Laura's Meanderings

My love affair with the Library

2011-06-17T14:32:00.003-04:00

On today's list of things to do was a much needed trip to the Library. With its delightful smell of books and coffee, Zimmerman Library is one of my favorite spots on campus. There is something unspeakably comforting and exciting about ambling through the maze of book shelves, knowing that each volume holds some yet to discover bit of knowledge! My love affair with books began at an early age, perhaps even at birth. My mom named me after the author Laura Ingalls Wilder and read to me until I was able to read for myself. Books held adventures that otherwise were out of reach for me as a child,and now as an adult they feed my appetite for learning. Each trip to the library is like shopping without spending any money and knowing that the words in the books I take home with me from the library will stay with me for a lifetime - now that's consumption I can support :)

Wendell Berry and Spring Blessings

2011-04-02T22:36:00.003-04:00

"Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone."
— Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry is good for the soul. All the windows in our tiny apartment are open to let in the temperate evening breeze. It was a gorgeous sun-filled day in Albuquerque. I have gotten my early spring it seems. Tonight's evening walk to the park showed us new spring leaves on nearly all of the trees and the flowers are in full bloom. I love the new life of spring. Winter is a relief from the heat, but the warmth is always welcome again after a few months rest. Spring is full of new discoveries - new blooms and buds that I did not see the day before. I think maybe we see the world through different eyes in the spring because we are looking for new life, for the joy of a world reborn. Life is good, God is good. Blessings of spring discoveries.

Lent it be an early springtime!!

2011-03-07T02:22:00.003-04:00

I am guilty of blog neglect. This seems to happen when I find myself invested in reading and writing during the semester. These days I am knee-deep in discourses on colonial Latin America and human rights. There are days my eyes ache from the strain of reading, but in general I still find myself wanting to know more. Most likely by my next blog I will need some cute reading glasses :)
I am anticipating lent with enthusiasm this spring. There is something about lent that I truly enjoy. This year my goal is to call a random friend every week who I haven't talked to lately. I learned this "positive action" lent from my friend Mel, who one lenten season accompanied me in learning the discipline of not using disposable cups for my coffee. The tradition lives on :)
Time springs forward very soon and that means more sunshine!!(Yes, I do get more than my fair share, but I'm okay with being greedy with the sunshine). I wish you all the warmth of light, the hope of blossoming new opportunities, and all the sweet reese's eggs your heart desires!!

Snow for a Day :)

2010-12-21T21:31:00.007-04:00

Bright and early this morning (about 11 am for me :), after a yummy home brewed gingerbread latte, Allan and I decided it was time to venture beyond the balmy 50 degree weather of Albuquerque into the snowy Sandia peak. Now, from the second floor of our apartment complex, Sandia peak appears to have a lovely, light dusting of holiday glitter rather than a 28 inch layer of hard core snow, which is exactly what we found, along with a strong, bitterly cold wind that was enough to remind me why I don't live in Ohio anymore. After "hiking" (eg: Laura getting stuck in snow drifts and falling over)for a couple of hours I had my much needed White Christmas fix and was happy for the short drive back to more mild temperature and cloud moderated sunshine! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!! Much love and many blessings!! ~ Laura

2010-12-17T01:23:00.003-04:00

It's a chilly evening in Albuquerque! It seems winter is finally upon us just in time for the Christmas season. I love the holidays - the excitement, the celebration of a year about to be complete. Looking back over the past year, I am amazed at how many changes have taken place in my life - moving, grad school, new friends, marriage - it has been a year of goodness and a year of transition to new and exciting things!
Now that winter break is here and time is a little more abundant, we've got the tree decorated, made Christmas cookies, and begun the endless Christmas movie marathons! We also decided to take advantage of break to do a cheap-o trip to Taos and Old Town. Here are some of the pictures from those adventures along with an advent prayer that I dearly love!

An Advent Prayer for Peace

“I Have Come to Bring You Peace”

I have come to bring you peace.

Not the peace of the season, for it is too fleeting,

Not the peace of the carol, for it is too nostalgic,

Not the peace of the greeting card, for it is too slick,

Not the peace of the crib, for it is too wistful.

Rather, I have come to bring you peace,

Peace of the ordinary, the daily, the homely,

Peace for the worker, the driver, the student,

Peace in the office, the kitchen, the farm.

I have come to bring you peace,

The peace of accepting your self as I fashioned you,

The peace of knowing yourself as I know you,

The peace of loving yourself as I love you,

The peace of being yourself as I am who I am.

I have come to bring you peace,

The peace that warms you at the completion of a task,

The peace that invades you at the close of the day,

The peace that sustains you at the beginning of the day,

The peace that reinforces you when you are reconciled with one another,

The peace that touches you when your family is in order.

Without peace, my coming is unfulfilled.

Without peace, my birth is forgettable.

Without peace, Christmas is a contradiction.

I have come to bring you peace.

Pumpkin goodness

2010-09-24T23:03:00.005-04:00

So fall is officially here, although the hot Albuquerque weather would have you think otherwise! But the fact is undeniable and even the warm days here are getting shorter and the nights chillier. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and the chilies are roasting! Indeed it is autumn...my favorite season!! And nothing better to get myself in the mood for it than a home made pumpkin spice latte and what I like to call pumpkin spice whoopie pies (the actual recipe calls them something else, but that's irrelevant to me)! I am passing the photos (of how they turned out for me) and the recipes along for these tasty fall treats!! Happy autumn everyone :)

Pumpkin Spice Latte
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/beverage/diy-pumpkin-spice-latte-096277

Pumpkin Creme Pies (AKA, Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies)
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/holidays/pumpkin-creme-pies/

The Miraculous Staircase Santa Fe, New Mexico

2010-08-28T21:36:00.005-04:00

My friend Perry told me about this amazing work of architecture and I finally got to see it in person!! If you would like to know more about its history and construction see the link below :)

http://www.lorettochapel.com/history.html

Here are some more fun church pictures from Santa Fe!

Cibola National Forest :)

2010-08-10T17:42:00.003-04:00

Photos for my family

2010-07-24T17:46:00.003-04:00

The Scenic Route

2010-07-24T16:31:00.002-04:00

Sometimes there are twists in the road...things I wasn't expecting to find...sometimes beautiful views and sometimes unexpected obstacles. Life is an adventure. I kind of like the unexpected - it keeps things interesting.

I was not expecting to find someone along the way, but I met the surprise of my life last summer....and then didn't see him for quite awhile, but he reappeared on my life's road just a few months before my planned move to New Mexico. So I had to decide...which direction to take...the scenic road in good company, or mapquest it alone...one is simpler to gauge and the other has more twists and turns...but the journey is always more joyous when shared in good company.

A leg of the journey that I was not expecting to continue was my work in early intervention. Needless to say, I was given the opportunity to continue this leg of my journey as a bilingual service coordinator here in Albuquerque with Alta Mira, an NGO that works with children and adults with developmental disabilities. I find myself to be a reluctant social worker...drawn to the work by the people on the margins, not by the system or structure that places them there...

Perhaps the most surprising turn of events in this journey is the economic traffic jam that most likely will require me to delay my MA study at UNM until next fall...It's ironic that the very thing that has lead me to ABQ is the one thing I may have to wait for...Life is difficult to understand, but if it were easy it would be boring. I don't know where this will end, but I'm enjoying the view along the scenic route :)

A note about New Mexico :)

2010-04-14T20:47:00.004-04:00

Today makes one week since I have returned from my trip to New Mexico! I had a fantastic time, meeting new and wonderful people (especially the fine young Menno folks from AMC! Your hospitality was exceptional!!! Mil Gracias!).
I of course spent time getting to know the campus at UNM, in particular the LAII (Latin American and Iberian Institute). I fell in love with the program and the faculty and found the LAS (Latin American Studies) graduate students to be very welcoming and helpful; by my second day on campus I felt like I knew my way around, almost like a pro ;) For those of you who know me, this is a big deal since some days I have trouble telling right from left.
The faculty took the time to meet with me one on one and gave me insightful suggestions and advice about which direction I want to go with my study and career. In addition to showing me around campus, the LAS students took time to chat, share contact information and advice and even to seek me out when the faculty let them know I was visiting. The warmth of the sunshine,people,terracotta red buildings,and spicy green chilies is hard to resist!
So on Monday of this week I took the plunge and made official what my heart already knew - New Mexico is my choice. If you had asked me 3 months ago where I would be going to graduate school in the fall, I would never have dreamed it would be UNM. I like to think that I make decisions based on thinking and reason, which I do, but I have come to also appreciate the value of trusting my intuition and yes, my heart. It's a strange feeling when your heart leaps in response to something, and that is how it has been since I found UNM. I don't remember when I have prayed about something so much and really spent time thinking about what I need to be happy, to feel fulfilled, to feel connected and called to what I was doing. I guess this is one of those times when my decision does not have a clear, simple, business like answer, but this decision makes me smile and that feels really good.
I do not have an official move date yet, but I am thinking possibly in June. I am applying for a fellowship to fund my study, but also hoping to find a job in case funding does not come through. Please be in prayer for the puzzle pieces to come together as I get ready for this big change!
Below are some fun pictures from exploring Santa Fe and hiking with Katie :) I also want to thank Bethany and Gabe and all the folks at the Plex for good coffee, good food, and above all good company!

Sassy strawberry plant Soy :)

2010-03-15T20:46:00.003-04:00

Bloom where you are planted. But usually only the tough weeds grow between the cracks in the cement. I don't know if I'm a tough weed. In conversation with my friend Ximena, we began talking about what images we find meaningful for understanding and talking about life. One of tough weed or delicate flower does not work for me, but a hearty little plant with flowers and sweet, juicy fruit sounds about right. I like strawberries, a lot. I love them as an image for how I understand my life - strawberry plants need the right soil, need the right amount of water, and the right amount of sunlight; I too need an environment I can thrive in and grow in. Strawberries are notorious for spreading all over the place - they send out runners in all directions and can be hard to keep under control - me too - I tend to send out runners in all directions, whether because of academic ADD or because I feel restless, or because I'm searching for the right soil - I sometimes feel like I am all over the place, but I also know that I need the space to explore, to grow, to spread so that I can bloom and enjoy the fruit of my labor. I feel like I have been looking for the right place to grow wild, but maybe I need to be okay with containment too, to "bloom where I'm planted" so to speak. I'm not sure, but I'll keep sending out runners :)

the end of winter

2010-03-07T22:45:00.003-04:00

ohio is deceptive. i have heard this statement several times this week. we should know better. the sun has peaked from behind the curtain of clouds, but winter is not over...there will be more snow, the sun's warmth is just a ruse to get us to let our guard down. or so they tell me. and yes, this is most likely true, but winter is over. even if the snow falls, even if the days return to grayness, spring is here - the days are becoming longer, the sun more intense, and winter may attempt to raise its defeated head, but it is defeated afterall. and next weekend is time change. i do not enjoy losing an hour of my precious sleep, but the trade off works out nicely, with that extra hour of light at the end of my day (who am i kidding...more like the middle of my day :) so bring on the flip flops and tank tops!!! with a possible trip to the New Mexico on the horizon and ohio's new found affinity for sunshine, things are indeed looking up. new beginnings are bound to come and that is, after all, what spring is all about right? new life, new chances, new beginnings...

When life gives you Lemonade....

2010-02-02T00:00:00.002-04:00

So far 2010 has not gone the way I had hoped it would. I know, 1 month in, so I should give it a chance to get better....which I will, but that doesn't really help my current disappointment with the situation.

I'm not a believer in Karma (I do think what comes around goes around, but...not Karma exactly) and even less so now. Why do I say this? Because I did not plant a lemon tree, yet life seems to be giving me lemons...limes would be much better or avocados maybe? Either way, January in Ohio is lemony - it's cold and gray and yucky and now my car has decided that I don't need to be able to open my door from the inside - just the outside (thank goodness for that), but at least I have that to be thankful for - climbing in and out would be a bit much don't you think? So my dealer will be hearing from me soon about that...

So my car is not a lemon but my January is. It's ok. No word on my grad school application yet - still in some kind of OSU purgatory called "academic review" - not exactly sure what that means, but I have decided that while in Purgatory I would check out my options. I am a restless soul of sorts and I have been back in Ohio now for over a year (which seems to be my breaking point) and I can feel the skin chafing... so maybe I will stay and maybe I will go - I don't know. I love the community I have found here in Columbus so that is a factor to weigh in - it is the sweetness for my lemonade, but my purgatory window shopping has opened my eyes to more options. Enticed, I have begun the application process for the Latin American Studies Program at the University of New Mexico. I have no idea where this will lead - whether I will get accepted or not, but it feels good to feel the chispa coming back - to feel passionate about something again - to feel like me.

Life is scary...change is scary especially when thinking about starting over....the financial cost, the emotional cost. But change is exciting too...and new places and people and life are all good things. So lemons in January = lemonade in August? Who knows...things haven't turned out the way I was hoping, but maybe they will just turn out even better. God is not a puppet master, but I do believe God is the sweetness to life's lemonade (oh, and don't worry - I did pray about beginning this process, in case any of you were wondering ;)

A resloution of reflection

2010-01-02T18:10:00.013-04:00

I was walking today at the Grigg's Reservoir, a favorite place of mine to reconnect with nature, and thinking about how quickly a year passes and how New Year's day, one day of the year is when we take time to reflect about what has transpired in the past 364 days and to project what we want to happen in the next 364 days. It was a strange thought...it made me wonder how many people feel overwhelmed by what they didn't accomplish in the last year...and if that, coupled with the stress of the holidays and gloomy winter weather, weren't enough to contribute to an unnaturally high suicide rate this time of year? Ok, I realize this is a very morbid thought, but it did cross my mind as I jaunted under the Fishinger Rd Bridge; it's a beautiful structure, and the water passing under it seemed an appropriate image for the beginning of a new year, literally water under the bridge. Typically, January and February are hard months for me - very cold, not very much sunshine and the excitement of the holidays has passed; this year though, I find myself relieved to have the holidays behind me, and yes, excited for the new year. I will turn 30 this year (not for nearly 10 months)and I have always thought 30 would be the best time of my life - I would have it all figured out, but still be young enough to enjoy it. Well, the bad news is I am far from having it all figured out...and the good news is, I am far from having it all figured out. Perhaps it would be nice to have more clarity, more direction in life, but it is exciting not knowing what is around the next bend and knowing that I don't have it all figured out - with each year I will add to the knowledge I now have - I will know more, learn more, become a more interesting person with the time that passes. I can only hope and imagine that I will be an amazingly intriguing woman of 50 some day. My life's greatest fear has always been that I would live a boring, common life. I feel like I have succeeded in not doing that so far and I believe I will continue to not do that in the future - which I am going to believe and live - to mean that time will shape the contours of my soul to be more interesting, more curvaceous rather than wearing me down to be smooth, mundane pebble of gravel worn out by life's waves.

