Tim & Kallie in Bolivia - Blog

Seeds Planted in Good Soil

30/10/2023

It’s no secret that for many younger generations, environmental care is of deep concern. The topic often ranks among their top priorities, and some have an admirable passion demonstrated in their conscientious lifestyles. Often, we find Bolivians to be acutely aware of the environmental challenges facing their region. They’ll note how quickly hail can wipe out harvests, drought can strangle growth, and how deforestation has led to flash flooding. In recent years we’ve received emergency relief proposals related to each of these environmental disasters. On a smaller, local scale, lack of public garbage bins and proper garbage pick up has left cities not only covered in litter but with citizen made dumps. Improper drainage and sewage disposal can also lead to contaminated flooding. Though younger Bolivians often demonstrate a desire to take responsible actions to care for the environment, few are able to make a clear connection between this theme and their faith.

This past year we have been working with college and career students to build a faith-based foundation for creation care. Groups of young people across the country have been meeting online for biblical and theological training that critically explores Christian perspectives on our environmental reality. These trainings finished off with an in-person weekend event bringing together youth from across the country.

This program was led by Latin American experts connecting from Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, and Panama. Using online platforms made it possible to bring together youth nationally with facilitators at an international level. However, our final in-person event allowed us to connect more intimately and explore our subject through different approaches.

Our international speakers encouraged the youth to explore the theological roots of creation care, wrestle with difficult questions, and consider how this knowledge might affect their Christian practice. Still, their passion for integrating environmentalism with Christian faith and living was perhaps the most inspirational aspect of this formative initiative.

Theses trainings have already started sparking a response! Just this month, youth from one region have spearheaded a reforestation project. The national youth association has also adopted creation care as a focus theme hoping to spread awareness and harness passion nationally. We hope that these young people continue to lead and help us all consider how our faith can influence the world we live in.

A Party Without Cake is Just a Meeting

23/6/2022

There is something about food that brings us all together (there's also something about Baptists that brings food together). This truth proved itself once more as a group of women gathered in the wilderness to make cake.

Last year, the regional women’s ministry of Cochabamba asked how they could support and connect with our work in rural areas. We facilitated a partnership between them and a women’s syndicate in Pukapampa, one of the communities where we've recently initiated programming.

Following a few initial meetings, the women of Pukapampa asked if their new friends could provide them with a special training: how to make and decorate cakes for special occasions. This may seem like a simple request but Pukapampa is a community with little to no amenities. They have small solar panels attached to batteries that provide enough energy to power a few hours of lights in the evening, but do not depend heavily on electricity, and are without indoor plumbing or potable water. There are no refrigerators and all cooking is done over a fire or in a mud, wood-burning oven.

The Cochabamba women whipped up a recipe that could be done relatively easily, packed themselves into a fifteen-passenger van, and headed out at 5am for the four-hour drive. When we arrived, we did a devotional together and then everyone got to their task. Some started giving instructions, some handed out tools and ingredients, others started preparing lunch, and one group gathered the children for games and activities.

I am always amazed at the bond that can be created over such a short amount of time when people work together with their hands. We talked about our lives, trials, worries, and faith as we whipped egg whites to a stiff peek. At the end of the day, our arms a little soar and our hearts lighter from new found friendships, we settled in to enjoy the fruits of our labour. The cake was cut and shared in celebration of our host’s birthday. With full bellies and fuller hearts we headed back to the city, already planning our next visit.

A party without cake is just a meeting ~ Julia Child

Make Pierogies, Not War

28/3/2022

The world has been shaken with the news of Russia invading Ukraine. Each day we watch the news with bated breath trying to make sense of the violence as the death toll rises. Images of bombed buildings and train stations packed with soon-to-be refugees fill our minds and we wonder what, if anything, can be done to help.

Our Bolivian partners share with us in this desperate desire to help while not quite knowing how. Tim suggested doing a fundraiser to contribute to the relief effort that CBM is undertaking. As members of the Baptist Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD), CBM is directing donations towards the European Baptist Federation (EBF) and the Ukrainian Baptists as churches open their buildings to host refugees and provide essentials such as food, clothing and personal hygiene supplies. We have rarely seen the Bolivian Baptists and all of their institutions mobilize so quickly!

