Bolivia. Anytime I hear someone mention the country, my heart beats a bit faster. I want to ask “Have you been to Bolivia?”, “Where have you been?”, “Did you get to eat salteñas? Sopa de maní?”, “How did you handle the altitude?”
This little country in South America has dominated much of my thoughts for the past two years. It was in the fall of 2009 that I began to prepare for my first trip there with a team of 13, and I spent a month divided between Rodeo and Cochabamba in the summer of 2010. I returned to Messiah College in the fall of 2010, with a love for the people of Rodeo planted in my heart, but with no solid plans to return. When I was asked to lead the trip for the following year, I couldn’t help but see the importance of having someone who had been there before go back to continue relationships and invest in lives. And so I agreed to lead the team.
So I began doing my best over the course of the school year, to prepare a team of 9 women to journey to the village of Rodeo, a remote jewel nestled in the Andes Mountains. And then we went, from July 18 to 29, we traveled by various and sundry forms of transportation to our destination. There were moments of excitement along the way, including a stolen passport (a team leader’s worst nightmare!) but when we arrived in Rodeo, we were able to be fully present in the community.
A few highlights from the trip:
I was able to spend time with Aide (my previous sponsored child who has now moved out of the program) and also with Elizabet (my current sponsored child). I taught Elizabet how to crochet, and she taught me how to spin with a different style of drop spindle than I had used previously.
Spending an afternoon with leaders from the community, hearing about their dreams for the future.
Reconnecting with Food for the Hungry staff members who are passionate about God’s children, and caring for and building up the community.
Growing in relationships with the women on my team.
Here are a few images from the trip:
It was wonderful to reconnect with Aide and her family.
Elizabet teaching me how to spin.
Listening to the dreams of community leaders.
Going for a hike with a group of FH staff and women from our team.
Baking bread with Anacleto, the pastor of the Baptist Church in Rodeo.
I was challenged by:
The fact that sustainable, long-term changes are slow in coming
My position of leadership- a fantastic but humbling place to be.
The need to trust in God’s provision in tricky situations.
As I have returned to the United States, relocating to a new state and beginning a new step in education (a Masters degree in Human Nutrition and Food at West Virginia University), I have continued to reflect on the way that Bolivia has found its way into my heart and nestled into a corner. It’s not just the brown wool backpack that I wear every day, the balls of hand-spun yarn that sit in a basket woven out of sticks that all came from Bolivia. It’s not just the photos that hang on my wall, or the bright and colorful fabric that is neatly folded underneath my bed.
Bolivia has a face. Multiple faces. Of hopeful young children, excited to explore the world through the library that Messiah College helped to construct and furnish. Of community leaders, encouraged to pursue their dreams. Of the mother of my sponsored child, struggling with illness but aided by caring individuals and family.
I don’t know how God will choose to continue my connection with Bolivia, or what that will look like in the future.
But, as I continue to live my life, day by day, I am constantly reminded of God’s grace and provision in my life, and the responsibility that I bear to share from what I have been given.
And to those of you who have supported me in prayer, and financially, thank you. For everything. It’s only because of the army of people behind me that I was able to go.
so glad you posted this...I have been waiting to hear more about it!!
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