Random thoughts and Octavio Paz

2009-11-24T21:49:00.003-04:00

Sometimes I think my character flaws are most effectively mirrored in the words of those close to me. It isn't easy to see...kind of like the proverbial trees in that forest I just smacked into - painful, but necessary to enjoy the journey into the woods. So hiking baby steps toward becoming a better me...

I recently submitted my application to The Ohio State University for the Hispanic Linguistics graduate program. This an exciting event for me and I'm looking forward to re-entering the world of academia! It is also daunting to think of finances (more loans) and working....I'm not sure how I will juggle it all, but I'm counting on my friends for some hermit-prevention to offset my obsessive study habits....

Some days are better than others...I'm not sure where the fall went...the trees are so naked now, the branches seem so black and disappear so quickly with the sun at 5 pm. I read this poem today by Octavio Paz, one of my favorite author-poets from Mexico and thought I would share it in its entirety here...enjoy

Between going and staying the day wavers, by Octavio Paz

Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.

All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.

Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.

Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.

The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.

I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.

The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.

Occupational Hazards of a Help Me Grow Service Coordinator...

2009-11-05T19:53:00.003-04:00

10. Germs (hello h1n1)
9. Paper Cuts/carpal tunnel (from hours of stimulating paperwork)
8. Poor eyesight (from hours of staring at a computer screen entering ET data)
7. Second hand smoke
6. Roaches
5. Scabies (don't ask)
4. Lice
3. Pitbulls (no offense to Moose)
2. Psycho parents
1. Insanity (from all of the above)

photos, poetry, pieces of a perfect fall day

2009-10-04T16:40:00.006-04:00

I love fall - sweater weather perfect for a brisk walk, a good book and a blanket, a cup of tea or coffee with Ella Fitzgerald playing in the background. There is no other time of year when I find myself so reflective, as if nature were echoing the transformation and growth, the changes in my own life. I wonder what is next...who I will be next fall...what transformations will have taken place...Just a thought...and now a Sunday patchwork of photos and poetry for your viewing pleasure :) Enjoy!

DESIGNED TO PERFECTION by Marcia Schechinger

Of simplistic nature
this bright autumn day
coffee warming the chill of morning
trees tipped with pink hue,
I breathe

How can the grass have
such a glow
or the trees limbs bend and bow
each so original in design

The art of this world surrounds me
yet, have I ever seen that rose before
tapering the neighbors brick
or the black squirrel
curling beneath the brush
pump in belly
from todays abundance of food

How I have worried about
the flowing of life changes
and quickly passed the bent branch
with the darkened hollow
where once a nest was made

Why have I not heard the weeping willow
with its green dreadlocks
touching my window
How many times has it tapped
before I noticed its defined braids

I have swallowed life
without chewing
drank wine forgetting
the grapes that riped for me

Today I shall begin again
like the school child giggling
remembering every leaf on the tree
has a meaning, a purpose

God, the artist, designed
life to perfection
and I have spent my days
looking at it
from way too far away
to see the subtleties
of His design and plan

Today I am not the critic
I am the the observer
the child in awe

The Silence by Wendell Berry

2009-10-01T21:51:00.000-04:00

Though the air is full of singing
my head is loud
with the labor of words.

Though the season is rich
with fruit, my tongue
hungers for the sweet of speech.

Though the beech is golden
I cannot stand beside it
mute, but must say

"It is golden," while the leaves
stir and fall with a sound
that is not a name.

It is in the silence
that my hope is, and my aim.
A song whose lines

I cannot make or sing
sounds men's silence
like a root. Let me say

and not mourn: the world
lives in the death of speech
and sings there.

For Steve

2009-10-01T21:33:00.002-04:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. Many a more eloquent poet has pieced together beautifully the words to describe the essence of autumn. It is a thoughtful, "romantic" time of year as my friend Melanie Fox says. So I will not attempt to capture with words what my senses try to capture as each precious day of fall slips by; but I do want to share some of the thoughts that swirl through my head like leaves on Riverside Drive. Fall makes me think of my brother Steve - more than usual. This is for several reasons - his birthday is October 7th, he loves pumpkin pie, and he is extra busy in the fall with extra cows to milk, crops to harvest, and he likes the chilly weather. So this poem is for my brother - one of my very favorite people and a true blessing from God.

The Man Born to Farming by Wendell Berry

The Grower of Trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,
whose hands reach into the ground and sprout
to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death
yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down
in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.
His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.
What miraculous seed has he swallowed
That the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth
Like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water
Descending in the dark?

This Is Where

2009-09-01T21:49:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share some wonderful lyrics from the Wailin Jennys - Enjoy :)

The wind howls 'cross the ice floes
Send the frozen snow skimming
A river on a river hardened over
It doesn't know the way it's going
Is it north or south or westward
It just glides across the shoreline 'til it's over

You came for me in fast forward
On a claim for something ordered
A way through and past the history that held you
I'd tell my own story through you
Tell it loud to never lose you
A moth caught be the flame it could cannot measure
And there we go again, wishing something bolder
Trying to push and pull inside this moment
Trying to mold this life within our hands

This is where the whole world keeps on turning
This is where we come undone...undone

Will they measure me by branches
Count the rings and take my ashes
Mark the ground where I fell and carry on
Or will we bite against the silence
Fill our days with noise and violence
Not recognize our hearts when we are done

There we'll go again wishing something bolder
Trying to push and pull inside this moment
Trying to mold this life within our hands

This is where the whole world keeps on turning
This is where we come undone

We don't know where it's going
Is it north or south or westward
It just glides across the shoreline 'til it's over

All that glitters is gold?: How dairy farmers have bought into the fool's gold of herd retirement and gender enhanced semen

2009-08-21T19:38:00.014-04:00

Having grown up on a dairy farm, spending countless hours milking cows, I was appalled when I heard about the "herd retirement" being done by CWT (Cooperatives Working Together). "The Herd Retirement Program reduces milk production by reducing the number of cows in the national dairy herd. This is done on a voluntary basis in which farmers wishing to get out of the dairy business bid to do so. If their bid is selected, their cows are permanently removed from milk production. CWT has executed six herd retirements since it began in 2003, removing a total of 276,000 cows that produced over five billion pounds of milk" (http://www.cwt.coop./about/about_whatis.html). CWT is part of an attempt to help create a more stable price for milk by decreasing milk supply, therefore increasing the demand, and subsequently, the price farmers receive for milk. However, according to a recent piece on National Public Radio, the price farmers are being paid for raw milk is currently at a 40 year low, making this slaughter of whole herds of milk cows, many in their prime, seem not only repulsive, but senseless and unjustified (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112002639). Part of CWT's seeming futility is due in part to the increasing use of sexed semen in the dairy industry, which is tipping the scale in favor of more milk cows on the market, not fewer.

Many of the very same producers who pay into CWT use sexed semen, also known as "gender enhanced semen." Sexed semen is a fairly new phenomenon that has emerged in the dairy industry in the past 10 years, allowing farmers to purchase, albeit at an elevated price with a lower conception rate, semen that produces 90% female offspring. The price difference between traditional semen and sexed semen continues to become more equal, and its use is on the increase, with technology improving its quality and affordability at an astonishing rate. Soon sexed semen with a lower percentage of female offspring, but still significantly higher than traditional semen (75% compared to 30%-40%), at both a comparable conception rate and price, will be on the market and readily available to dairy farmers.

Now, you may wonder, what does sexed semen have to do with herd retirement? Well, the simultaneous slaughter of mature cows and birth of new heifer calves to replace them hardly seems an intelligent endeavor: farmers who are both paying into CWT and using gender enhanced semen are canceling out the price stabilization efforts of the herd retirement project.* Not only that, but sexed semen is producing replacement cows at a greater rate than cows are being "retired," arguably contributing to not only the alarmingly low price of milk, but also to the reduced market value of replacement heifers, meaning dairy farmers are facing bottom-low prices on two fronts - the price they receive for raw milk and the price they receive for any extra cattle they might have sold for a profitable price in the past.

So the question begs to be asked "Why do we (dairy farmers) shoot ourselves in the foot?" Well, I posit, like many people who find themselves in an economically vulnerable situation, farmers tend to think about the short term: how to turn the greatest profit in the quickest time. Farmers tend to think with a "me" mentality instead of a "we" mentality (like most Americans for that matter - we are after all an individualistic society, not a collectivist society). In the past an excess of heifer calves was every farmer's dream; it meant enough replacements for cows lost due to old age, unexpected illness or injury, or those culled for personal reasons ( - I just didn't like that one!) and the ones that weren't needed as replacements were a valuable commodity to be sold for a noteworthy profit to help pay the bills or buy that new piece of equipment you had your eye on. Unfortunately that is hardly the case these days when the price difference of an extra heifer and a mature cow is so insignificant that farmers are selling cows they would have kept in the past simply because it makes more sense to keep the newer model than the older one that has a few more miles. So back to the point, the price of replacement heifers, like the current price of milk, does not (or just barely if you are an exceptional manager) cover operating costs and slaughtering more herds of productive milk cows is not going to change that if those cows that are taken off the market are quickly replaced by
new ones being brought into the world at an unnatural rate.

Returning to the previous theme, I bet you are wondering about my statement on the "we" vs "me" way of looking at the world, right? Well, I would like to suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, if farmers would think about how our individual pursuit for survival might affect the industry, and in return, each farmer, we would be better off. For example, sexed semen if only one farmer used it would mean he/she would have a valuable commodity that would be a significant benefit for his/her operation. However, when a notable number of farmers are using gender enhanced semen to the same ends, those ends are very different - the market, as sensitive as it is, tips in the favor of the middleman because now there are too many replacement heifers and too much milk, driving the price down to the point where it ceases to be a living wage for farmers. Farmers have fallen prey to the promise of abundant heifers and high milk prices - and now both milk and heifers are abundant, but prices are slim. Let's hope next time the industry puts the common good before individual greed.

If you would like to read some more on this topic, there is an interesting article in the Journal of Dairy Science on the impact of sexed semen on the dairy industry (http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/91/2/847.pdf , J. Dairy Sci. 91:847–856 doi:10.3168/jds.2007-0536). The author is hopeful that the impact of gender enhanced semen will be temporary - let's hope he is right and that the market finds its balance before it is too late for many farmers to recover.

*It is my opinion that slaughtering whole herds of cows indiscriminately is a despicable act, regardless of its profitability.

Home

2009-08-18T21:43:00.002-04:00

One tough decision down, a lifetime to go. I will be making Columbus my home for the next while. While I will inevitably miss my roots, I am at peace with my decision to branch out beyond Wayne county. It feels like I am beginning to find my stride here and that is a good feeling. So thanks to the fine folks at CRIS, la Turbina, and Columbus Menno, who have made me feel so incredibly welcomed and of course to my two roommates who have graciously and generously made space for me, and of course thanks to my family for being supportive, even when having me home would be easier for you. I feel at peace. The future will be a challenge and an adventure, sin duda, but I look forward to what it may bring and I give gracias a Dios for the wonderful friends who enrich my existence. You know who you are :)

Fun summer fotos de Columbus

2009-08-05T22:25:00.001-04:00

Tropicana...Can I get a decision please??

2009-08-05T22:04:00.005-04:00

It seems the older we get the more concentrated our decisions become - packed with the potential to more greatly alter life's path, perhaps because there is less time to water down those decisions if they turn out a bit too sour or a bit too sweet. As a girl, the decisions were easy - one cookie or two? - which outfit to wear to church? But now that one cookie or two can mean the difference between one pound or two?? And which outfit to wear to church is by far dwarfed by which city to go to church in?? Which graduate school to go to?? The decisions keep getting harder, and now my mom can't make them for me....
It's up to me to make my decisions and then live with them...or perhaps just make decisions I can live with. And that's hard to do when you don't know how they are going to turn out, what flavor life is going to take after that decision is poured....because life isn't one can of decision and 3 cans of time, stir and enjoy...Life is just concentrated decisions...not orange juice :)

Redirecting, redirecting

2009-05-28T21:50:00.006-04:00

So I noticed it has been 4 months since my last blog! And I decided that was shameful so here is an update (not that anyone other than myself still reads this thing :). I have now been working as a Bilingual Help Me Grow service coordinator for 3 months. The job is not without it's challenges, and often I find myself asking "What am I doing working with children?" For those of you who know me, it is no surprise that I have no experience working with children and neither is it my passion in life.

Often my work seems more about having the right form filled out at the right time, and not so much about connecting families with the resources they so urgently need. It's a challenge not being from Columbus and not knowing what organizations do...in other words, not knowing what resources are available or how to tell folks how to get there...aka directions, something I am awful at. If not for my precious GPS I would not ever know where I was or where I needed to go.

And that's how I feel in life too....I wish I had a GPS to tell me what road to take, what turn to make. But God whispers softly, God leaves me the space to make my own decisions, to get lost. And I seek God's guidance and yet feel lost...and comforted in that even if my choice is perhaps not the perfect path, God is at work in it even when I can't see or understand the movement of the divine.

