Sam arrives!

Hello I am Sam and I am the new intern from England. After four flights I arrived in this beautiful country on Friday 2nd April in Cochabamba to start my 3 month mission trip. The journey was OK until I touched down in La Paz where the altitude posed a big problem for me. Thankfully I only had to be there a couple of hours... Mike, Sydney, Gracie and Annie where waiting for me at Cochabamba airport and I was already getting really excited at this opportunity I was given.

I was glad to escape wet, miserable and cold England and arrive in this nice, sunny weather! I had the pleasure to meet Marcelino, Sofia and the orphans from the orphanage at Frutillar and do Bible Study and play with the kids. Having lived for fourteen years in Spain has been a great blessing to me for I am able to speak to language and interact with the Bolivian people. After the orphanage a group of us went for some drinks and I was able to meet some of Annie's friends. On Saturday Annie and I visited the Albino Patiño Centro in which we looked after the toddlers and tried as hard as we could to feed them. This was a totally knew and very heartbreaking experience for me. I was to hold an eight month old baby who was the size of a one month old baby! After we fed the babies and toddlers we got the Trufi (Bolivian transport) to the centre of town, the traffic was hectic!

Easter Day, Sunday, was the local election day and all means of transport was forbidden so Annie and I had to cycle down to Church which wasn't too bad. We were invited to Easter lunch at the Timmers house which was delicious and very much appreciated.

On Monday, the thing I was dreading most happened, my card (I think) got swallowed by an ATM... The Bolivian ATMs are different from the ones back home so I didn't realise I walked away without my card. I called my bank and it has been cancelled but I think it will take about five weeks for my new card to arrive in Bolivia, not good!

There are a lot more stories to tell but not much time! So I better go and... Until next time!

God bless you all and prayers are very much appreciated

Team times

So it's been a while and we've been really busy with two teams in the last few weeks. One from New Hampshire (24 16-18 yr olds) where we spent 3 days in camp kewina, doing general jobs around the buildings...we painted the roof and some of the rooms, we also did a vacation Bible school two of the days where we had 90 7-9 year olds a day and had craft, bible and games stations. It was quite hard to communicate a lot with them because they didn't speak much spanish, mostly quechua. I think we felt like we did get through to some of them though and they deffinitely had a great time. Unfortunately a lot of the team got sick whilst we were there and so reduced numbers made it a bit harder but it still went pretty smoothly.
The other team was a huge team from Canada which didn't come through us but we took to Chapare for 2 days. We did some really good work on the orphanage at villa catorce; cleaning up, varnishing and making the place look much more ready to live in. Then we went to the other orphanage (21) in that region to see the kids and to stay the night. It was really nice to see them again and I spent a lot of time helping with homework and chatting to them, trying to translate their spanish for the other team members!
The Moseys have now left which is very sad and we all miss them alot. I'm staying with the Timmers now just for a while until we have the sister of the house mum from frutillar's family staying and looking after the hacienda and keeping me from being lonely and scared up there! Also awaiting the arrival of my friend from the U.K. to be another intern with me in April, he's from Spain so his spanish is going to be very useful for all of us!
So a few more teams are joining us shortly which will keep us nice and busy too.
I'm hopefully going to be starting to work with the after school center this week on a tuesday which will be fun and I've still got things like babysitting baby Angelito once a week and many other little things. My spanish classes are great and I feel like I'm learning alot now I suppose I just need to speak and practice it alot more.
So I think thats my update!
Annie

Cochabamba Crazy

Hi its Annie,

I accompanied on the chapare visit and enjoyed it very much. The kids were really sweet and we got to play with them for a while which was nice. The humidity nearly killed me though! Also getting up at 4am to make it there for an 8:30 meeting wasn't something I can say pleased me much! Ha...I'm not a morning person! Had to be done though.

I feel like I'm pretty settled here now and am even going bowling, to the cinema and enjoyed some night life! Probably not what I expected I could do and probably not what I should spend my money on either!

The weather has been gorgeous for 3 days now and so I've done a little soaking...may be a little burnt though!

I've managed to take trufies now...even if I did miss my destination by one street because I wasn't paying attention and trying not to fall out the thing!...maybe a little practice is needed here.

So carnival seems to be in pretty full swing...water balloons flying everywhere...some good dodging is going on by me! I've got a bet on that if I don't get hit the whole of carnival I am owed an ice cream sundae! Lots of sprinting from buildings to taxis!

I'm now staying around 5 nights at the Mosey's which is really nice and after finding a TARANTULA at the hacienda this week!!...I'm pretty happy about leaving that place! It was just sitting on the living room table! So many photos were taken and I've left him in a tupperware box because thats all we could think of doing....although a little cruel...what else do you do to kill it?!

I'm helpingout once or twice a week babysitting a little adopted boy because his mum has gone back to the states for a while. So last week I managed a 24hr shift with little Angelito. Hard work but a very cool dude! Getting up to feed him his bottle will give me very good practice for being a mother myself...even if that is in a good few years!

Tigerlilli and Leon are doing good and I've made the top level of the Hacienda kitten proof so now they are alowed out for a little fresh air. There are a few new arrivals to the chicken coop...after the last 2 chicks dying, we bought five slightly older chickens and one has already been frightened to death...yes it sounds like I'm an awful animal keeper...not really its those stray dogs!...but Ted Mosey helped loads by pretty much barracaded the chicken run with all sorts including a fair bit of barbed wire. They should be safe now...Oh I hope so!

