We're building a new day centre in Ushpa Ushpa

The construction is now under way for this project in Cochabamba. This is one of our two big projects for 2009; the other being the new orphanage in Potosi.

In Ushpa Ushpa the old buildings are now down, and work is in progress on the new ones. Two floors this time, and more than twice the area. These photos are from July 24, and according to plan, the new building will be in place during September.

The budget for this project is 39.000 USD. So far, the Bolivia Family has contributed USD 20.000, so we're closing in...but still need your help!

800 child sponsors!

We are passing a milestone today, with 800 personal child sponsors in our family. The lucky one - apart from the sponsor, of course! - was the little guy with the funny name: Fidel Castro in Cochabamba (he has a last name to, which we don't disclose in the blog).

Our next goal: 829! A strange number, perhaps, but as of today we have 29 children in need of a "padrino" or "madrina". So we will still keep nagging anyone and everyone to join. Always.

But 800! Wheeey! :-)

Video report from Evangelina Booth

The Salvation Army in the UK made a video report in 2008 from one of orphanages, more specifically the girls' home Evangelina Booth. I was just made aware that it is on YouTube. You can find it here: Part 1 and Part 2.

For us who know the place it is a great revisit with the girls, la majora Vargas and the previous big boss himself, Mr Franklin Abasto. For others it will be a good introduction to the work that the Salvation Army carries out in Bolivia, with financing from the Bolivia Family. It strikes me that we should have reports like these from the other 20 centers as well... :-)

Our Orphanage Evangelina Booth

This is where it all began. Evangelina Booth was the first orphanage in the Bolivia family. In 1981, they had been waiting for months for their support from another Norwegian organization. It never came. Instead, one day this rather rough looking cowboy from Norway knocked on the door. Help had arrived. Under the gritty surface, the cowboy had a heart of gold.

Today, we have 40 sponsored girls here (only one sponsor missing). In addition, sponsors are helping us with the wages for additional help. And, as you will see from some rather pale complexions below, we often have volunteer helpers working here.

These photos were taken during our trip in the fall of 2008. True to tradition, after visiting the orphanage we filled two buses and headed up to the Taquiña park in the hills overlooking Cochabamba. The girls performed dances and various numbers, we all played in the park, and of course there were multiple servings of ice and lemonade. The girls all seemed to have a nice day. We, on the other hand, had a terrific time.



(Click for larger photos)

Thank you for the Christmas presents

One of my favorite things to do: Lying down on my office sofa (great piece of furniture) and looking through the hundreds of "thank you"-letters that are now beginning to trickle in from our orphanages and day care centers to the children's sponsors.

Most of all, I enjoy the photos, with their great variety in style and content. Children big and small, smiling or frowning at the photographer pestering them when they'd rather just enjoy their new belongings. Here we can only present a tiny selection of the hundreds we receive, but I hope you'll enjoy them too.





(Click for larger images)

This, dear sponsors and others, is work more fulfilling than any other. What a privilege!

Best regards
Frode Fanebust

Photo: Carmen

(Click for a larger version)

Not her name at all, I think. Just the name of a lovely song that I came to think of when I saw this photo among the thousands I took on our last round trip of Bolivia. And so the name stuck in my mind.

Best regards
Frode

Our new orphanage in Potosi

This is our largest project for 2009. As close to heaven as you can get, more than 4.000 meters above sea level, in the highest city in the world, that is where we will provide a new home for 48 children. Here is the sketch from the architect (click for a bigger image):

The work is now in progress. Our volunteer Marita helped instigate the project and laid down the first stone in the foundation, followed by the Fanebust brothers...


The budget is 100.000 dollars. After many kind donations - including a very unexpected Christmas gift of 15.000 dollars from one of our sponsors! - we have currently come half the way towards this amount. If we do our job, the builders will do their, and this new orphanage will be ready this fall. Imagine that!

As is our normal practice, the Bolivia Family will provide the financing for building the orphanage as well as the sponsors for running expenses, while the Salvation Army will staff it and be responsible for the daily operation.

If you would like to help us help the orphans of Potosi, please make a donation.

Christmas celebration for poor children

Here are some photos from the Christmas celebration for more than 350 poor children in Tiquipaya, outside Cochabamba. Money for presents, cookies and milk were provided by sponsors of the Bolivia Family, including Round Table Sandnes.

Click for larger photos:

Photo: Young girl, Isla del Sol

Cute, isn't she? Typical little "cholita", in her traditional clothes. Click for a larger version of this photo - and on our main site, you'll find it in color.

Creative contributions

It is Christmas time, and a lot of our sponsors are sending us contributions for which we are very thankful. However, at this time, we wanted to point out some of the more creative ways these contributions are being collected.

One involves the young gentlemen at Round Table in Sandnes. For those not in the know, Round Table is a large international association of men between the ages of 20 and 40, somewhat like (and quite different from) Rotary, Lions etc. With the adage "adopt, adapt, improve" this club has done exactly that with their former Christmas bingo. Now a Casino Royale with rulette and poker play - black suit and tie, of course - not only was all bets finally given to The Bolivia Family, but the club also matched this amount from their own kitty.