A New Beginning

2009-01-16T14:30:00.006-04:00

So if you follow my blog you are probably wondering what happened since I have been ever so lazy about posting for about the last month. Well, I am no longer in Bolivia, which is part of what inspired me to change the title of my blog.

The past month has been a blur of traveling, spending the holidays with family, getting back into the groove of milking cows again, and beginning the search for a new job and a new beginning in Columbus.

As many of you probably have guessed, searching for a new job in the middle of an economic crisis is no easy task. That being said, I feel hopeful that a door will open, and if not I will have to make the best of where I am and what I am doing until an opportunity presents itself. This is not to say that I am sitting on my couch waiting for that opportunity to just plop itself down next to me; I am doing my part to look for opportunities, but with the tranquility of knowing that I cannot force things to happen.

So I find myself in this kind of weird space of being somewhere I wasn't planning to be, trying to find a new start. For those of you who know what it is like to have your friends scattered all over, you can relate to the feeling of diaspora - it is hard to be home, knowing that I am "home" but that many of my friends are far from where I am. I am excited for the future and I am enjoying being in a space where I feel supported and loved, and at the same time I am looking forward to being surrounded by new friends and a new community, a new beginning.

No digas que conces el mundo si no conoces Moro Moro

2008-12-08T18:25:00.002-04:00

Happy...Chicken Day?

2008-12-01T18:45:00.003-04:00

Well, ok it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Turkey day, but it was still a pretty tasty member of the fowl family over which to give our thanks to God for the abundance of the year. Thanksgiving for this rag-tag batch of MCCers from all over the place (ok, just Canada the US and Zimbabwe), came on Saturday, but the preparations began on Friday. So we cooked and baked and prepared for 2 days, the shopping the bread and pie baking, peeling potatoes and snapping beans.

Usually I just make the mashed potatoes (a duty which my brother Bob has taken over in my absence) so this was my first true experience in being responsible for all of Thanksgiving…a rather daunting task indeed. We started out the day with apple dumplings and icecream and argentine sweet bread, but the full Thanksgiving meal boasted roasted chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy (a mysterious miracle), sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, jello salad, pumpkin pie (yes, it was delicious perfection), and peanutbutter pie, complete with homemade bread. Thankfully it was truly tasty and worthy of the gut-wrenching state of filled-ness that follows eating more than you should because you just can’t stop yourself from gorging yourself on the once a year wonder that is Thanksgiving - an event made possible by teamwork, good company and good food :)

The right combination...

2008-11-23T17:59:00.002-04:00

It's hard to understand why things happen the way they do. Life is such a complex combination of conditional circumstances that change in unexpected ways depending on what we bring and how we react to them. And when those circumstances overwhelm what we bring, our own reactions prove disappointing. I don't know what the "right" combination of circumstances is for me, even if I know what I bring. I don't know how or what will work well with my jumbled up coctail of personality traits, flaws and talents. Sometimes that not knowing leads to unhealthy combinations and I don't do so well and neither do the circumstances. So I guess it means waiting them out for a better day and hoping next time I choose better. But for now I just wish I was as invisible as these circumstances make me feel....

Learning Tour adventures

2008-11-14T17:08:00.011-04:00

This past week has been quite the adventure. Sunday morning arrived the learning tour, greeted by a bright sunny Santa Cruz day. After a 26 hour journey and despite a 4 hour time difference, the 11 weary travelers were in good spirits. These fine folks from the West Coast came to see the fruit of their labor – they are folks who work to organize MCC relief sales in their regions and were coming to see the MCC work their hard work helps make possible.

After getting settled in and resting we were off to the Sunday afternoon market. By this point the sky warned of rain, but we were not to be deterred. The rains came down and the wind kicked up, we got wet, but still spirits were not dampened. After the market we were off to Alexander’s Café for dinner and a good cup of coffee. Folks then headed to a baptismal service at the local Mennonite church, arriving home to rest at 10 pm after a long, but good day.

Monday morning came bright and early. A quick jaunt off to the airport to pickup the one lost piece of luggage and then it was off the Guardería Samuelito to eat lunch with the staff and kids. Since it had rained quite heavily the day before, getting to our next stop was a bit of a challenge. We were headed to the Plan…and I wasn’t sure I had memorized every twist and turn of the micro route to get to where I needed to go and the micro driver head never been to where we were going. My faithful learning tour Laurie and I were a bit concerned, but once we got our bearings there was no stopping us! We arrived safely at San Silvestre just in time to learn about MCC’s Urban Program and then off to visit Centro Menno, the resource center for Bolivia’s more than 50,000 colony Mennonites. Dinner rolled around and time for the always helpful and interesting chat with veteran MCCer Phil Bender and then a bed time snack of coffee and cookies to end the day.

On the way to Moro Moro...

The following day, Tuesday, we were off bright and early in our little rented micro, headed to Moro Moro. The heavens smiled down on us with a gorgeous day to highlight the natural beauty of the already ostentatious scenery of mountainous green and brown earth tones and the occasional donkey, of course. A quick picnic in a small town plaza and back on the road we went. We were making excellent time with our fantastic driver at the helm…until we hit a 2 hour roadblock for construction. It gave us a chance to stretch our legs and get out of the micro after 6 hours in the micro. A couple of hours later, and numerous twisty-turns in the road, Moro Moro appeared through the misty fog. We arrived in Moro Moro just in time to get settled in and have a chili and baked potato dinner with the folks of MCC’s Rural Program.

A herd of goats joins us on the hike!

We awoke Wednesday to a rainy, cold day. The once dusty streets had converted into mud, but there was no stopping us from going further up the mountain to visit an MCC water project in the small village of La Senda. Our faithful little micro finally reached an impasse and we had no choice but to go the rest of the way on foot, a 40 minute hike through the mud and the rain. We arrived at La Senda and ducked out of the rain into the mud brick house to dry off and enjoy some home made wheat bread with a steaming hot cup of api (a purple corn drink with sugar and cinnamon). After a few hours we made our way back to La Abra where we had left our micro and after a first hand trial of MCC’s dry latrines we were off to Moro Moro once more for a quick lunch and then on to Samaipata.

A view from the driver's seat...

The road back to Samaipata, now quite muddy, was quite an adventure to navigate for our micro driver. The micro slipped around quite a bit on that precarious road, but gracias a Dios, with our heart rates a bit elevated, we made it safe and sound to Samaipata about 4 hours later.

Samaipata is an adorable little mountain town that has become home to many folks from other places, in large part because of its breath taking scenery and its paradise-like climate. We had the pleasure of staying at an organic farm with guest housing, called La Vispera.

The Gorgeous Gardens of La Vispera

La Vispera is a charming, idyllic place with gorgeous herb and vegetable gardens after my mother’s own heart. The owner, a very friendly Dutch gentleman named Pieter, was most gracious to us and the view was as good as the organic breakfast we were served the next morning. After coffee, a trek around the plaza and lunch, we headed up to the pre-incan ruins known as “El Fuerte” and then back on the road for the 3 hour drive to Santa Cruz. We arrived back safely last evening just in time to go eat some argentine steak at Los Lomitos (I had grilled vegetables and cheesy rice :).

El Fuerte

The view from El Fuerte

The adventure continued for the group today as they visited a Mennonite Colony and tomorrow they will be off to La Paz to visit a Ten Thousand Villages partner. My part of the adventure ended on Thursday evening, but it has been a real pleasure to share part of my week with such fine folks!

Ponderings on theodicy

2008-11-02T15:10:00.005-04:00

Two weeks have past since my visit home and I am now feeling once again acclimated to life in Santa Cruz, but this time it is different. My soul feels more at rest these days, not just because the political tension has eased, but because my own tension of being in an unhealthy space for me is coming to a close. The proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" is in sight and I have hope, even though my future is anything but certain, that something meaningful lies ahead.
Change is stressful, even good change, but I am looking forward to starting new again.

This past week has brought to mind theodicy - one of those big words for one of life's big questions: how do we understand God as good in a world where so many bad things happen? This was the question we were pondering this past week at Friday morning Bible study. The answer most often suggested was that we need to be faithful - that God is testing us.... But....if God is the one doing these things to us, then what is the point of satan?

I find it rather disturbing that we would rather attribute the bad things that happen to us in the world to God, who is good, than to the forces of evil... It seems we only relegate spiritual attacks to satan and God is responsible for the evil that happens to us in the physical realm....

This makes no sense to me. God did not test Job - God allowed Job to be tested...by satan. God did not kill Job's family or cause Job to be afflicted by disease - satan did. God restored Job's health and Job's family...

I struggle to wrap my brain around the idea that God kills people with disease and natural disasters and wars. I have even heard people say that Katrina was God's judgment - a thought I find both repulsive and offensive. If God punishes people for being sinful, then what atonement is there? What grace have we received?

God as the author of evil and harm in the world is nonsensical to me. I do not think "God does things to us" when bad things happen. We can't control so much of what does happen to us, because the choices others make will affect us and the choices we each make affect others and we live in a world that is not perfect...

I believe God sustains us and loves us and uses the hard times to make us stronger. I'm not convinced that everything that happens happens for a reason. I say this because sometimes people just do really stupid things - I think God in God's goodness can use our stupidities for good, but I don't think that means they were intended to occur by some pre-mapped out "plan" or "will" God has for us, because if that is the case then wouldn't we be little more than puppets in God's puppet show?

I think God's all powerfulness is perhaps best demonstrated in God's restraint and vulnerability... I know it sounds perhaps heretical to describe God as vulnerable, but I believe that when we hurt ourselves and others that causes God pain and God chooses to be vulnerable, to feel that pain by loving us enough to give us free will.

I posit the suffering in the world that we experience, the bad things that happen to good folks, is not the will of an all-powerful, judgmental God, but the very opposite - exactly what God never wanted to happen, but that God helps us through. So maybe we should give God the credit for getting us through the bad stuff and even re-creating the bad stuff into good, instead of blaming God for the evil and violence that often results from a collective human choice to love self more than the common good (at the root of violence is the self...), to love self more than God (satan did this...). Maybe it's time to blame evil for evil and to recognize that sometimes we contribute to our own suffering and the suffering of others by making less than stellar choices...

Bad things happen to good people...but why blame God for that?

An Update on Bolivian Politics...

2008-11-02T12:40:00.002-04:00

Hi folks, so I promised a long overdue update on the situation here in Bolivia, and since Jim Shultz does a much better job then I - here is his article for you from a couple of weeks ago. Happy reading!
http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Morales and Opposition Agree to a January 25 Vote on New Constitution

Just before 1pm – before a crowd 100,000 strong, that packed Plaza Murillo so tightly that even elbow room was scarce – President Evo Morales signed into law a measure setting a January vote on his party's embattled proposal for a new constitution.Approval of the law caps a process that began more than two years ago with election of delegates to a constitution-writing Constituent Assembly. That process ran through a national battle over how many votes should be required to approve it; violence over demands by Sucre that it be named the country's capital; a political showdown in a voter referendum last August; and finally a week of violence in September in Pando and Santa Cruz that left more than 30 people dead.The vote by Congress today was supported by more than 2/3 of its members and by Morales' MAS party along with the three major parties of the opposition, PODEMOS, UN, and MNR. The vote on the constitution is set for January 25, 2009.
[Here is a link to The Democracy Center's November 2007 briefing paper: Re-Founding Bolivia: A Nation's Struggle Over Constitutional Reform and other articles we've published on the constitutional reform process.]How did Bolivia Get Here?How did Bolivia – a nation so polarized that serious analysts spoke of 'civil war' – arrive at a place of such startling agreement (at least on the decision to hold a vote)? Three events were key.The first was the August 10 elections. Before then the political duel between Morales and his opponents, most notably the renegade governors, seemed roughly balanced. It was an election launched by one of Morales' fiercest opponents among the governors, Cochabamba's Manfred Reyes Villa. But when the votes were counted, 67% of Bolivia's electorate sided with the President and both Reyes Villa and the governor of La Paz, another Morales adversary, were trounced out of office.After months of the opposition talking tough it turned out that all their bluster had only solidified Morales' base more broadly behind him.The second event that led to today's agreement was Bolivia's own version of 9/11, the massacre on that date in Pando that left more than 30 campesino backers of Morales dead. Coming on the heels of opposition mobs in Santa Cruz torching and looting public buildings there, the opposition combined its loss at the polls with a loss of whatever moral authority it might have had up until then. The balance of political clout tilted quickly and heavily toward Morales.Finally, there is the intervention just after the Pando massacre of the other South American Presidents. Led by the two women, Cristina Fernandez of Argentina and Michelle Bachalet of Chile, the continent's leaders wasted no time in weighing in diplomatically. At a summit held in Chile with Morales at the center the Presidents made clear that he had their support, told opposition leaders to forget any dreams they might have had about independent deals to sell gas and oil from their departments, and called on all sides to negotiate.Those negotiations began in Cochabamba nearly a month ago and stretched into La Paz this week, given added urgency by a 200 kilometer march to the capital of tens of thousands of Morales supporters demanding a national vote on the constitution. Opponents had criticized the march as it headed toward La Paz, deeming it a violent mob.But as the multitudes camped overnight in the historic plaza at the steps of Congress, the sounds were not of smashing windows, but of music and song. A starker contrast could not be found between that scene and the one hosted by Morales opponents just over a year ago in Sucre, when they used violence to shut down the Constituent Assembly.What Did Evo Give Away?It will take a while to get the details on exactly what was negotiated in the last days in La Paz. At first glance it seems like plenty.Of the 411 articles in the proposed constitution, more than 100 were modified in some way according to Bolivian news reports. Opposition leader Jorge Quiroga of PODEMOS, Morales' chief opponent in the 2005 election, was boasting on CNN mid-afternoon that his party had secured more than 200 different changes. Among them are significant concessions from MAS on provisions dealing with the media and establishment of mechanisms for "social control" of public agencies, something that had been a key demand from Morales backers.Bolivian news reports also say that Morales has agreed to recognize and support the autonomy statutes approved in four departments. One newspaper, Los Tiempos, also reported that the key issue of land reform had been delegated to "future action." What that means precisely is more than unclear. The devil is in the details and the details have yet to be fully analyzed.The issue, however, that leapt to the forefront in the final negotiations was one simple to understand and close to the heart of the politicians on both sides – presidential re-election. Under Bolivia's current constitution presidents may not serve consecutive terms. It is five years than out, though they can seek to return to office five years later, as Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada did in 2002.Originally Morales and MAS wanted unlimited opportunities for re-election. That eventually got negotiated, in the document approved by the Constituent Assembly, down to letting the President seek just one additional term. But since it was not to include the five-year span Morales is currently serving, the chance at two additional terms translated out to the possibility of a Morales presidency through 2019, a poison scenario for the opposition.The compromise worked out this week, and the basis for Congress' approval, is a concession by Morales that the term Morales would seek would count. If approved in January, the new constitution would allow Morales to campaign for just one more consecutive term, in elections that would be held in December 2009. That limits Morales' potential presidential horizon to 2014, a substantial concession.Two Long RoadsBolivia's constitutional story is one of two long roads.The first is the one that led to today. The demand for a constituent assembly, which goes back decades in many indigenous communities in Bolivia, was envisioned originally as a process that excluded politicians and political parties. The idea was to create, at a national level, a process akin to community decision making at the local level. The people would be sovereign and the politicians and parties would have to sit on the sidelines and watch.That vision of things went out the window fast and early when, shortly after taking office in 2006, Morales and MAS had to negotiate with their opponents in Congress to win approval of a law convening the vote for delegates to that Assembly. In a deal mutually beneficial to politicians of all parties, they were not only let back into the process but put in charge of it. Candidates had to be affiliated with a political party to run, and the Assembly ended up looking pretty much like Congress, but with another name and a less-decorated meeting venue.The scrambled negotiations this month between Morales and the Congress put the political icing on a political cake. In the end it was not an Assembly of the people or a process of long deliberation that did the final sculpting of Bolivia's likely new Magna Carta. It was politicians acting in haste to cut a deal.The other long road is the one that comes next. In any nation, but in Bolivia especially, the distance between words on paper and actual changes in people's day-to-day lives is measured not in weeks or months but in years and decades. What difference a new constitution will make in terms of broader economic opportunity, deeper accountability of government, or greater social justice is unclear.Nevertheless, for those who have invested great hope and emotion in the fight for a constitution they want to call their own, today is a historic day in Bolivia. Given Morales' strong backing in August, it seems unlikely that he and his supporters will have trouble securing the simple majority support they will need in January. So the constitution approved by the Congress seems clearly headed for enactment.It is also a historic day for those who favor peace over conflict. Once again, after having looked over into the abyss, the nation has inched itself back onto the ledge. In Bolivia the "most dangerous road in the world" is not the one that foreigners dare on mountain bikes that stretches from La Paz to Coroico. The most dangerous road in Bolivia is the one that marks the route for political change. Today that road looks both a little more hopeful, and a little safer as well.