The president of the Bolivian Baptists issued a challenge to churches across the country, calling on them to set aside this month to raise funds for the relief effort. In Cochabamba, this came to include a benefit dinner featuring Ukrainian dishes. The seminary hosted, the pastors’ union and Obades promoted the event and sold tickets, the young adults gathered volunteers, and guest performers were invited to participate. Kallie joined up with the Cochabamba women’s group and taught them how to make pierogies (or varenyky) and borscht, which they served to more than 250 guests.

All of these volunteers pitched in where they could as their way of standing in solidarity with those suffering and fleeing violence. Bolivia is not a wealthy nation, but our partners are rallying to offer what they can with love and compassion in support of their neighbours.

Come Hail or High Water

17/6/2021

We're grateful that we’ve been able to participate in providing emergency relief to thousands of people during the crisis caused by the pandemic. However, Covid is not the only emergency that has distressed our Bolivian partners in recent months, causing them to step out in love and action. So far this year, CBM has collaborated with local churches to provide relief in two regions of Bolivia that have experience significant hardship. These events may not have made international news but they have certainly left many vulnerable people in a desperate situation. Fortunately, God sees them and local churches are responding with compassion.

Flooding in The Jungle
This year the rainy season came heavy in certain tropical regions causing rivers to overflow and flood several communities. Two Baptist churches in the area jumped into action as people scrambled to higher ground, helping families recover their belongings from their homes as water continued to rise. As homes were flooded, families evacuated to local schools for temporary shelter. Here, the churches gathered volunteers to cook meals and coordinate accommodations for the displaced. In collaboration with the Bolivian Baptist Union, CBM further provided emergency food supplies to these families. Together as a global church, we have been able to walk alongside these communities through this uncertain time.

Hail in The Valley
The farming community of Santa Maria, set in a valley, also fell victim to their environment when a hailstorm devastated their crops just before harvest. As subsistence farmers, these families depend on their crops to get them through the coming dry season. The golf-ball-sized hail not only destroyed food stores for them and their animals but also damaged their homes. An hour away, church members in a neighbouring town who were often invited to participate in services in Santa Maria, were distressed at the pain they saw this community going through. They immediately took up a collection to provide some level of relief. They then reached out to us at CBM and together we developed a plan to provide further emergency food supplies in partnership. Church and community leaders evaluated each home and identified the families that were most affected by the hail storm and currently living in a precarious situation. This past week we were able to deliver food supplies to these families.

Speaking with one of the beneficiaries, she shared that "for weeks, you would walk around and see people crying. No one knew what to do. We lost everything. This was the hope that we needed." It was encouraging to watch the church collaborate with community leaders as they assessed the situation and made plans to continue working together. The Santa Maria residents invited us to a church service where we were able to give thanks in song together, provide a message, and send greetings from the many churches in Canada who are praying for them.

Eat Honey, For it is Good

7/3/2021

My child, eat honey, for it is good. ~ Proverbs 24:13

The pandemic gave us the unexpected opportunity to pivot several of our projects. Our favorite (and tastiest) pivot involves honey.

The Chagas prevention and agricultural sustainability project works in remote rural areas. These communities are so isolated that Covid didn’t have much effect on their everyday lives; however it did keep many subsistence farmers from finding work in the cities during the dry season. Unfortunately, the country-wide lockdown made certain regions inaccessible, preventing program implementation that requires the entire year to initiate well. In dialogue with our partners, we decided shift our focus towards agricultural projects that could provide a novel stream of income for communities and be implemented during the later half of the year. This resulted in a new initiative: Beekeeping.

Once you've learned the basics, beekeeping isn't overly time consuming, but the honey produced can yield a high return. It has the potential to help farmers create a secondary income stream, generating greater stability for their families and teaching their children a new skill. Last year we worked in five communities and are currently striving to further expand in 2021.Through a formal partnership with some experts, as well as several local church members with experience, we have been undertaking regular trainings and carefully monitoring the hives alongside these new beekeepers.