The kids at frutillar are doing well, really enjoying school now its back on. The biblestudy we have started went well and we ended up doing two becasue they didnt really take long and they all participated well! We are off tommorrow to help them with homework which I'm looking forward to seeing as I feel like I haven't used my brain in months!

Chapare Visit

This week we piled in Mike's car and headed out to Chapare! There were many things on the slate for this trip. Included in the things to accomplish were: meet with a church that is partnering with us on the almost complete kilometer 14 home, get the power turned on for the 14 home, meet with the Sindicato (local governing board) about the operating home at kilometer 21, and meet and better understand the situations and needs of the childred at the kilometer 21 home. Many other things were accomplished on the trip and many new relationships were formed. It is truly amazing to see how the work that has been so long in process is starting to bud and bear fruit. We thank Him for everything that is being done in Chapare and are happy we can play a part in it! Below are pictures from the trip:

Above: The kids preparing for Carnival (alot of water baloon throwing).
Right: They could use a little practive filling them up!



Bottom Three
Top: Mike with the head of the Chapare Sindicato. Also, he is wearing a Evo for President hat to amuse them:)
Middle: The kids were excited to show us their rooms and beds.
Last: Kids biggest to smallest.

Orfananto San Fransisco

Here’s how our last week went. One department of SEDEGES (child welfare) told me that I needed a psychological analysis as the director of IOU (International Orphanage Union) so we could re-new our orphanage license. I went in for my appointment and they said they couldn’t afford to hire a psychologist, could I? Another department scolded us for taking in two children prior to our license being renewed when their grandparent’s house was destroyed by a flooding river. The same department brought us four children the very next week because they had no-where else to bring them. I didn’t know if we should laugh or cry.
Our home in San Fransisco. Samuel and Elsa have two children of their own; Ruth (5), Cristhian (1) and they are caring for their niece (9). We accepted two sisters when our partner church Nueva Jurusalén brought them after a flood destroyed the grandparent’s home; Liz (9) and Mary (4). The next four children came from the government; three siblings whose mother passed away and whose father would leave them for days at a time while he worked out of town. Jhamil (9), Erika (7) and Luis (5). The most recent is Hilda (9) whose parents passed away one year ago she lives with her godmother who runs a chicharia (saloon). Hilda has epileptic seizures if she doesn’t get injections three times daily. Her 15 year old sister must prove to be more useful because the godmother kept her.
I met with Abel on Saturday; he’s the Social Worker for SEDEGES in the Chapare region (rain forest). He said there are over 300 children in his area alone waiting for homes. He’s about 25 years old and stares into the faces of countless orphaned and abandoned children and says, maybe next week. I asked him where we should build the next orphanage and he laughed and said “Anywhere, I’ll fill it”. Out of the nine departments of Bolivia, Cochabamba has more orphanages than any other. I ask God every day to allow us to be the ones to provide a home for all the rest of the children. None of this would be possible without your prayers and support.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Mike and Bonnie

Annie here,
So yesterday I got to take home to the Hacienda two of the Timmers kittens! Another great addition to the team! Tigerlilli and Leon...(a tiger and lion to protect me up there!) Thats really exciting and it's really nice to have some company!
I've just been given a list of things I can now do and I'm interested in helping at 'el Centro' which is an after school club and also doing lots of little projects with the kids at the orphanage including some Biblestudies and some conversational English lessons and also taking a few kids at a time to bake cookies or help with the chickens etc. So I'm excited to see these things starting up!
Unforunately three of my five new chicks were killed so I will need to improve a little of the security in the chicken run! and maybe find some older chickens that will lay sooner to boost the numbers again :(
Still can't sleep very well...it may be down to the kittens though!?...they are currently staying in my room!
I stayed two nights at the Mosey's appartment this week and may start staying here a fewnights a week until there more people join me in the Hacienda.
Taking so many taxis on my own now...I'm getting the hang of this city!...next thing Trufies! (the colourful buses that go round the city for a little cheaper)
here's a few pics of the animals!!

New Intern!

Hey all I (Annie) have just joined the Timmers from Bath, England.
I'm living in the hacienda on my own at the moment and await teams and another intern in February. I have been here about a week now and am enjoying the rays seeing as the whole of Britain has been in a snow blanket! I'm just getting used to the way of life here in Bolivia. Trying to improve my spanish and bearings so I can take taxis on my own around the city and become a little bit more independent! I have been introduced to as many markets and coffee shops as possible and tommorow I'm going to a football match between the two Cochabamba teams which is really exciting! I love football and have been to a few matches in England but I hear Bolivian matches are a little dangerous and lets say..interactive!
I have been introduced to the orphans at the orphanage just down from the hacienda and they've also come up to sift through the many generous contributions in the store room up there and taken away some clothes and toiletries...they had so much fun doing that and trying on clothes!
On Friday the Moseys (another mission family here for 9 months and leaving in March) and I took all the kids to the park which was a laugh, they all had a go on the bumper cars and had a lot of fun! We are planning to take them all once a week in two taxis to the park or something before they go back to school.
I was really surprised when I went to the supermarket how many English imports there were!! So I'm doing just fine with my Heinz tomato soup and Hellmanns mayonnaise! I was worried what I would eat here but I'm doing just fine so far!
My spanish is also something that needs much improvement and I'm planning to take a lesson a week to get back up to scratch...I used to know alot more but in the past few years have forgotten. So prayers for my Spanish to be picked up easily and that I can sleep better at night...also an annoying extra!!
Thanks for reading!
Annie