Crossroad Rest Stop

2008-10-20T19:00:00.000-04:00

“…[S]tand at the crossroads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls…” Jeremiah 6:16b (NRSV)

The words of the prophet Jeremiah seem most fitting for the place in life in which I currently find myself. Standing, looking, and asking are three actions that often imply waiting – an activity I do not particularly enjoy, perhaps because it feels like I am not doing anything when I should be doing something, which converts stillness from a restful state to one of agitation.

However, my agitation with stillness was eased by the following quote from renowned peace scholar John Paul Lederach who, in his most recent book, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace, states “Stillness is not inactivity. It is the presence of disciplined activity without movement…” But activity without movement is an elusive concept to grasp, especially when I find myself in a location where I do not understand my place.

But Lederach echoes Jeremiah’s words saying: “Slow down, Stop. Watch what moves around you. Feel what moves in you.” So I “stand at the crossroads” and wait for direction, for movement, for understanding.

Lederach identifies this urgency to discover our place as “the soul of place” that calls us “…to understand the nature of the place where we find ourselves and the nature of our place in that location,” something that has escaped me in the past months, leaving me with a greater sense of restlessness than stillness.

Despite feeling as though my “soul of place” continues to call without rest, I am not without hope. Lederach states: “Those who have struggled and continue to wrestle with ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Where am I?’ nurture a sense of awe and connection. They build the soul of place. They come to see themselves as part of something, not as in control of something.”

And so I am trying to come to terms with not being in control, and to see myself as part of something bigger and to be still in the waiting for “the ancient paths, where the good way lies” to become clear. I don’t know what those paths will look like for me on the map of life or where they will lead me, but I trust the words of the prophet that, if I walk “where the good way lies,” my soul will find rest.

.

Images from home

2008-10-19T15:16:00.005-04:00

An escape to nature: Santiago de Chiquitos

2008-09-25T16:27:00.012-04:00

Friday afternoon we (my SALTers, my friend Delicia and I) finally managed to escape the city of Santa Cruz for more tranquil tierra in Santiago de Chiquitos - a mere 12 hour train ride away. Unfortunately half the group wasn't feeling so good before setting out and so one stayed behind, but those who went were able to enjoy a relaxing weekend away from the noise and pollution of the city.

This is the gorgeous view out to the "Escuelita" - a remodeled school house that now serves as the little hotel where we stayed for the weekend.

For a country girl, Santiago has twice been my oasis from the static of the city. Oh, yes cows and chickens. Home, home on the range! Nothing like the smell of fresh country air and the feel of red dirt under foot!

The life cycle, from adorable little chick to fried chicken for lunch....but they sure are cute!

Saturday we carried our tired, train weary bodies up the "Cerro" - a good 2 hour hike up a rocky terrain, overlooking the valley.

With each passing day I become more convinced that human beings were not intended to be isolated from nature. The work of God's genius is life giving, enriching our existence and our experience of the world itself. (From left to right: Caleb Detweiler, Sithabile Ndlovu, Peter Wigginton, Heidi Banman, Kathleen Vitt, and Toni Hiebert).

The weekend ended on a good, but sad note; we left behind Peter - our SALTer who is working with the Youth Orchestra in Santiago. The rest of us made it safely back to the city without incident - except me getting stung by a "peto" (a vicious little bee) and my hand then swelling up like a pumpkin - but nothing a little red mud can't heal!

A Prayer for the peace of Bolivia

2008-09-14T16:47:00.003-04:00

Holy Father, Lord of life and history,
we make ours the words of your son Jesus:
"My peace I leave with you, my peace I give you."

With an open and grateful heart
we invoke you today in this Bolivian land
blessed with every kind of material and spiritual good

Disposses our spirit of hate, of violence,
of resentment and of division between brothers.

Help us to surpass fear and mistrust,
to cure the wounds of our past,
to surpass our differences and unkindnesses,
to overcome the errors and injustices against
the most poor and marginalized.

Concede to us the grace of your forgiveness
with the end that we too
will be able to forgive one another
and together construct a better Bolivia
via roads of reconciliation, of truth,
of justice, of fraternity and of peace.

...We place in your hands our patria
so that in her a lasting peace might reign.

This prayer was taken from the Catholic "Conferencia Episcopal de Bolivia"

Conflict and a call to Peace

2008-09-13T14:51:00.006-04:00

After a week of violent protests, tensions continue to rise here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The press is reporting the deployment of military troops from La Paz and Cochabamba to the eastern departments of Pando and Santa Cruz.

Until this point, President Evo Morales has publicly prohibited the armed forces from using arms against the Bolivian people, which has helped to temper the loss of life, but not prevent it completely.

In the spirit of the call to peace and dialogue issued by Bolivian Cardinal Julio Terrazas, there is encouraging news of dialogue between the president and the governors of the eastern states of Bolivia.

Please pray for peace in Bolivia, for an end to the conflict, and a mutual effort to construct peace, a wholistic peace that promotes the dignity and well-being of humankind.

For more news reports see the following links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7614784.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/12/bolivia.stateofseige/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Link for more information

2008-09-10T21:04:00.003-04:00

Here is a link to a BBC article on the protests in Santa Cruz - the article is pasted below. The link shows a video as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7607158.stm

Anti-Morales protests hit Bolivia

The opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz saw violent protests
Anti-government protesters have stormed public buildings in eastern Bolivia amid a deepening row between President Evo Morales and his opponents.
The biggest protest was in Santa Cruz, where demonstrators raided several offices and clashed with riot police.
Bolivia's energy-rich eastern provinces oppose Mr Morales's attempts to redirect gas revenues to poorer areas.
Troops have meanwhile been deployed to guard gas pipelines to guarantee exports to Brazil and Argentina.
Since last week, anti-government demonstrators have been blocking roads and occupying buildings in eastern regions, which are home to Bolivia's important natural gas reserves.
But Tuesday saw an escalation of their action and some of the worst violence in the country for several months.

The government condemned the unrest as a "civil coup"
Hundreds of people raided the state-run telecommunications company, the tax agency, the local state TV network and the land reform institute in the city of Santa Cruz.
Clashes broke out between the protesters and riot police, who were forced to take cover.
Trouble also flared in the provinces of Beni, Pando, and Tarija as opposition activists raided public buildings.
"Fascist, violent and racist people attacked institutions...that belong to all Bolivians," said Interior Minister Alfredo Rada.
In the Chaco area, protesters stormed a station controlling a natural gas pipeline and tried unsuccessfully to cut exports to Brazil, officials quoted by Reuters news agency said.
Reform
Bolivia has the second largest natural gas reserves in South America but they are situated in the east of the country, where Mr Morales faces his fiercest opponents.
Brazil, and to a lesser extent Argentina, are Bolivia's major gas customers and any interruption to supply would have a serious effect on both economies as well as damaging Bolivia's reputation as a reliable supplier, says the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Buenos Aires.
On Monday, the government announced that soldiers were being sent to guard natural gas fields and pipelines.

Mr Morales came to power in 2006 promising reform
"The government will not allow the interruption of natural gas exports," said Energy Secretary Carlos Villegas.
Shortly afterwards Mr Villegas was moved to the development planning ministry while Saul Avalos took over at the energy ministry.
The changes were part of a cabinet reshuffle seen as an attempt by President Morales to tackle the growing opposition to his plans to radically reform the way Bolivia is governed.
The president wants to give more power to the country's indigenous and poor communities, by carrying out land reform and redistributing gas revenues.
Mr Morales's attempts to change the constitution are fiercely opposed by opposition governors who run five of Bolivia's nine regions.
They and their supporters want greater autonomy as well as more control over revenues of natural gas in their areas.
Mr Morales is seeking approval in Congress to hold a referendum on 7 December on his proposed constitutional changes.

Uncertainty in Santa Cruz

2008-09-10T20:38:00.003-04:00

The pop, pop, pop of explosions is a haunting, telling sound. It has been going on for a couple of days now...the latest noise in an ongoing controversy.

I would be lying if I claimed to understand well what the conflict is about, but I know enough to say that it is about revenue from gas taxes and a new constitution for Bolivia, both of which Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, supports and therefore finds himself as the primary target of this recent disturbance.

However, Mr. Morales, even if feeling the political aftershocks of the Santa Cruz riots in his home in La Paz, is far removed from the destruction being done here, primarily by the Cruceñista youth movement who have organized the taking of several government buildings, including the nationalized phone company Entel and the local bus and train station in addition to others, even the national airport, which was quickly re-taken by the military.

Fortunately, the loss of life has not been large in number - 1 is the current death count, but every human life is precious and no amount of money from gas revenues can return that person to his or her family. There have been numerous persons injured and the excitement of the mob before destruction is contagious...

No one knows when the ransacking and rioting will end, but hopefully soon. Hopefully soon the roar of micros and taxis will not be echoed by exploding flares and tear gas... Hopefully soon we will all be able to travel back and forth freely as we did before.

It is a concerning thing to witness...the destruction of a mob. The city is a different place. It is as if the people involved allow the spirit of violence, the spirit of destruction to compromise their better judgment, their better self who respects human life and public property.

I am no expert, and don't quite know what to think, but I do know Jesus' example shows me, tells me, that violence is never justifiable...that human life is God-created and holy and that life is to be given, not taken. It makes me sad to see humans harm each other...it makes me sad that politics and manipulation have made a mob out of good people.

mayado mayado....

2008-09-06T13:34:00.001-04:00

So, after 2 days of being sick I'm alive and well for the most part. Stomache ache gone, headache gone, fever gone! Yay! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I was pretty miserable, but thankfully my friend Juana dropped off some ibuprofen for me and three pills later I was feeling fine and dandy. Apparently just a mild case of "mayado," some kind of flu transmitted by mosquitos...such unpleasant little plagues. But yes, I am doing well again so no worries =)

One sly cat

2008-08-31T19:30:00.003-04:00

This is Wilbur. Wilbur is a long-time MCCer. He loves long naps in the hammock, eating, torturing birds, and lots of attention.

Wilbur loves people - especially me =) (Actually, that's just because he know's I'll feed him and hold him when ever he wants - yes he is a bit spoiled).

This is Wilbur's sly, smug, "yes I am a handsome devil" face.

Orientation ago!

2008-08-24T18:53:00.003-04:00

So after several months of anticipation, my SALTers and YAMEN! have safely arrived and spent their first week in Bolivia. It has been a joy getting to know them and learn their names (some faster than others), likes, and dislikes, and all the special gifts they bring to their respective assignments.

The group has been a true blessing for me. Goodness knows this could have ended up a bit of a mess, considering my inexperience in my job and the size of the group (7 in all).

Gracias a Dios, all has gone well so far. I'm sure there will be bumps and challenges along the way, but we will learn and grow together. They have been a blessing - a very chill, relaxed group who have been willing to go with the flow.

I have great hope for what they will experience in the next year and the potential for what they can learn and contribute. I hope I can help facilitate their experience and be a support for them the way others have been for me.

You can't say you've seen the world if you haven't been to Moro Moro

2008-08-11T10:35:00.004-04:00

Friday afternoon we (myself and several of my MCC co-workers - Anita, Sául and Sandra) headed out to Moro Moro for a workshop and some pre-arrival preparations for the new influx of volunteers who will be arriving in the next month.

