WEBSERIES: BOLIVIA FROM THE FOUNDATIONS

On the occasion of the celebration of the Universal Children's Day on November 20, we published on our Spanish blog the link to to the webseries BOLIVIA FROM THE FOUNDATIONS. Here, we continue the celebration and offer the link to the first video of the series, which features the work of the Community of Saint Paul in Cochabamba in Casa San José (St. Joseph's Home) and the rural area surrounding the city. Casa San José works hard for the reinsertion of boys and youth that have been living on the street into their families. In the rural area of Cochabamba, the Community of Saint Paul carries out agricultural, animal rearing and reforestation projects. We thank the institutions that made this series possible:  Asociación Nuevos Caminos and CreaRSA.

Please click here to view the first of the 6 part series - each video is about 5 minutes long and they have English subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHZmUYEAe8

Cultural TRIps of the children from Casa San José

The objective of the children and teenagers living at Casa San José of Cochabamba, Bolivia, is a safe return to their families or boarding schools. To avoid a return to living in the streets, we often organize cultural field trips for them, to promote and encourage their human growth and to captivate their motivation to achieve this goal.

In the first trimester of this year, they visited the Alcide d’Orbigny Natural History Museum in Cochabamba. One of the children said, “This museum is like an encyclopedia of natural sciences”. There they were able to observe, displayed in the rooms, the principal minerals and fossils that form the important biodiversity of Bolivia. Also, they learned that, in 1826, Alcide d’Orbigny, a twenty-four year old French scientist, visited South America. As a result of his trips, he wrote a monumental work on the subject of Natural History. Zoologist, archaeologist, anthropologist and above all, explorer, he left an important and inspiring legacy. With faces full of surprise and admiration, the children of Casa San José greatly enjoyed this field trip.

Travesías y Sueños from Casa San José, Cochabamba (Bolivia)

Daniel, Rodrigo, Abraham, Juan Alberto, Luís, Pedro and Juan Daniel are the boys who created and star in Travesías y Sueños (Crossroads and Dreams), the new book that Casa San José introduces to you today. This is the third book that Casa San José has published.  The authors and illustrators of the several short stories in these colorful works are the children themselves.  

For the production of Travesías y Sueños, and so that they can share their lives with us in a subtle and creative way, we gave the floor to each of these boys, who before had been in the streets. This creative process was initiated by transforming their life stories into fantastic tales that were developed in a collaborative workshop in which the boys of la Casa became the creators and protagonists (main characters) of the stories.

Understanding the Process of Family Reintegration of the Children of Casa San José (Cochabamba, Bolivia)

Editor's Note: Recently, several Agora XXI blog entries have acquainted our readers with the background and present activities at Casa San José in Bolivia.  The present article gets to the hopeful heart of the matter: reuniting the children with their families in conditions that improve the likelihood of successful family life, and some of the difficulties encountered.

Casa San José has, as its principal goal, the reintegration of street children and adolescents from Cochabamba into their families.  In dealing with agencies that take in minors (such as in our situation with street children), and which pursue their reintegration into their families, the Bolivian government asks through the Children and Adolescent Court that the families complete a series of requirements and thereby demonstrate that they are suitable for the return of the children.  As part of the process the Casa San José social worker prepares a status report and tries to explain to the children about the legal proceedings that, at times, can be complex and involve many, seemingly endless, steps in Children’s Court. This formal process often delays the assimilation of children. Therefore the children, despite our patient efforts to explain all of this to them, are often bewildered, frustrated and demoralized.

END OF YEAR ACTIVITIES AT CASA SAN JOSÉ, COCHABAMBA

There were several exciting activities that took place at Casa San José at the end of 2014, and we would like to share some of them with you.   Casa San José is the Community of St. Paul's refuge for street children in Cochabamba, Bolivia.   

On the morning of November 25 last year, Msgr. Tito Solari, Archbishop of Cochabamba, visited Casa San José, joined by his sister and Father Alfredo Rizzi. It was a very special day since it was Archbishop Solari, deeply sensitive to the suffering of the many children who were living in the streets, who fourteen years ago asked the Community of Saint Paul to start a center to shelter and reintegrate the children. So, quite literally, Archbishop Solari was the inspirational advocate for the very existence of this apostolate.

In a highlight of the visit, the archbishop shared Mass with the children and the dedicated team of educators at Casa San José.  During his reflection, the children spontaneously responded to each question that he asked, especially little Josué, who tried to answer all of them.  The children and the program's staff know Msgr. Solari very well since he holds Casa San José in his heart and never passes up an occasion to visit them.  The children were also happy to be able to bring up the gifts of bread and wine.  After Mass, everyone shared a delicious lunch and little Carlitos took the opportunity to sit next to the archbishop and had a lively chat with him.  We thank Msgr. Solari for his sympathy and tenderness with the boys and girls.

Also, the Christmas celebration of the children and teenagers of Casa San José included the traditional living Nativity.  In this annual dramatization, the children reenact the story of the family of Nazareth and celebrate the birth of the child Jesus. Joseph, Mary, her son, angels, kings, shepherds and several animals make up the beautiful scene. The play finished with songs to the child Jesus and sharing a delicious meal with families and the team at Casa San José.

CONSTRUCTION OF THREE EARTH-DAMS IN THE ALTIPLANO OF COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA

The Community of Saint Paul has begun a new project in the Ayopaya Province in the department of Cochabamba, in Bolivia.  The project entails the construction of three earth-dams, each with a capacity of 300 cubic meters (79,251 gallons).  The water will be channeled through a distribution network ending in a sprinkler irrigation system that will cover an area of 70 hectares (173 acres) of cultivable lands.  40 families in the community of Totorani will benefit from the project.  The families are very eager and ready to work during the two months that are programmed to construct the necessary infrastructures.  Once the construction is finalized, they will be able to grow alternative products like vegetables, fruits and grains that will help to generate food stuffs and economic resources and thus lower their level of poverty, which is principally due the low productivity of their lands.