Personal Reflections From Pastor Steve

This excerpt is from a sermon preached the week after returning

Several months ago, when considering whether I should be a part of the short-term missions team to Bolivia, I said to Pastor Sue, “I’m kind of worried that if I go, my heart might get so broken by the poverty and need that it might not get put back together. I might get wrecked.” Her response, blunt but exactly right, was, “oh, and God’s not big enough to handle that?”

I’m pleased to report that the opposite has happened! Instead of being wrecked by the poverty and need, I’m energized by the response of successful, Holy Spirit empowered ministry that is making significant differences in the face of poverty and need.

I’m energized that children who are forced to live in a crowded, confined, economically unstable prison environment are getting a chance at life in the name of Jesus. Our ministry, and I consider it a humble privilege to use the word “our” as we join in partnership, is breaking the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

The Casa de la Amistad meets the need of 170 children – physical needs like food (inmates are provided 3.5 bolivianos, the equivalent of about 50 cents per day from which to meet all their needs for food); and physical needs like medical care (I was incredibly excited to learn that the Casa purchases medical insurance for each child registered in the program, which ensures they have access to the medical care they require). The ministry meets emotional needs like loving relationships with Christian adults who live normal lives, psychological needs through trained Christian counselors, and practical needs like space to do homework and help with that homework, or even as simply as being the liaison between school and home – something impossible for a parent in prison. And, of course, the ministry meets spiritual needs through teaching and modeling Christlikeness.

I’m energized at the difference that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the full Gospel of redemption of heart and soul and mind and emotion and body, can make in the lives of people. And I’ve come home with a new enthusiasm to see the Gospel make that kind of a difference in the lives of people here in Canada.

Transformed to Transform:
Last week we introduced you to Ivan, CBM staff in Bolivia with whom we spent almost all of our time. He did care for all of our practical needs, but he was far more than a translator, doctor, driver, etc… He led us spiritually. Early on, in one of our morning sessions, he expressed his deep desire that the six of us would be transformed by this experience, SO THAT our church in Canada could also be transformed. Since our relationship with the Bolivian church is a two-way partnership, whenever we introduced our church we asked that our partners would pray for us, that God would transform us and enable us to look out and minister to the people around us in the Name of Jesus. And they did, and continue, to pray that for us.

So What is it Going to Take?
As my heart “catches up” to being back in my own culture, I’m starting to ask the question, “what is it going to take” to bring that prayer to reality? What does it take to transform a church, which in turn can then transform our corner of the world??

It is a big question, to which we don't yet have all the answers. But Lord willing, we will see.

A Conversation with Ivan Gutierrez of the Baptist Union of Bolivia

January 2007
The following is a transcription of a video message from our partner, Ivan Gutierrez, to our church

“Hello. My name is Ivan Gutierrez and we are standing here in the offices and the headquarters of the Bolivian Baptist Union. In front of you is our office. Here in Cochibamba we are enjoying the weather and I’m sorry for you guys that you are having a minus 34 degrees below zero so I hope this warm salutation will arrive in a good way to you.

Thank you for sending Laurier Heights team to Bolivia and we hope to enjoy more of our relationship in the next coming years. So, thanks for everything.

I wanted to share three things that I consider are very important to let you know about what you are doing as a church and the meaning of the decision you have taken as a church to be a partner in the STEP Program with CBM. And it’s very important to have a STEP relationship because here in Bolivia we are considering that there are lots of areas of interest and I should say that for not only for myself but also for my partners, co-partners in work in the leadership training.

The decision for you guys to be involved with Bolivia is very important for us because we want to not only do the missionary work as we’ve been doing all these years but now we want to move into another step and it means that we want to be influential not only for the local church here in Bolivia but also we want to be an influence for the church in Canada. So it’s a mutual partnership and I think it is something that will make sense not only for the church here but also for you guys because in a mutual way we learn together.

We are here to learn together and I consider that you have so many, many things to teach here but also you will learn some aspects, for example, like, I cannot speak about Laurier Heights but we can share about Bolivia. For example is our passion for missions - our passion to start new churches and in my one point of view what I see now is around the world many churches are being closed and is because we are not putting emphasis in missions. Missions does not mean you have to go only overseas and send somebody. Missions means you can start locally and go globally as you know and that’s why we believe in this partnership.

The other thing is one of the struggles that the church is confronting now is not only here but my perception and my point of view is the church has come to a level of comfort. We like to be in our own community doing the things we like to do but also I believe that we need to express our faith in different ways and Jesus was teaching us to go into the world and share what we have learned and it doesn’t mean that you will resign from the things that you like to do. You can enjoy as much you can but as long as to share the gospel is in your mind, is in your heart.