As usual, I was quite excited to be going to my favorite spot in Bolivia and was looking forward to the long, scenic bus ride. However, it so happens that it rained all day Friday, which wasn't a problem until we hit the part of the road that isn't paved. So about 7 hours into our 10 hour trip, the bus got stuck and couldn't go any further (at one point the whole back end was nearly sliding off the road toward the abyss). So we slept on the bus and finally 8 hours later the mud had dried enough and it was light enough that we could continue. We finally rolled into Moro Moro 17 hours after we had left Santa Cruz.

Fortunately, the trip back was much better and we had a great weekend! The workshop was able to be post-poned until the afternoon, and I was able to meet with the people I needed to see. So after a re-engerizing hike we loaded up the truck to head back to Santa Cruz with Patro - the director of rural programs and an excellent driver who got us home safe and sound :)

Headed out for a hike!

A beautiful day in Moro Moro!

A dream come true - isn't he adorable?!?

Loaded up and ready for the long trip back to Sta. Cruz!

My new casita =)

2008-07-28T18:13:00.003-04:00

My new living space!

A little bit of the kitchenette =)

A small stove for my little kitchen!

Don Pedro! The ever-handy MCC handyman fixing my shower! (The first night I used it I about got electricuted! Showers like this one are called "widow-makers" - I now know why)

My new backyard - an oasis of green.

"I was hungry and you...built me a huge Jesus??"

2008-07-23T16:24:00.004-04:00

This is believed to be the largest statue of Christ in the world - it's located in Cochabamba, Bolivia - the poorest country in South America... The statue looks out over the city of Cochabamba and serves as an excellent land mark - all you have to do is "keep you eyes on Jesus" and you won't lose your way in this city of more than a million people...But I wonder if eyes were on Jesus when this statue of him was constructed...Even the rocks cry out right? I wonder what this monstrosity would say if it could speak? What would Jesus say of this creation made in his "honor"? Personally, I think he would say "Feed my sheep" "Care for the widows and orphans" "Love your neighbor and your enemy" - But I don't think he would say to invest your resources in a larger than life statue...

Goodbyes and New Beginnings

2008-07-19T16:07:00.005-04:00

The past couple of weeks I've had the chance to do some serious traveling! My friends Tasha and Jess have been here to visit and we were able to go to see the Garden City - Cochabamba! - where we saw gorgeous parks, flowers, museums and went for a nice hike outside of the city.
It's been great having friends visiting, but now it is also time for me to say goodbye to a lot of wonderful people. This weekend my SALTers leave for life in the States again...so lots of depedidas. It has been a joy getting to know them. We've shared a lot together in the last 5 months.
I will be making the transition from endings to be beginings, as I prepare for the incoming group of SALTers who will be arriving in August. Life has taken on a rather hectic pace, but busy is good.
I will also be moving to a barrio in the next week or so, which will hopefully be a positive change from living across the street from the office. Pictures coming soon :)

An Un-ordinary Oasis

2008-07-05T17:24:00.006-04:00

Aubrey, Ramona and I set out for a hiketo Los Posos!

What a lovely oasis in the middle of the rocky plateaus of Santiago de Chiquitos!

Ramona enjoying the transparent water from the falls.

The beautiful earthtones of water on leaves.

Busride Reflection

2008-06-30T23:42:00.006-04:00

I like riding in buses. Time like scenery passes by, familiar light and color fusing past memories with ones not yet made. I see new things, I see familiar things in new ways.

White mist hovers over deep mountains green, forming the background of a sensational tapestry woven with the vibrant color of huipil, the aroma of freshly baked bread and tortillas mingled with the fragrance of pine smoke and newly fallen mist on earthen paths.

The gentle pat, pat, pat of corn dough between small moist hands, joy-filled greetings of water and wind incarnated in human voice – Ixil – greets my ears, accompanied by the warmth and acceptance of familial embrace.

Three years have past, not a moment has passed. “Progress” has paved smooth the road, and the bus continues ahead, oblivious to the hunger suffered by those who blur past the window…food security sacrificed to the gods of free trade.
Pat, pat, pat, their hunger calls out, four of ten children cry out of their malnutrition…pat, pat, pat. Can you hear them? Apathy and ignorance drown out their cries. Where will the bus take them? Down the familiar road toward past revolution, violent repression? Toward the empty promises of CAFTA’s affluence?
Shiny American chains blur past the window…a tapestry of cultural invasion and dominance…or progress?

Trip to Guatemala

2008-06-22T12:55:00.003-04:00

Hello folks! I'll be traveling to Guatemala for the MCC Connecting Peoples Conference on Monday the 23rd (Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!!) and will not be back in Santa Cruz until June 30. I have to be in the airport by 5 am (yuck) tomorrow morning - my flight leaves at 7 am - and then I have a layover in Peru and another in El Salvador before finally getting to Guat City around 8 pm. It's going to be a long day. Please pray for traveling mercies and that I'm able to figure out where I need to be when :)

The english version of ecological bags...

2008-06-18T00:34:00.001-04:00

If you would like instructions in English to make your own bag from "repurposed" materials see the following link:

http://candywrapperpurse.blogspot.com/

Good luck!!

Carteras Ecológicas

2008-06-17T22:26:00.019-04:00

Este proyecto nació con la esperanza de encontrar una manera creativa de promover las 3 Rs (Reducir, Reutilizar y Reciclar) para concientizar más a las personas sobre los temas del cuido del medio ambiente.

El plástico tarda 450 años en descomponerse, solamente para dejar después los químicos en la tierra. Como tal, es importante encontrar una manera de reducir el consumo y el uso del plástico, buscando maneras creativas para reutilizarlo y, ultimamente, reciclarlo.

Aunque el hacer carteras ecológicas no es la solución en sí, espero que sea una manera creativa de "re-propositar" las bolsitas plásticas que llegan ser nada más que contaminación que ensucia las calles, el agua y la tierra misma.

Espero que todos disfruten de este viajecito conmigo :) Cualquier pregunta, me pueden dejar un comentario y les responderé en la mejor manera que pueda!

¡Al rescate!

¡A lavar!

Después de recoger, lavar y secar las bolsas el primer paso es cortarlas en cuadritos de 11.5 centímetros de largo y 5 de ancho.

Cuando ya tienen cortados los cuadritos se inicia el proceso de doblarlos.

Primero se dobla en el medio.

Después, cada lado se dobla hacía el medio

Después se dobla los dos medios en medio para hacer una sóla tira.

Esta tira se dobla en el medio.

Cada lado se dobla hacía el medio.

Para tejer los bolsas ya dobladas se enganchan un viínculo con otro para formar una V.

Después se mete otro vínculo (siempre yendo de la izquierda a la derecha, o sea siempre agregándolos del mismo lado).

Cuando la cadena ya sea lo suficientamente grande se une las dos partes de la cadena para hacer una coronita (el tamaño de la cadena determina el tamaño de la cartera).

Para unir las dos partes, se deshace el fin de la cadena y va alrededor del primer vínculo de la cadena – cada brazito del último vínculo va alrededor y en medio de las dos partes del primero y después se meten adentro para que se queden igual como los demás.

Después las coronas se costuran juntas con hilo, juntando siempre un lado negativo con un lado positivo para que no se vea el hilo. Se costura por a fuera y también por adentro para que la cartera sea bien duradera.

Después de costurar dos coronas juntas no se corta el hilo, sino se pasa el hilo a la proxima corona por costurar y se sigue agregando coronitas e hilo según lo necesario.

Cuando la cartera ya sea el tamaño que se desee, se junta la parte de abajo y se costura – esta vez con los dos lados positivos juntos.

Esta cartera hice de bolsas de Pil leche - unas volcadas para que se vea el lado negro y otras de la parte blanca.

Esta cartera, de puros rayitos, fue hecha de bolsas de Chiqui Choc and Pil Leche

Se puede ponerle a la cartera cierre, escrach, botón de presión o manilla a su gusto.

Mayormente he estado usando las bolsas Pil por su omnipresencia, pero también se puede usar bolsas de café, bolsas de ace o cualquier otra bolsa que sea de un material duradero. También se puede usar los envases de galletas y dulces que son bonitos, pero más frágiles

Collaborators with Christ

2008-06-15T21:27:00.002-04:00

This morning was born brisk and chilly with a gusty fall wind. It was a challenge wanting to crawl out of my warm bed, but assisting the morning mass at San Silvestre made the effort worth my while.

I arrived at the San Silvestre chapel after a 40 minute micro ride and short 2 block walk down the sandy-mud laden streets of the Plan 3000. The chapel was packed for first communion. Doña Pura, my host mom (my first month in Bolivia), met me just outside of the door and ushered me to a seat.

After a hearty introduction of singing, Padre Pepé jumped into the morning’s homily based on Matthew 9:36: “When he [Jesus]saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd ».

Padre Pepé, a tall, enthusiastic priest with graying hair, called the congregation to be collaborators with Christ in serving the least of these – the most marginalized and oppressed society has to offer - and becoming servant leaders committed to the well-being of all instead of being invested in serving our own interests.

He called us to pray that Christ would send workers into the harvest - religious and political leaders to lead the people in working toward the creation of a more just society and doing so in the same way Christ did – healing the sick, feeding the crowds, casting out the evil spirits of inequality and injustice – living as collaborators with Christ who announced the initiation of the good news of the Reign of God: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke4 :18-19).

Padre Pepé invited us to see our reality « through the eyes of Jesus » who was « deeply moved with compassion » for the people – a compassion that is « not pity, but authentic commitment that moves us to assume and share the suffering of the other ». The charismatic priest left us with the challenge to embody the call of Christ that is both personal and communal – a call to be collaborators with Christ in transforming the world and cultivating the Reign of God here and now.

After communion was brought to a conclusion with the passing of the peace, through a joining of hands, a beautiful symbolizing act of the work of the Spirit in and through us, uniting us as a community in a culture of peace that transcends personal, political and ethnicity differences.

We were sent out with a rousing rendition of Hallelujah Praise Ye the Lord in 8 different languages (Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Arabic, Greek, French, German, and English). After the linguistic workout, handshakes and kisses of greeting all around, followed by chit chat, cheese empanadas and hot chocolate – an experience worth leaving warm covers on a cold morning :)

Creation caregivers or Trashy tenants??

2008-06-02T14:09:00.002-04:00

In a place as beautiful as Moro Moro, with its rolling green mountains and misty blue skies, it’s hard to imagine trash and contamination being a problem. But in a place where only a few years ago baskets and cloth diapers were the norm, the ubiquitous plastic bags and disposable diapers of “progress” and “globalization” now litter the ground of the Moro Moro dump, a small dumping area about a 20 minute walk from the town square of this small village of 500 people.
It was at the dump that we began Saturday’s workshop on recycling and environmental concientization: a baker’s dozen of MCCers and Moro Moreños faced with the trash we generate. It is simple to throw the waste we produce in the trash and never have to think about it again, but seeing it face to face is a reminder that most of the trash we generate does not simply disappear, but rather accumulates, and is forming a legacy of contamination not only for this generation, but for generations to come.
Plastic, perhaps the most notorious contamination culprit, requires on average about 400-450 years to fully decompose (according to the EPA), then leaving behind its toxic chemicals in the ground and the water.
However, in Moro Moro there is no recycling center and so we emphasize the other 2 of the “3Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle) – reduce and reuse. The group suggested taking their own re-usable bags or baskets to the tienda (store) instead of using plastic bags that before had not been a part of their cultural practice; and avoiding disposable plates and cups that serve for one use just to be thrown away.
Also part of the workshop was teaching the group how to make durable, multi-use handbags out of the bags that people do consume, primarily the renowned “Pil” bags that contain milk, yogurt, and juice – a way of “re-using” bags that would otherwise end up on the street or in the dump.
Despite the difficulty of accessing recycling resources, the group did mention the idea of collecting recyclables and then transporting them to Santa Cruz for recycling whenever someone is traveling that way.
For those of us who live (or have lived) in the US, recycling is a much less complicated manner – we simply drop off our recyclables at the local recycling center (if you’re from Dalton it’s on North Fleet St. off of Old Lincoln Way across from the park by Buckeye feed and it’s open 24 –7). But recycling isn't the only way to care for creation – also simply reducing the amount of trash we generate can make a big difference (eg not buying bottled water – our water is safe to drink from the tap so buying bottled water is a waste of money, energy and plastic. And limiting the things we buy that come with lots of packaging or simply using re-usable cloth bags instead of plastic or washing dishes instead of using disposable).
You may be asking why any of this matters? And maybe to you it doesn't matter, but maybe it should…Coming from a Christian faith perspective, if we believe that God created the earth and entrusted it to our care, then being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us should make us care about environmental issues. Often, Christians have approached the earth itself as disposable – the flawed work of the potter that would be destroyed by its creator and replaced with a new one (although, at this rate it is us - the humans - not God - who are doing a good job of destroying the earth).
But when we see the beauty of what God has made, the intricacies and miracles of nature, to treat the earth in such a manner seems little short of a slap in God’s face. The imperfection isn’t God’s work – it’s ours – the result of living in a world marred by human sin. I doubt it pleases God to see the earth littered with garbage and the air heavy with pollution. We may be temporary tenants, but does that give us a licence to destroy and exploit what God has created for our benefit?
If we believe that God desires for us a life more abundant and has entrusted us to care for creation, then it becomes problematic to assign God the responsibility for the changes we are experiencing in our climate and the more severe weather patterns resulting from those changes when they can be traced to human action, to our own refusal to limit our consumption and subsequent contamination patterns.
This is not to say that God does not care for us, God does care deeply for our well-being, but God also allows us to reap the consequences of our choices and as the pinnacle of creation humankind has been entrusted with a great responsibility to care for God's handiwork - let's rise to the occasion!

