Muy Ocupados – ne drocke Tiet

Our busyness seems to come and go in waves here. Since we returned from our two week visit to the U.S., we have been riding a relatively busy wave. During our trip to the States, we enjoyed a short time in Michigan with my (Layne’s) family, then flew to Oregon for Cadie’s sister, Maggie’s, wedding. It was a quick trip, but we packed in a lot of time with friends and family, and even a bit of time in Powell’s Books when we weren’t busy helping with wedding organization. We were grateful to have the chance to be there to celebrate with everyone at the wedding.

We arrived back in Bolivia and hit the ground running. In early September we were able to travel for a few days to Cochabamba, the city in the central highlands where we spent our language study period last year. The purpose of the visit was to attend the general Bolivia orientation meetings that we missed out on last year when we were in the U.S., waiting for our visas. The new MCC workers arrived in Bolivia in late August, comprising several one year workers in the SALT and YAMEN programs, and two new workers who will be organizing the new-to-Bolivia SEED program and working on planning, monitoring, and evaluating MCC’s programs here. We met with several organizations in Cochabamba to discuss such things as current politics, social issues, and coca cultivation and how it relates to U.S. foreign and drug enforcement policy (here you can read an excellent blog post about the coca issue by our coworker Kyle Navis). A highlight of the Cochabamba trip was taking in a performance by Teatro Trono, a theater troupe of young people who collectively write, direct, produce, and stage original works that touch on themes of Bolivian politics and society.

Back in Charagua, the drought continued, andMCC worked with leaders in Durango colony and the local village of Caipepe on an assistance plan to help sustain people and livestock through until the rains would return and a new crop could be harvested. As there was virtually no harvest this year across much of southern Bolivia, and because the economy of Durango colony is based almost exclusively on dairy farming, folks are struggling to feed livestock and maintain income from milk and cheese sales. MCC is assisting with the purchase of feed in Durango, and in Caipepe with seed for this year’s planting. Since the drought assistance plan was finalized, rain has returned to Charagua, though about a month earlier than in most years, and many people are getting seed in the ground early, hoping to get an earlier harvest and be able to stop buying livestock feed that much sooner. We hope that the October rains were not an anomaly, and that the rainy season continues as normal (November-May).

In addition to the drought assistance plan, we have been working on drafting a new plan for our work in Charagua going forward. Much of MCC’s work functions in three-year cycles, with staff evaluating past work and drafting new plans based on changing context and need. We are still in the process of hammering out the next three-year plan, coordinating with our supervisors, our country representatives, and others in the Winnipeg office, through which all of Bolivia programs are coordinated.

On the gardening front, our one small garden and raised bed have been producing nicely, and we have gotten a good start on a second, much larger, garden space across the yard. Currently we are eating lots of red leaf lettuce, arugula, spinach, cherry tomatoes, parsley, basil, and sweet peppers. Our passion fruit (maracuyá) plants are also growing enormously, and may finally be flowering to produce fruit after 9 months of us waiting expectantly. Passion fruit is easily one of our favorite Bolivian treats, and we are hoping that our plants produce, because, like many other fruits and vegetables, they rarely make the trip from Santa Cruz to the local Charagua markets.

One final item that has been keeping us busy here is work in Caipepe on dry latrines. Our coworker and Rural Programs Director Patrocinio had made several visits to talk with village leaders about the possibilities for home latrines, and two weeks ago we made a trip with several folks to visit another small town in which dry latrines have recently been constructed, so that we could see them in action and ask questions about their implementation and use. The dry latrines that we will be constructing in Caipepe will involve two chambers for solid waste, in which one is actively used while the other is breaking down the material into compost that is usable on fields and gardens. We hope to also implement education efforts aimed at encouraging the use of the latrines and of general sanitation practices to reduce illness. We have been fortunate to have help on this over the past month from Lee Voth-Gaeddert, who is a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering. He was able to donate several weeks of his time to help us with water related projects such as organizing testing of groundwater and designing a survey to gauge the effects of latrine implementation on community health.

We hope this update finds all of you doing well and enjoying the fall. We have to admit we have been missing cranberry and pumpkin things the last few weeks.