constantly inhale paint thinner to escape their life. It doesn´t seem easy even after they come off the streets. The children have a lot of adjustments and learning to do such as learning to sit at a desk, learning to pee into a toilet bowl, showering, learning to hold a pencil, following rules and facing the consequences of breaking them. The children have to deal with their life on the streets and past abuse. The children are so happy when I interact with them that I forget that they are still struggling with issues and are in the process of healing. It doesn´t seem easy for the staff either as the children have many needs and may run away. However, the staff is committed to raising the children as if they were their own and they work together as a community to raise these children who would otherwise have no one to call family.

Tonight Lynn, Joy, Grace, and Juan Daniel went to a food festival. A sampling of the best food in La Paz, Bolivia. Juan Daniel is 16 years old. He is one of the four Kaya students who will be graduating this year from high school and headed to college. He recently got his certificate in cooking and wants to open up his own restaurant one day. It was wonderful to experience with him an interest he has, to see his potential, to see that he has a bright future ahead of him. I don´t think anyone would say that he should die because he´s not worth anything. He is precious in God´s eyes and many people, from teachers to supporters of the organization, have enabled him to know his worth. I feel so blessed to be a part of a community of believers who follow God's calling to take care of his sheep.