If you are interested in more information on the topic see the following links:

Ten Scriptural Themes for Ecological Living
http://mcc.org/respub/occasional/134.html

http://mcc.org/careforcreation/

http://www.mennocreationcare.org/

mosquito mayday

2008-05-27T17:06:00.003-04:00

So it has finally cooled down and the mosquitos have taken the attack indoors. There is one that lives in my room and wakes me up about 3 times a week. A week or so ago I woke up with a swollen red eye (I looked like someone had slugged me) where the little unpleasant creature had bit me just beneath the eye socket where it's most sensitive. I could tolerate that, but the interruption of my sleep is unacceptable (even good coffee cannot substitute for a good night's rest). So today they put me up a mosquito net that should hopefully help me rest more peacefully at night (a peaceful alternative to taking back the blood stolen from me).
Other than yesterday being Monday (we all know how Mondays can be), there's not much new to report other than the mundanities of office life. There is soon to be a mass exodous here at MCC Bolivia with several families either leaving for good or just going on vacation for 2 months. So I'm not sure what my life will look like in the next few months - they've all been here since I got here so I'll need to adapt to yet another rhythm of life.

Ama sua, ama llulla, ama kella

2008-05-22T14:52:00.008-04:00

After 3 delightful days in La Paz I'm back in Santa Cruz and it's hot...miserably hot - If you don't believe in global climate change start believing - this time of year is fall here, but you would never know it - normally we should be moving into the cooler time of year here, but that simply isn't the case.

Other than catching a cold and some mild fatigue from the altitude it was a pleasant trip. It was a joy to get to spend time with Tig, campus pastor at Bluffton who has been a real joy and inspiration to me.

It was an eye-opening experience for me to spend time with Bluffton students, many of who have never been out of the US. I think their response to life in a third world country will help prepare me to be gracious and patient with the new volunteers who will be coming in the fall.

2008-05-22T14:41:00.006-04:00

Terrace gardens on the Isla del Sol

Check out this cute little burro grazing by the lake.
View of Lake Titicaca from an overlook in Copacabana
Lake Titikaka - the world's highest navigable lake

A busy week

2008-05-16T20:17:00.003-04:00

Well, it's been a crazy week with two groups here - one from my ama mater, my beloved Bluffton University, and one a group of MCC volunteers who will be working in the Paraguayan Chaco with an indigenous resettlement project of the Paraguayan Mennonite Church.
It's been good to see familiar faces and to share with them a little of my life here in Bolivia. Both groups are composed of people I know - from Bluffton (of course) and the volunteers were a part of my MCC orientation group in Akron.
In addition to the usual trips to MCC programs we've also had a chance to eat ice cream together, walk together, and share good conversations. Although groups can be an additional stress for me, they also help curb the loneliness I often feel. Sometimes the job before me seems so daunting, but then there are good moments when I can see small glimpses of the progress we are making and I begin to think it might just be worthwhile.
Today we visited a cheese factory at one of the Mennonite Colonies just outside of Santa Cruz and then shared a meal with a Mennonite family. It was shocking how much the women looked like my Amish cousins (Elsie has a twin around her! Shocking!) I didn't take any pictures or I would post one of her (it just didn't seem like a respectful thing to do).
Tomorrow I have a recycling workshop to give and then I will be leaving early Sunday morning for La Paz. We'll be flying, but then returning in bus - a 36 hour bus ride down "el camino de la muerte" - the road of death! Can't wait!! =)

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T22:42:00.002-04:00

So it's a bit late in the day to be writing this, but I wanted to send a very happy mother's day wish to my Mom =) Sorry I couldn't be with you today Mom, but I hope it was a good day for you. Take care! Love, your daughter Laura

Hard Questions...

2008-05-05T15:59:00.002-04:00

I've now been in Bolivia for 3 months - in some ways it seems like the time has gone very quickly and in others it seems like the longest 3 months of my life. This experience to date has not been what I bargained for and that has been painful and has caused me to reflect and re-evaluate why I wanted to do service in the first place and if I need to re-adjust those expectations.

I am an idealistic person - a peaceful revolutionary even. I like to think that I live in solidarity with the people - that I am a common person and live with the common people. Choosing to do service, for me, was a deliberate choice to be more intentional about living in solidarity - working side by side with the marginalized. However, that is not my reality here. I am marginalized from the marginalized and any contact with them will require me going against the grain - an intentional choice to invest energy outside of my job to do what I thought would be an intentional part of my job.

But making such a choice is hard to do when your energy is like fossil fuel (in high demand, but short in supply and not being renewed). Although I know I have support from my church, friends, and family back home, the support I receive is still from a distance and not the same as having warm bodies on the ground here to support me. Sometimes the loneliness is overwhelming, even when I'm surrounded by people. So my job takes energy out of me, but doesn't put the energy back in and I wonder about the sustainability of making this a meaningful experience for myself when I struggle so deeply with the disconnected life-style my job implies and my own inability to connect with the job itself.

I do have people who support me here, but outside of seeing people at work, I have no contact with anyone except other MCCers who are going to be leaving in the next two months. My goal in that time is to radicalize my existence here - to change where I live and to find a church that doesn't drain the life out of me (to this point going to church here has been such a painful, life-draining experience that I've stopped going). I'm even considering volunteering while volunteering to try to find some kind of connection with the poor. I did not leave my friends and family for 3 years to live a posh gringo life, or to just survive MCC Bolivia. I was prepared to be challenged and to be pushed outside of my comfort zone, but I never dreamed that would mean being uncomfortable with comfort, or fighting off apathy and working to break through a bubble that makes the poor of a third world country invisible to me.

I'm going to borrow the term "word vomit" from a friend of mine. This is word vomit, but I need to put it on paper. I can be happy here, but I cannot be content with the death of my service ideals. Please pray for me, that God will give me the strength and energy I need to work for change here even if I don't get to enjoy it myself, and that God will help me find a community that gives me the life-energy I need to do so.

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

2008-05-04T22:36:00.009-04:00

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!

A Hymnsing Hotfudge kind of Night

2008-04-30T22:45:00.002-04:00

Wednesday nights are a fun time here at the MCC compound (and yes, we are our own compound) when all the gringos come together (in an even more intentional way than usual) to eat and chat and sing. Technically, we call it "la cena de inglés" or English Potluck, but actually we speak a mix of Spangleman bajo - which is a mix of English, Spanish and Aleman Bajo (low German) - whatever it takes for us to communicate.

Tonight I made hot fudge cake...mmm fudge...mmm hymn sing even better than fudge. There is nothing quite as beautiful as the harmony of a well-sung hymn. "Sweetly Resting" (In the rifted rock I'm resting) is quickly becoming one of my favorites and was particularly meaningful to me after the past week.

I'm looking forward to the long rest tomorrow's holiday will bring (May 1 is Labor Day here!!). May 2 is my sister Lynn's birthday - so happy birthday to the best and only sister I have! I love you and miss you :) And May 4 is the vote for regional Autonomía here in Santa Cruz...If you would like to know what that's all about let me know and I will write you the condensed version of the loooooooooooooong explanation.

Another Update

2008-04-28T08:50:00.002-04:00

I am happy to report that my staph infection is nearly healed. The swelling and redness and oozing puss have greatly decreased and now there's just a little hole in my leg that needs to heal.

This past week has been crazy with visitors and translating and work, work, work. So I'm hoping for some R&R this week if at all possible. I'm still struggling with a bit of fatigue and unfortunately I'm coming down with a cold, but all and all I'm sana y salva (alive and well). Plus a cool breeze came in over night, which is a blessed relief from the unseasonably hot temperatures we've been having the past week :)

Puchichi, pain and packages

2008-04-23T13:33:00.005-04:00

Ok so here's an update on my health status. I have a staff infection on my leg, apparently from a mosquito bite that I itched with dirty fingernails - or so tells me the doctor. Fortunately there are very good, very cheap health clinics here so the cost was 30 Bs (about $4US) for the consultation and 105 Bs (about $15 US) for the meds (and good gracious I have 3 different ones to take!!). Ironically the health clinic, Prosalud, is funded by USAID (that's right we can fund universal health care in other countries, just not our own - and yes I am bitter about that!!!!).

My leg still hurts, but I am already feeling considerably better. However, the doctor was not convinced that the fatigue I've been feeling could be attributed to the staff infection so if I'm not feeling up to par in the next week I will need to get some blood tests done. But I'm hopeful that won't be necessary.

On a different note, the package you wonderful PV folks sent me arrived safe and sound today =) Thanks so much for your encouragement and your support. I treasure you all as friends and members of my church family. Blessings, Laura

Not so fun fatigue

2008-04-21T18:33:00.002-04:00

The past week or so since coming back from free travel I have been feeling especially tired. I thought I was just using the amazing Starbucks coffee as an excuse to drink more coffee, but the truth is I need the 3 cups I drink a day just to keep me going. I probably could sleep more than I do, but I wake up feeling tired. In talking with my fellow MCCers we've concluded that I'm most likely anemic so I'm working on increasing my intake of green leafy vegetables, black beans and peanut butter. Hopefully I will be feeling my normal energetic perky self soon =) The good news is that I'm in good spirits. The bad news is this funky bug bite I have that keeps growing...I don't think that's normal...

A tribute to the Smucker Women

2008-04-15T16:55:00.004-04:00

I have been blessed to be a part of a family of beautiful, feisty women. They are fantastic cooks, comics and scrabble players, each with her own unique gifts and styles.

My grandmother, Hazel Smucker, is a rambunctious young lady with a contagious laugh that makes her easy to find even before you spot her. She is a fantastic cook whose recipes have never failed me, regardless of what country I'm in. Her scrabble prowess is well renowned as is her quick witt. She's in better shape than I am and a true inspiration to young and old alike.

Like my grandma, my aunts and cousins have also been a special blessing to me - always supportive and loving, willing to lend a hand or a shoulder. My aunts Jane and Nancy are two of the kindest most giving people you will ever meet and are always willing to help - whether it be a trip to the airport, the mall, or just to get a bite to eat.

Lori and Krissy, my cousins and fellow Office fanatics, are some of the most fun people to hang out with. I can't count the hours we have spent playing scrabble, and watching the Office together or how many ribs I've knocked out of place because they've made me laugh so hard!

These are memories I will always cherish and every time I make one of grandma's recipes, use my shuffle, see my custom made Office calendar or a really cute bag, I think of these wonderful women and am inspired to be the best, feistiest Smucker woman I can =)

Quite a Trip

2008-04-13T22:24:00.003-04:00

After 10 days of travel it's good to be back in warm Santa Cruz. I will try to sum up my trip in a somewhat concise manner.

Last Friday 8 of us (7 MCCers and a friend visiting from the states) left Santa Cruz for Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia known as "la Ciudad Blanca" (the white city) and the most beautiful city in the country.

Despite the 16 hour bus trip and a much chillier climate, the city of Sucre did not disappoint. We did some sight-seeing, visited a local indigenous textile museum, and ate in the local market (a cheap and authentic option) and also met with a representative of the "Constituyente"- the body responsible for the development of a new Bolivian constitution, which has been, to say the least, controversial.

This meeting was a good opportunity for those of us living in the eastern part of the country to have contact with the west and to understand how the orient is seen through their eyes. The media here, as in most countries, manipulates the facts and often completely different versions of the "truth" are broadcast in the various regions of the country, contributing further to the present east-west antagonism.

The representative clearly had her own agenda, but she did a good job of explaining the constitution and what it is and isn't and I think it was an informative meeting for our group and I hope it was informative for her as well. I'm convinced these encounters with the "other" are essential for mutual humanization, or in other words essential for avoiding the dehumanization of the other that is prerequisite to violent conflict.

After enjoying the charm and chocolate (yes, that's right - Chocolates Para Tí are the famous chocolates made in Sucre - and they are amazing - especially the coconut ones!!) of Sucre we moved on to Potosí - the world's city with the highest altitude.

Potosí is famous for its silver mine in the Cerro Rico and was once one of, if not the, most important cities of the Spanish conquest. Now it is a working class miner's town with a dry, bone-chilling cold climate. The city reflects its colonial history and its once great importance, boasting the largest building left behind by the colonizers in all of South America - La Casa de la Moneda (the Mint), which cost $29 million to construct - the equivalent of the worth of the silver extracted from Cerro Rico in one year during the colonial period.

Potosí also is home to a variety of colonial churches and monasteries and makes a mean cup of cinnamon vanilla hot chocolate! However, the altitude sickness makes you lose your appetite and your dinner.

After Potosí it was on to Uyuni to visit the famous salt fields. El Salar de Uyuni is one of the strangest places I have ever seen. It is a surreal world of white salt (no that isn't snow for you all from Ohio), blinding sunshine, and blue skies.

The salar also boasts cactus covered islands, volcanoes, and majestic mountains bordering it on all sides. The salt fields were once a sea, as evidenced by the sea shells and corals left behind. It is a strange sensation to be driving though a water-less ocean. We were blessed to have a fabulous guide with an ample selection of classic 80s rock to add to the already lively and adventures salt-safari.

Although the desert sounds hot, Uyuni becomes an incredibly dry, cold and inhospitable place when the sun ducks below the horizon. Fortunately we were able to stay in a hotel constructed of salt bricks (no joke) and were up before the sun to see the sunrise over the mountains.

So 10 days of sketchy bathrooms, shower deprivation, and long bus rides later - I find myself with a deeper appreciation for my fellow MCCers and for this beautiful country I have the privilege to be serving in.

Marvelous Moro Moro

2008-03-30T23:10:00.004-04:00

Thursday afternoon I headed out with two of my MCC compañeras to Moro Moro, a 8-12 hour bus ride from the city of Santa Cruz, depending on the weather and the roads. We lucked out with a 9 hour trip, arriving in the quaint little town around midnight.

My compañeras were going to Moro Moro to give a library workshop so I had the privilege of increasing my knowledge of the Dewey system and getting to know the library directiva better as well as learning more about MCC Bolivia's rural programs that operate in Moro Moro and the surrounding area.

