Outside My Southern Comfort Zone: Hoy es la Primera Día del Resto Tu Vida

Felix, Matthias and I at Kili Kili

This past week we began working in our projects. We all woke up, had some cereal, and got ready for the day. It was like the first day of school all over again. The problem we found out is that it is not that easy to find a ride in the morning. Many of us in the house work out of Casa de Paso, which is on the other side of downtown (El Centro). The problem isn’t that there aren’t any minibuses. The problem is there aren’t any empty seats on many of the mini buses. It took us about 20 minutes of trying until we finally walked way down the road and caught an empty mini bus. The next day was the same problem so we ended up catching a taxi. The third day was no problem. I guess we just got lucky… because on the next day we had trouble again. We are starting to get the hang of it but it seems that it will be a consistent thing. Once you catch a mini bus you have about a 30-45 minute ride depending on traffic (and yes there is no question about it that there is traffic), crammed up in a mini bus full of people. You really get close to strangers here in La Paz… There is no such thing as personal space because you are rubbing elbows (literally) with all different kinds of people. You may of seen in an earlier blog a picture of a micro bus and it said you could fit up to 30 people in one of them. You may of thought I was just over exaggerating. Actually I was a little under. You can fit about 35 people. The seats fill up, then the isle fills up with people standing, and then there are people hanging in the door. It makes it a bit difficult to get off when you are in the back but at least you didn’t have to walk right? And did I mention that this city wasn’t made for tall people? I am constantly ducking so I don’t hit my head when walking through doors. My knees are always jammed in the back of seats and God forbid if I have to stand up on the Micro.

Enough of my tangents, let’s get back to work. I truly enjoy my job. The people I work with are amazing. There is Vivi, Cynthia, Maria, and Sandra. Then of course there is Justus and I. Every morning we go to our office and have té, café, y pan (tea, coffee, and bread). Afterwards we start working. On day one Justus and I went with Sandra to visit a family that is in the program to just check up on things. We arrived at the “house” which was pretty high up the side of a mountain. From the road all you see is a wall on the street with a door. Over the wall was a breathtaking view of the city and the mountains in the background. We knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Once the door opened I was a bit baffled. I was expecting to see the inside of a small house with not much stuff. But what I saw was down a hill and the view of the city again. The house was missing a wall. Not like they had one and it was gone. They never had one there. Walking through the door we began to see what was actually behind the wall. They had some boards and tin loosely attached above our heads and to the right was what appeared to be the living room/kitchen. But not what we are use to in the states. And beyond this area were two rooms constructed out of Adobe (dirt bricks). Neither room had a door that could be closed. One room was kind of a storage room and the other was a bedroom with two small beds. I was shocked to learn that eleven people live and sleep here. What was even more shocking was the dynamics of the family itself. The father is currently in jail. He was abusive and a drunk. One of the daughters gave birth to three of her own brothers and sisters. Think about that for a second and tell me what is wrong with that picture. Apparently this is a very common problem in La Paz. In the afternoon, Justus and I went with Vivi to a family’s house to assess their home and situation to see if they should be taken into the program. The intake process begins when a family member comes to Casa de Paso to ask if we will take them into the program. We then ride with them to their house to do our evaluation. The evaluation consists of the construction and condition of the home, the size of the family, the amount of money that is brought in per month, and any other issue that may be affecting the family. Not every family that we evaluate is taken in because though they are very poor, they are doing well compared to many others.

The view of the house from the road

Looking into the house

The bedroom

Notice the missing wall

The back of the house

Our next day of work started off as every morning does with breakfast. We then went to El Alto to evaluate a family. El Alto is the adjacent city to La Paz. From most of La Paz, El Alto is visible because it sits on top of the mountain next to the city. You can see the edge of the city because it begins once the mountain levels out. From Casa de Paso it takes about a 45 minute bus ride to get to Ceja, (the edge of El Alto). From there we had to catch a mini bus to get to the house. About another 15 minutes. The house was only room. The room had two beds and a small portable gad stove. They share a bathroom with the people that live near them. The assessments only take about 15 or 20 minutes usually. After we finished we headed back to Casa de Paso. The afternoon consisted of a Sexual Education class about STDs. There are many workshops that our program provides to the families we help to educate them and help them better their lives. The next day (Thursday), Justus and I went solo with a lady to her home in El Alto to assess her home. It was about an hour and a half journey. It was our first time doing this alone. We have a paper that we fill out that helps us remember everything to ask. We were a little nervous I guess but it was fun. After our assessment we had to find our way back. Luckily all the way there I was taking mental photos and memorizing how we got there. And of course we found our way back. That afternoon consisted of the same Sexual Education class. I don’t think I can take this class one more time. The pictures are very graphic…

On Friday, Justus and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do that day when a lady came in to ask if she could be introduced into the program. We decided we would go ahead and go to her house. This is the farthest I have been outside of La Paz. She lived in El Alto as well but she lived way out on the edge. El Alto reminds me of a city in the Wild West as it rapidly grows in all directions and there is no way to keep up with the growth. There are buildings popping up everywhere and all kinds of little businesses. Many of the people move from the country side to El Alto looking for work and more opportunity. It took us about 2 hours to get to the place where she lived. When you get out this far, there are many urbanizations that have sprung up. Kind of like the suburbs around a city, but not like you would think. The roads in these urbanizations are just dirt. There are many small homes constructed out of bricks and Adobe. Some homes only have tin roofs. It gets very cold in El Alto at night and none of these homes have any kind of heat. The homes have some electricity but no water. The people have to walk to a place in the urbanization to get water to carry back to their homes. It has been very eye opening going to these people’s homes that have nothing. And it is impossible not to feel there pain when they are telling you about their problems and begin crying because they feel that they have no hope. I feel like Justus and I have chosen the most sobering and toughest job, but I believe it is the most rewarding because it truly puts life into perspective. I know it will be a long year and that I will see everything differently once it is over.