Sunday, May 4, 2008

A refuge in refuse...and veggies... and autonomía...

I've been promising pictures of the recycling project so here they are! I've invested countless hours of my free time in this little project and already have several "talleres" (workshops) scheduled this month. It's an honor to be included and to have the opportunity to raise environmental awareness and greater consciousness about caring for creation through recycling.
The bags and book-covers (still in the works) that I'm making are made out of plastic juice and milk bags (Pilfrut bags) that are ubiquitous! Many MCC team-members have brought me bags - either from personal use or that they have found in the street (the record to date is 65 bags found in 2 blocks!). The supply of Pilfrut bags is virtually endless - if I'm running short I just go pick some up off the street (you all should see some of the looks I get!). (FYI, it takes about 100 Pilfrut bags to make one clutch-size purse, or about 45 of the larger Pil milk bags).

And veggies...
Vegetables, although abundant, are often lacking in the local cuisine - unless they are members of a starch family (potatoes, yucca) or fried, so my SALT (Bridgette) and my SALT alumni (Dovanna) decided to take advantage of the national holiday (May 1st was labor day) - the day of the worker - and put ourselves to work making stir fry with quinua (a local wonder food - a protein-loaded grain!). The quinua was a bit on the natural side with extra minerals included (rocks and dirt, but still amazingly tasty and all my teeth are still in tact :).

And autonomía...
It appears the referendum for regional autonomy has been approved in Santa Cruz, despite ballot box burning in some of the outlying areas and strong opposition from many of the western departments. Although the current constitution does not provide for regional autonomy, SC has gone ahead with the vote. However, because of its unconstitutional status, it is yet to be seen if the approval of regional autonomy will result in tangible change, or just in controversy.

Ultimately, the reaction of the people to the vote is what is most important - we hope and pray for peace, for unity for Bolivia between east and west, Camba and Colla.

PS. A special thanks to Aunt Jane and Krissy for inspiring this project and proving to me that it could be done! I wouldn't have had the spunk to under take it without your inspiring example!

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