Moro Moro is a town of about 500 people and is nestled in the foothills of the Andes. It has that small town feel where everyone knows everyone and greets each other in the street - something I have come to greatly appreciate. The weather was dry and chilly, but pleasant in the sunshine. Night time in Moro Moro is delightful - the stars are amazingly bright and visible because of the absence of light pollution and the air is filled with the scent of burning wood, bringing with it all the good memories of campfires and wood stoves.

The climate varies between wet and dry seasons and I was fortunate to arrive just after the end of the wet season when the landscape is a quilt of varying shades of green, stitched with red dirt roads. However, as the dry season advances the green is gradually replaced by a desert like brown.

MCC rural programs in Moro Moro are working on helping small farmers develop systems to conserve water in the rainy season that they can then use during the dry season when water is hard to come by. We visited a family who MCC has been working with and had the opportunity to tour their orchard, which they can now water during the dry season with water collected in several "atajados" - large holes dug in the ground and then allowed to dry and harden for a year that then catch the rainfall in the wet season. A hose system transports the water to the orchard and also to a filtering system, then passing on to the family's residence.

Being able to increase the productivity of their fruit trees and the size of their orchard allows the family to grow fewer potatoes, which is a plus for the family because potatoes are a very labor intensive crop.

We left the orchard with our stomachs and pockets full of delicious apples and peaches and our hearts warmed by the generous spirit of the family who so willingly shared with us the fruit of their labor (literally) and their hope for a better future.

In addition to working with water, rural programs also works with building dry latrines and beekeeping. The organic honey produced by the project is known as the "oro (gold) of Moro Moro."

So after a refreshing weekend in the country, I'm now back in the big city ready for another week's challenges. Friday I will be leaving for our "viaje de orientación" (Orientation Trip) and will be traveling April 5-13. We are going to Sucre - considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in Bolivia, Potosí - the city with the highest altitude in the world, and the Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats).

So you all can wait with great anticipation the pictures and stories from that :) For your current viewing pleasure, be sure to check out my picture of the cow nursing her calf and of Harold the adorable donkey I saw in Moro Moro!! (You donkey naysayers can just ignore this part - you know who you are). It goes without saying - I loved Moro Moro and felt very at home there :) A fin de cuentas, I am a farm girl at heart.

A Good Friday Reflection

2008-03-21T22:34:00.004-04:00

Although the life, death and resurrection of Christ are crucial to the daily Christian life, it is when we celebrate Easter that they are given particularly special attention. However, tonight as a watched a local Catholic Bolivian Church perform its rendition of the passion of Christ, I was struck by this thought: we are still crucifying Christ. I know this sounds like a heretical statement, but the words of Christ in Matthew 25 keep coming back to me: “...I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (v 45). The opposite is also true as shown in verse 40: “…I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.”

The death of Christ was a consequence of his life – he chose to live in non-violent resistance to the structures of sin and death, of violence and injustice. God knew the consequences of such a lifestyle, the lifestyle of the reign of God that Jesus initiated: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18). Jesus embodied the reign of God, choosing to live a lifestyle that did not make him popular with the powers of his time.

Like Jesus, the physical actors in his crucifixion also had choices to make – God did not force them to align themselves with the structures of violence and injustice – God did not revoke free will in order to bring about Christ’s murder. Pilot chose to be apathetic. The religious leaders chose, out of their jealousy, to actively seek a way to have Jesus violently murdered. Judas chose love of money over love of Christ, over love of justice. They all chose to align themselves with the powers of sin and death, violence and injustice.

We have a choice to make as well. Often we choose the apathy of Pilot, the greed of Judas, the legalism of the religious leaders – we align ourselves with the structures of violence and injustice, of sin and death – the very same structures that killed Christ and that were overcome by his resurrection.

But we do not see the face of Christ in those who our apathy crucifies – the least of these- the innocent millions who are crucified in violent conflicts such as those in Iraq, Darfur, Colombia, and Kenya; the innocent millions who die every year from curable diseases, and HIV/AIDS; the innocent millions who lack access to clean water, food and health care. Like Pilot we have washed our hands of their blood. And Jesus’ words ring out: “...I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

Salvation is complete in Christ – it is accomplished in his life, death and resurrection and we are called to live out that salvation, following in his footsteps: footsteps of non-violent action that live in stark contradiction to the structures of violence and injustice, sin and death; footsteps that, in the light of the resurrection, do not fear death, but hope and live in the reality of the reign of God instituted by the life of Christ.

Although sometimes the evil of the world seems as dark as that Good Friday, we live in the hope of Easter morning. Let us not be apathetic and complacent participants with the structures of violence and injustice, but rather enthusiastically follow Christ’s resurrection example of triumphant resistance to those structures and active participation in the reign of God!

Trip to Concepción

2008-03-21T10:33:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday evening my coworkers, Anita (also my roommate) and Sandra, and I headed for the town of Concepción, a mere 6 hour bus ride from Santa Cruz. The trip got off to a late start since the bus driver did not show up on time, and then the bus broke down about a half hour into it so we had to wait for another one to come. Thankfully it broke down relatively close to the city or we would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere. Finally back on the road (now 9:30 at night), we were making good progress until a disorderly patron stole a woman's seat and refused to remove himself so the driver stopped the bus and proceeded to inform the drunken man that he would not move an inch unless the man removed himself from the woman's seat, which he was quick to do.

Without more interruptions, we made good time and arrived in Concepción at 2:30 am and were sound asleep by 3 and up again by 7. Our day was full of meetings, and with only one cup of coffee to save my life, I managed to fall asleep in all of them (anyone who was in Intro to Social Work with me can attest to my ability to sleep in public places).

Despite being exhausted, it was a productive day for the three of us. Anita and Sandra work with MCC's library program and were there to meet with the local school board and the library workers. I was there to scope out the town and make connections with local members of the community who will be hosting an MCC SALTer in the fall who will be working at the library.

Concepción is a charming little town with red dirt roads that contrast with the blue blue sky. The climate is pleasantly hot, but dry and the landscape is a collage of palm trees and other tropical plants and flowers that give it a feel of paradise. The town is very well kept and clean with very few cars - motos and bikes and walking are the primary sources of transportation.

This little town is home to one of the first Jesuit missions in the area and the once forgotten cathedral has been restored and boasts beautiful chiquitanía craftsmanship. In addition, talented local artisans abound, selling hand made woven bags and clothing and just off the main square is a delightful ice cream shop with the best coconut ice cream around. Adding yet further to its charm is the pleasant aroma of fallen leaves from the large trees on the square and the scent of burning wood used for cooking.

Our last evening in Concepción we enjoyed a meal with one of the school board members who was kind enough to open her home to us. Supper was Masaco - a real good dish made with ripe plantain that have been fried and mashed and then mixed with cheese. Not only was our host family kind to us, but the towns folk in general were very welcoming - it wasn't uncommon for strangers to wave or offer a "buen día." The welcoming, clean, small town atmosphere was a refreshing change from the city.

Next week I may be going to Moro Moro where MCC has its rural programs. I hear they have tons of burros (donkeys) so I'm hoping to indulge (even if only vicariously) my liking for those adorable long-eared creatures - someday I will have my own donkey (of the four-legged variety) and I think I'm going to name him Harold :)

God's Sense of Humor

2008-03-10T18:35:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think God has a rather cruel sense of humor or maybe the creator just wants to let me feel the consequences of my well-intentioned, but often short-sighted decisions. Perhaps God gets a kick out of letting me stick the butter knife in the light socket... I'm not really sure, but whatever the case there is a lesson to be learned. A religion professor of mine at Bluffton, J Denny Weaver, used to say that God isn't the author of the bad things that happen in the world - God is our sustenance through them. God doesn't make my decisions for me, but God will help me get through them. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, but I know I have already learned a lot - about who I am - about what I want to get my master's degree in - about my strengths and my weaknesses. In the last 5 weeks I have read 5 books and 3 manuals - 3 in Spanish and 5 in English. If nothing else, not having a TV is making me a more intelligent person. So I'm reading 3 books at one time and tackling my virtual life list of "must read" books... Today I celebrate God's sense of humor.

Chinches, churches and world peace

2008-03-04T23:32:00.000-04:00

This week got off to a less than pleasant start when on Monday night I couldn't sleep because of this terrible sensation that I was being bitten by some terrible little bug that was inflicting me with its horrible itch causing venom...Here they call them "chinches" - or better known as bed bugs!!! Apparently the chinches decided to be my welcoming committee to my new casa (they must be menno chinches because they formed a committee :). Needless to say I fumigated my mattress and room and will be sleeping on the couch tonight.

On a better note, I was invited to participate in a Ecumenical meeting at a local Orthodox church. The meeting included Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Mennonites from all over the city of Santa Cruz. The theme of the meeting was the planning of an ecumenical conference next week on the topic of grace and the sacraments where each church will be sharing from its own faith traditions in an effort to learn from each other through our commonalities and our differences. Christ's longest recorded prayer, found in John 17, was a prayer for the unity of his followers. How exciting to be a part of a group working for the unity of the body of Christ - working for dialogue and understanding - understanding that we do not have to agree, but rather to recognize our common humanity, our unity in Christ, and our shared purpose as participants in the reign of God.

In my own faith I want to be a follower. I want to work toward making the reign of God initiated by Christ visible. For me this means a commitment to social justice and working for peace in a world marred by conflict and violence, whether it be physical violence, economic violence, emotional violence, or the violence of exclusion. Sometimes though it seems like working for peace is pointless - many say "There will always be war" - and they are probably right because there will probably always be people willing to sell the weapons that make war possible, and willing to fund the purchase of those weapons. War is a business after all - a big business. World peace isn't impossible - it's unlikely - not because it isn't "God's will," but because it isn't the will of humans to put God's desire for shalom (peace that results from well-being/wholeness) before their own avarice. God doesn't will us to destroy each other - humankind wills its own destruction because money has become its god. Until humanity is willing to put first God's kingdom and commit fully to participating in it, there will be no peace on earth.

Rebecca Bartel's Call for Peace not War

2008-03-04T23:25:00.000-04:00

I'm sure many of you have seen the news about the tense situation in South America between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Here the tension is very real. Rebecca Bartel, a brilliant MCCer wrote the following call to prayer and action and I would like to share that with you all. She does a great job of summarizing the conflict in an understandable way as well as challenging us as Christians to be creative rather than apathetic in the face of conflict.

Friends,

Greetings in Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Never have the words of Isaiah brought so much comfort. Let us believe that God's plans reveal will reveal themselves during these days, and that nation will not rise against nation:

"Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!" –Isaiah 2:3-5

Tensions are rising. Countries seem to be preparing for war. The last thing we need is more war.

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more…

On Saturday, March 1, the Colombian army conducted an operative, killing 20 guerrilla fighters of the FARC, as well as FARC commander, Raúl Reyes. The Colombian government lauded the attack as a significant military hit against the insurgent group.

However, the attack took place on Ecuadorian soil.

Upon the recovery of the cadavers of the March 1 attack, the computer of Raúl Reyes was found, supposedly containing a slew of email correspondence between FARC leaders and Ecuadorian and Venezuelan officials.

Colombia has accused the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela of colluding with and supporting the FARC (named a terrorist organization by the United States and Colombian governments) financially and militarily, a charge both governments have denied.

Venezuela – a key player in the negotiations taking place between the FARC and the Colombian government for a humanitarian exchange of kidnapped political leaders held in the FARC's power – has named the attack an affront on the negotiation process, and an affront on Ecuador's sovereignty.

Both Venezuela and Ecuador have closed borders completely with Colombia, closed their embassies in Colombia, removed Colombian ambassadors and diplomats, cut commercial and diplomatic relations, and both have sent a few thousand troops to the border areas that they share with Colombia.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Venezuela and Ecuador, both countries with leftist governments and strained relations with Washington, have affirmed that war is not outside of the realm of possibility and are preparing to take the necessary measures to affirm their sovereignty and innocence in the accusations placed by the Colombian government.

In the streets of Bogotá, the tension is thick. Police and military presence is notable, and both the army and police forces have begun an aggressive recruitment campaign in universities and on the streets.

Although the Colombian government has not responded militarily, and has announced that they will seek mediation from the OAS on Tuesday March 4, President Álvaro Uribe has confirmed his plan to seek approbation from the Security Council of the United Nations to claim that legitimate defense measures were taken on Saturday's attack, invoking article 51 of the UN charter – the same article cited by United States to justify the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

HE shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples

The United States has declared complete support for the Colombian government in any actions it decides to take against "terrorism" and "terrorist supporting governments". Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain have all demonstrated their support for Colombia, and a select group of Republican members of congress are pushing the House of Representatives to give Colombia all the military and financial support it might need to fight the FARC, a group the Colombian chief of Police has named a "global aggressor" taking steps towards "transnational terrorism"

Even Colombia's opposition parties are voicing their support of the actions taken on Saturday and of President Alvaro Uribe.

War can be avoided.

War must be avoided.

Pray for cool heads and a reconciliatory spirit in the next days for all governments involved in this unprecedented moment of tension.

Pray for a resolution to this conflict that will lead to a long-standing peace in South America.

Pray for the transformation of hearts and minds of political leaders in Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and the United States towards peaceable solutions instead of more war and a just peace within Colombia and among its neighbours.

Pray for the decision-makers and mediators of the Security Councils of the OAS and the United Nations to make prudent judgments and to work towards peace.

Pray for the victims of war from all sides.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.-- Rebecca Bartel

Follow up on Coca Contradictions...

2008-03-03T16:58:00.000-04:00

For anyone who is interested here is a link to the Democracy Center website that has a good article on Coca and a Youtube video to go with it! Enjoy all you Youtube adicts (you know who you are ;) http://www.democracyctr.org/bolivia/investigations/coca/ Also, here is a related youtube video on the same theme, but about the war on coca in Colombia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55DnnUBmjGI

Doubts and Identity Dilemas

2008-03-03T09:20:00.000-04:00

Since returning from La Paz, I have experienced a couple of very difficult weeks. I have now been in Santa Cruz for what has seemed like one of the longest months of my life. It is difficult to know what your strengths and weaknesses are until you have tested them and been forced to recognize your own failures.