Recently we arranged a field-trip with a large group to visit a apiary or "bee yard." Here a family of professional beekeepers gave us a tour of their vast number of hives and walked us through several techniques, approaches, and opportunities that were received with excitement and intrigue by this emerging group of honey producers.

This past week we harvested honey from an initial few hives with great success and look forward to similar yields from others throughout April. Naturally, this is still a pilot project and we have lots to learn, yet we’re hoping to see this initiative grow, along with the self-confidence and ingenuity of these new beekeepers, over the coming year.

A Look Back Over The Past Year

5/12/2020

We've put together a short video looking back over the past year. It highlights some of the political unrest we went through in late 2019, as well as provides a snapshot of life and ministry during the pandemic. Enjoy!

Bolivian Election ~ 2020

21/10/2020

Sunday, October 18th marked the end of a year-long political limbo with the re-election of the MAS (movement toward socialism) party. Luis Arce is now the President-elect of Bolivia.

You might remember the tension leading up to and following the 2019 elections. As a refresher and for some context, you can read about it in our blog here.

This make-up election was postponed twice, first being scheduled for May and then September before settling on October, due to Covid-19. Luis Arce replaced exiled ex-president Evo Morales, as the MAS party's candidate. Carlos Mesa continued as the main opponent. Newcomer to the race, Luis Camacho, who led a citizens' resistance following the last election, also threw his hat in the ring. Just before the election date some other contenders, including the interim president, pulled their candidacy in hopes of uniting votes against MAS.

An important detail should be understood regarding the Bolivian electoral system. A first round election can only be won with either 50% of the overall vote or with a minimum of 40% and a 10% margin lead. If this is not acquired, a run-off election between the top two candidates is held. All polls suggested that MAS would win by a small margin, resulting in a run-off vote between Arce and Mesa, where Mesa was favoured to win.

Apparently, polls are not to be trusted.

While the official results are still being counted, the fast count shows that Arce has won with just over 50% of the vote, surpassing Mesa by a margin of 20%.
There is still much to be seen. Will the results be contested or accepted by the opposition and their supporters? Will Evo return to Bolivia despite the significant charges against him (fraud, sedition, and pedophilia to name a few)? Will this coming term be fraught with political tension and regular protests? Will in-person elections, along with a global precedent, spark a second wave of covid?

As we watch and wait, we continue to pray for peace, health, and unity in the country and for our churches.

Entertaining Angels

24/9/2020

The Covid-19 pandemic in Bolivia brought to light many inadequacies in the healthcare system. Hospitals became so overburdened that they had to turn away people who had waited hours in line because there was simply no more capacity. Many of those suffering even severe symptoms, chose to stay home and manage on their own. As people died, emergency services struggled to collect the bodies and many were left in their homes for days.

Several of the vulnerable families we serve contracted the disease and had no viable options for medical care. Through our networks, we heard of a group of Christian doctors who called themselves the Counter-Covid Angels. These doctors set up shop in two community centres in the north and south of the city and volunteered their time, offering free treatment & consultation for people suffering from Covid-19.

After connecting with the Counter-Covid Angels and receiving assurance that they were accepting patients for consultations, we spent several days picking up families and transporting them in the back of our truck to the clinic. One family had a father recently released from prison, who tested positive for Covid-19, but was unable to afford medical care. The family did the best they could to isolate him by pinning up a tarp around his bed, but without proper treatment his illness dragged on for months and before long the rest of the household came down with symptoms as well.

The blue tarp was wrapped around the father's bed in an attempt to isolate him

After receiving their consultations, these families were informed on the proper medication for their treatment and we were able to help them purchase their specific prescriptions. After a few follow-up visits, most were well on the road to recovery. It has been difficult to watch the effects of the pandemic devastate this country, and at times we've felt helpless to meet the growing needs. The opportunity to collaborate with this amazing group of doctors to bring care to a group who would have otherwise had no options has been a clear answer to prayer.

A doctor reviews a father's lung x-rays while his family looks on