And here is another one: The company EB Marine has over numerous years had a practise of the company matching the bar tab at their Christmas party and giving this to The Bolivia Family! How is that for raising the bar..? :-)

There is also Sjøboden Pub in Mandal, where the tip is collected on behalf of our Bolivian children. Throughout the year, this adds up enough to run a kindergarten in La Paz, the Refugio del Amor!

Gustavo needs your support

Update December 16: Gustavo got his "padrinos" today!

He is not the only one, of course. We have many children in need of sponsors, or "padrinos", as they are called in Bolivia. But at 10, Gustavo is about to get too old.

Most sponsors like to support children from a young age. We understand this very well, as following a child through the years is very rewarding. So this is not a complaint, it is merely a fact.

Because of this, we have, over the last year, worked especially hard to provide the older children with sponsors. By this, we mean children born 1998 or later. Of course, none of the youngsters older than this will lose their place in the orphanage or day care center. But we don't try to find sponsors for them until, in one year or five, they leave and their place becomes available.

This has worked very well. At this time, Gustavo is the last child available from 1998. Our oldest child looking for a "padrino".

Here is a little of what we know about Gustavo: He is a very nice boy who takes pride in studying well. That is good, because his dream is to become a doctor of medicine. He comes to one of our day care and educational centers in Cochabamba to eat, play with other children and do his homework.

Gustavo lives along with his father, mother and two year old brother in a small house with two rooms. His parents are hard working: The father has just finished his university studies, and his mother drives a taxi, which is something quite unusual in Bolivia. Thus, this is a family with definite possibility. But as of yet, they are finding it difficult to escape from poverty. Though they try to do their best for their two sons, they can only manage the barest necessities in terms of food and clothing.

If you would like to help Gustavo, please send us an email. Our "padrinos" normally pay USD 30/Euro 25 per month, plus (if they want to) a similar amount for birthday and Christmas presents.

PS:
As mentioned above, we always have numerous children looking for sponsors. They are boys and girls from 3 to 10 years of age. In this blog, we will only be able to tell you about a few of them.

Greetings from Siw in Bolivia

A seasonal greeting from our valuable coordinator in Bolivia, living her life between a rock and a hard place (ie being the liason between the Bolivia Family and the Salvation Army):

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Dear Friends,

Now we are very close to Christmas so I want to send you warm greetings! I hope you will have a very nice Christmas with your family and friends!

This is the 14 th time I celebrate Christmas in Bolivia. Now it is summer here, and it is starting to get very hot and a bit rainy, since the rainseason has just started. The shops have started to sell Christmas decorations and people have decorated with Christmas lights in the center of the city. At the main street "Prado" you can see the manger on display.

Many schools have started their summer holiday and the rest only have a few days left. The schools start up again in February. The Salvacion Army day care centers close right before Christmas and stay closed all January. Many of the children in our children's homes also go home and spend their Christmas and holiday with relatives.

The parents are very grateful for the day care centers so they can feel safe for their children while they are at work. The children get lunch, help with their homework and recreation. We hope our children that have the opportunity to go to school, really do their best. Because it is very important to study if you want a better life.

Dear sponsor, your help and your efforts are very meaningful. Thank you very much for what you do for the children in Bolivia through your contributions!

I wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2009!

Siw

Photos from Bolivia

We promise them on our web page, so better make good on that promise! First, here is the link to the photos from our previous trip around Bolivia in 2006. All but two of our day care and educational centres and orphanages are featured there.

Secondly, here is the first of my 2.000 photos from this year's visit. Such a beautiful little girl, but fortunately she's still on her first set of teeth!

Click for a larger version. I love taking portraits of children (and elderly people), so there is bound to be a lot more coming.

Here's to New Beginnings

As you can read on our main site at TheBoliviaFamily.org, our organization has been around since 1981. That is when this handsome man, Baste Fanebust,


went to Bolivia to find his sponsor child, and finally found her after weeks of rummaging around in an unknown country. He ended up taking on the responsibility of 45 abandoned children in an equally abandoned orphanage in dire need of financial support. Over the years, the number increased steadily, and today we're up to 890 children in 17 day care and educational centres and 4 orphanages all over Bolivia. All but one are run in co-operation with the Salvation Army, with the Bolivia Family providing the financial support. As Baste used to say (he passed in 2005 leaving this organization to his sons, Øyvind and Frode): "The Salvation Army and me; we're one hell of a team..."

We've been on the web for at least ten years, but only in Norwegian. That is a language spoken by 0.08% of the world's population, understood by another 0.3% made up of Swedes and Danes, and complete goobledigook for the remaining 99.62%. It is a bit like publishing in sanskrit. So finally it occurred to us that perhaps it would be a good idea to put up an English site and blog as well...

Here is how we think this is going to work: A short presentation of and introduction to our organization is found on the web site. In this blog, we'll keep you informed on new and ongoing projects, show you some photos from our travels in Bolivia, tell you more about each orphanage and centre, etc. We'll also invite sponsors, co-travelers, volunteers and others to post.

We hope to make this an interesting place for you to visit. You are very welcome to comment here in the blog or to send us an email. And need I say that we are always looking for sponsors, large and small, for our children and projects..?

Best regards
Frode Fanebust