I wouldn't call my experience here to date a failure, but it has been a disappointment. One of my principle goals before coming to Bolivia was to integrate myself fulling into the culture - to walk along side the people and to live as they do. However, accompaniment requires an invitation and after a month I'm still waiting for that invitation. A month is a very short period of time, but even after years I'm doubtful the invitation would be fully offered.

The culture here is a closed culture, people are quick to greet you, but anything beyond a superficial greeting is uncommon. As such I find myself feeling excluded and alone most of the time. In addition there is a "couple culture" here - if you don't have a significant other there is no "in" - and people are quick to find you one.

This has been frustrating for me and has made me question what my purpose was in wanting to do service and what my reality here is and the two do not fit. My vision for service was to share of myself, my gifts and my time and to become a part of a community and to share in that community's struggles. I hoped to fully immerse myself in the culture.

Here I speak more English than I do Spanish and my job is being a support person for North Americans, a very necessary job, but not one I believe utilizes my strengths - something I should have recognized before hand, but because I knew I could do the job I overlooked the fact that being able to do a job and being passionate about a job are not the same thing.

And so I find myself in a situation I didn't anticipate, and I'm surprised by my reaction to it and who I find myself to be in this context. It is disconcerting how much I rely on context for identity - I don't know who I am here or where I fit or if I fit at all. So now I am faced with a question: Do I abandon my original vision for service and develop a new one to fit this context or do I continue seeking the fulfilment of that vision? Can I be content, satisfied - can I thrive in a context that does not nurture that vision?

Coca contradictions

2008-02-27T17:15:00.000-04:00

Many of you may have noticed the picture of coca leaf tea on my blog, but do not be concerned about my consumption of illicit drugs. Cocaine is produced from the coca leaf, but only after a long complicated process that leaves it in a distorted state far removed from its natural character. The coca leaf forms a significant part of the altiplano diet and has been proven to relieve the effects of altitude sickness and to curb hunger. In addition the coca leaf is important in indigenous rituals.

However, because of the insatiable addiction to cocaine in western countries (eg US, Canada, Europe) exporting coca products such as tea is illegal and growth of the plant is under attack with countries such as the US sending "financial aid" in order to eradicate it. However, attempts in eradication are little more than a waste of tax payer money and an act of violence against the populations that grow coca: coca production has not decreased with the increase in aid, but rather the number of plants has increased with fewer plants being grown in large, easily visible plots and more grown in remote, smaller plots that are more difficult to find and subsequently eliminate.

A better option would be to address the problem of addiction that creates the demand that makes coca a profitable crop. Once the demand for the illicit drug has dropped so will the price and therefore the profitability of coca production. Also, it is more logical to target the chemicals used in the process to convert coca to cocaine (aka large companies) than small coca farmers who are mostly composed of poor campesinos making a living any way they can.

Coca is a justice issue for people in Bolivia and it should be as well for those of us whose countries are pumping large amounts of taxpayer money into its unnecessary eradication. The coca plant is part of God's creation and has many health benefits - perhaps it is the violence of addiction and forced eradication that we need to attack at its roots instead of the coca plant.

John Paul Lederach: "The Moral Imagination:The Art and Soul of Peace Building"

2008-02-23T00:50:00.000-04:00

John Paul Lederach invited his audience of 800 gathered in La Paz Thursday evening into the narratives of creative peacemakers who form the focus of his latest book titled “The Moral Imagination:The Art and Soul of Peace Building.” Two of the focal stories Lederach shared with his audience were taken from the contexts of Kenya and Colombia and served as the starting point for the author and renowned expert on peace and conflict transformation to engage his audience in dialogue about creative peace building.
“Markets of Peace,” were the creative vision of four women in Kenya who refused to accept the violent conflict of their context as their future reality. Even after the Association of Women for Peace was formed, the creativity of the women did not halt, but rather was extended to the elderly men of the community in an invitation to join them in their work for peace, leading to the development of the Council of the Elderly for Peace and, subsequently, the joining of the two organizations to form the Council for Peace for Wajir. The council began to address employment issues for young men, creating space to dialogue about the disarmament process.
“I commit myself to die before I kill” were the fearless words of a Colombian young man, one of four hundred campesinos present that day, who were faced with four “choices” given to them by the paramilitary soldiers surrounding them: 1) take up arms with the paramilitaries; 2) take up arms with the guerrillas; 3) leave their land; 4) die. However, the campesinos thought beyond the box of choices given to them, creating their own options: “Today we have begun to think for ourselves.” The young man who spoke so earnestly morally shamed the paramilitary captain by publicly acknowledging his previous involvement with the guerrillas and the violent acts he and his men participated in. The paramilitaries left and in their place was formed an association of campesino workers.
Peace construction in the midst of violent conflict seems not only counterintuitive, but inspires a deep questioning curiosity as to the “how” a creative vision for overcoming violent conflict can surge from, and see beyond, the context of violence even when one is living in that very context.
In response to the “how,” Lederach suggests four crucial aspects to the “artistic process” of peace building: the imagination of an unwavering commitment to dialogue that recognizes the entwinement of the well being of the “other” with one’s own; the imagination to recognize the potential present in complexity and the curiosity necessary to maintain it; the imagination to envision and create realities that do not yet exist; and the imagination to risk taking the unknown road.
Lederach paints the metaphor of a spider web connecting all humankind that extends to include even one's enemies. As such, the well-being of both are woven together and interdependent. However, without the creativity and imagination to see beyond the superficial, the web of interconnectedness remains invisible and polarization from the “other” continues.
The imagination that makes the web visible is the same that “finds in complexity a friend and the possibility for something unexpected” suggests Lederach. The creative peacemaker looks complexity in the face with the enthusiastic curiosity of a child, defying the simplistic side-choosing of polarization, and rather than be frustrated by the web’s complications, revels in the variety of perspectives and possibilities it offers.
Imperceptible possibilities call peacemakers to see beyond the obviously visible in order to envision blueprints for peace building. Lederach points out “…human beings are capable of creating things that do not yet exist.” It is this creative capacity that breathes imaginative vision into the peace building process: the ability to see beyond violent conflict, to see beneath it to its roots, and to envision a path for peace that acknowledges present need and future sustainability.
This path for peace is often an unfamiliar one, requiring, what Lederach identifies as “the imagination of risk.” The imagination of risk calls peace builders to the vulnerable adventure of “opening new spaces,” a journey down unknown roads with outcomes that are often uncertain and beyond one’s control.
Lederach paints the paradoxical picture of peace work as a beckoning “horizon that calls us and orients us, but that we can never reach.” Four brave Kenyan women and four hundred Colombian campesinos followed the call of the horizon and they are a testimony to the creative possibilities inherent in the processes of peace building that surge from a commitment to imaginative dialogue, vision, curiosity, and risk.

bruised news brief

2008-02-20T21:57:00.000-04:00

This week has been a good snapshot of what some of my duties will be as a "Connecting People" person. I have been reading A LOT, translating, and trying to soak up all the information I can. It is all rather overwhelming, but I do have 3 years to learn it all. (Oh, and the bruise is just me getting clumsy with a micro door - hope you all enjoy the play on words :)

Exciting new plans

2008-02-15T19:20:00.000-04:00

This next week I will be going to La Paz to attend a conference where John Paul Lederach will be speaking! JP Lederach is a well known scholar in Peace and Reconciliation work. I am, to say the least, thrilled to be able to attend! Also, while there the hope is that MCC Bolivia will be able to network with other NGOs working in the west of the country that share MCC's core values.

Another exciting development is that I may have the opportunity to study Quechua for a couple of weeks. Quechua is one of Bolivia's many indigenous languages, and although I am not certain how much I would be able to use it, the idea of learning another language, especially an indigenous language, is very appealing.

Also, my housing situation will remain as is until early March when I will be moving into the house across the street from the MCC office. Although I would prefer to live in a barrio, for the time being this move makes sense and will be convenient transition while I am learning my assignment duties. It is very likely that this will change later in the fall, but that is yet to be seen.

One Week Down....

2008-02-13T14:09:00.000-04:00

After a week in Santa Cruz it feels like I have learned a lot, but it's rather overwhelming to think about how much more I have to learn. And then I remember I have 3 years to learn it :)

I have come to rather enjoy my daily commutes in the micro from the Plan to the office. The micro has its own rhythm and you have to learn to move with it, to embrace the sway of the people, the ruts in the road and the way the bus adjusts to them. You have to adjust too or the ride isn't so pleasant.

For me the micro is an adventure - a cultural rollacoaster ride that, with every up and down in the road, gives me another glimpse into the reality of the people whose space I am sharing. But I wonder how different my attitude would be if I hadn't chosen to come here - riding the micro is a choice for me - I am not among the marginalized who are left with no other option but to ride the over-crowded, small, often dirty and sometimes dangerous micros. It is easy to be positive about something when you know it isn't permanent and when it's different. But if it were a reality I hadn't chosen, a monotonous chore, would I still see it as an adventure?

It's interesting to observe and participate in the "code" of the micros. Any passenger can ask the driver to stop at any given time. There are no set stops, which is undoubtedly an inconvenience for the driver, but great for passengers and people by the side of the road. Although pick-pocketing is a concern, in general people are kind to eachother. Women, pregnant or with children, get first choice of the precious few seats available, along with the elderly. Often bus drivers have to wait for elderly patrons to get on and off the bus, which can be dangerous if people at the back of the bus don't see them and begin to push.

Seeing anything in a micro can be a challenge. Especially if you are taller than 5', which I am. Today I actually rode in a micro that was so short my head rubbed the ceiling! The trick is to duck down so you can see out of the window, but when the micro is full that too can be a challenge. Fortunately, next to my house there is a bright pink and purple tienda that helps me know when to get off as long as I can see it!

I am hoping to begin with my actual job position soon and am very excited about the direction MCC Bolivia is hoping to take. Stay tuned for more details as I get into the thick of my assignment here. I have rambled on long enough and so I leave you with a slew of new pictures. The sketchy fruit has a name, but I don't know what it is! I can tell you that it is surprisingly tasty despite it's rather disgusting appearance :)

Wild Weekend!!!

2008-02-11T08:21:00.000-04:00

So this weekend got off to an interesting start with my move to the "Plan." Plan Tres Mil is a neighborhood that was started as a housing project for 3000 families who were displaced by flooding. Over the years it has become one of the only locations with affordable housing in Santa Cruz and so it has kept growing, but at a rate that has exceeded the infrastructural development.

As such, the "roads" to the Plan are more like a muddy maze littered with huge car-sized potholes that fill with water when it rains, making the roads impassible. This was the situation I encountered last evening after spending a relaxing day at a friend's house in the country. Once we had navegated through the maze, we discovered the road to my house was flooded and I was stranded! Fortunately I was able to stay at my friend's house for the night and today I will hopefully be able to reach my house.

Here are some interesting details about the Plan so you all can have a better idea of what it's like (and I will try to post pictures asap!)

The Plan is about a half an hour from the center, which means a 30-45 minute ride in the micro and even though it's still in the city it feels like living in the campo! There are dogs, chickens and horses that roam the dirt trails, leaving behind their evidence. A couple of small tiendas have set up shop in the Plan, but no internet cafes or other indications that the outside world even exists. We have one neighbor with a boisterous bunch of dogs and cats.

I am living with a delightful woman, her daughter and a little puppy named Nano. In our free time we watch novelas together (yay!!!) many of which are mexican so I'm feeling right at home! We do have running water, although it's not warm, but since it is typically hot here a cold shower is pretty refreshing!

It feels like I've been here a long time already and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I'm looking forward to getting to know the details of my position and finding a fixed place to live and a community to settle into...Who knows what adventures the rest of the week will bring!

PS: It's amazing have a slight sunburn in February!!! (HaHa to those of you suffering in cold Ohio :)

Blessed boredom

2008-02-07T14:22:00.000-04:00

Revived from a good day's rest and a relaxing twilight hymnsing (yay for Be thou my vision!!), I felt ready for today's jaunt through the market and lesson on riding the micro (Bolivian for really small bus - so small my head nearly touches the ceiling :).

At the market we purchased a small local fruit called achachairú, which has a shell that peals off and inside is a delightful cotton-candy textured flesh, with a flavor that can only be described as uniquely pleasant. However, my textual senses were not nearly as delighted at lunch time when I tasted my first ever grilled egg plant (my skin is still crawling from the sliminess...). Fortunately, the rest of my lunch was quite good.

I learned several amusing things (in addition to a lot of really useful information) from my orientation outing this morning: treasure is best buried in your bra; skirts on a windy day are not the best idea; sunshine one second does not mean it won't rain the next; and if you smell a strange pee-like odor cross the street.

This afternoon I have a session on Bolivian politics. Meanwhile I hope to use my siesta time boredom to amuse you all with some photos from my backyard :)

Bolivia at last!

2008-02-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

After an exhausting day of loooooooooong layovers I have finally arrived in Bolivia where I was greeted by the Bolivian team with a little reception of "Salteñas" - a tipical food here reminiscent of hard empanadas made with a sweet chicken and potato filling - something new and interesting for me. After a round of introductions (sound familiar?? ;), it was off to the office for some logistics and lunch is next on the menu. After a warm afternoon siesta, I´ll be off to explore my new home town of Santa Cruz, a bustling city of + 1 million people.

A new beginning...

2008-01-30T19:57:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure you all know I have spent the last week or so in Akron, PA at MCC orientation. Despite the constant eating, weak coffee, and hours of sitting in sessions, orientation has been a very enjoyable and valuable experience.

It has been a wonderful blessing getting to meet new friends from all over the US, Canada and Africa. We have enjoyed hours of card playing, tea drinking, and swapping stories and opinions about everything from the pronunciation of "resources" (that is rezources for my Canadian friends) to the latest news in politics and world events.

Although our experiences will be different, we share a common new beginning and a bond of friendship that outweighs the sadness of goodbyes that are soon to come. In a week I will be in Santa Cruz, Bolivia beginning a new job, in a new place, with many new things to learn and new friendships to form...