We are, in Bolivia working over 100 years with the gospel but one of the risks that we will face in the future, is the fact that we will feel more comfortable in what we do and what we believe. It will be more enclosed in our own community but not looking at the needs of the people so is another thing that I wanted to share with you, that I really believe is important to go beyond what we can do.

A time ago, a group of volunteers asked me, they told me “Ivan, what do you prefer for us to do? Do you prefer to send you such an amount of money or for us to come?” And the amount of money was good but I say, “You know guys, I rather prefer you to come here. Because there is no way to compare what you can do with the money and what you can do with your witness, with your work, with your encouragement because you will encourage not only the local church here in Bolivia but also you will encourage your own church”.

Frankly many people, or many churches are forgetting what missions means.

So I really thank God for your church, for the passion of your leaders, because they have surrendered many things and they have decided to come to Bolivia and let me tell you, and not because that I want to be a good person with all of you, but truly I saw committed Christians, faithful, with all of them they are willing to serve God and is something that we should be keeping in our hearts to serve Him not to serve ourselves or the community because we want to be good people for the opinion of our brothers and sisters.

Ultimately God will see our hearts and what I have seen is you have a great people and I believe you have a great church and please keep focus where you want to go and let the Spirit, let God to guide you to the place He wants you to be there.

So thank you. Thank you for your support. It is something that is beyond value. All the things you have done, all the things you will be doing along these years, doesn’t have a price. It’s not the fact that you could be giving $20,000 or a hundred. It doesn’t have a value so please keep thinking in this way and may God bless you all.

We left our hearts in Bolivia

We left our hearts in Bolivia
By Pastor Steve
Tony Bennet may have left his heart in San Francisco, but I left mine in Cochabamba.

Our host Emigdio Veizaga warned us at our farewell dinner that “it takes some time for your hearts to catch up to your bodies when you return home”. I quipped, “I think a big part of our hearts are going to stay here permanently”. One of the best lines of the evening came next, from Emigdio’s wife Gladys, “Well, then you’ll just have to come back and get them!”

This kind of friendly exchange characterized our last evening in Bolivia. Our team was treated to a feast in a beautiful restaurant, surrounded by almost all of the new friends we had made, about 20 people in total (the majority of people whose stories are in these blog entries were present). Ivan Gutierrez, our host, interpreter, counselor and expert driver began by saying this meal was a celebration in honor of our team and the work we had done together. He expressed his gratitude for the flexibility and teamwork of the Laurier team.
Ivan recommends a Bolivia dish to Terry, Chris & Steve

We feasted on a buffet including traditional Bolivian cuisine, oriental cuisine, a variety of pasta and seafood dishes prepared to order before our eyes, a salad bar, dessert bar, and even a selection of dessert crèpes also prepared to order before our eyes. I particularly enjoyed the crème caramel…

Dinner provided opportunity for a host of deep conversations and connections. Norma connected with Carla Botani (Interim Director of the Casa de la Amistad) when she discovered Carla’s dad was struggling with cancer. She also connected via cell phone with an American Baptist missionary named Iris whom Norma had been praying for since October, and who had been fighting the same cancer Norma had walked through. In God’s perfect timing, Iris had just discovered that day that her cancer was gone, and the two rejoiced together. Yolanda (President of the Bolivian Baptist Union) shared with me an upcoming personal challenge in trying to negotiate an arrangement with Compassion International (a child sponsorship group active in Bolivia) to enable them to continue to minister to the needs of the poorest children in Bolivia in the light of the shifting political climate. “I’ve seen where these kids live, and they are desperate. We must find a way to keep this support for them, or else what will they do?” she said, with tears in her eyes.

All around the table, these deep conversations were peppered with spontaneous bursts of laughter.

Following the meal, I rose to thank our hosts personally. “We came with a prayer that we would encounter God’s presence around every corner, and praise God, He has answered that prayer in abundance. Our team has been transformed.” On behalf of our team I expressed our love and thanks to each of our partners personally. We blessed Terry and Pat Janke and their work in the seminary. We repeated our promise to pray for unity and leadership development of the Bolivian Baptist Union. To Thomas Gabriel (Project Director of Jireh), we repeated our pledge to find prayer partners for each of the 45 kids in their program.

To Carla of the Casa, I said “we will come back to do more”, which received an enthusiastic “Perfecto!!”.

In addition to verbal thanks to Ivan and Emigdio, we presented them with a few small gifts brought from Canada, which Isabelle had lovingly wrapped in Canada t-shirts. We also gave a bouquet of flowers to Cristina, Ivan’s wife, for sharing Ivan’s time so generously. They are a very special couple. The maple syrup seemed to be a big hit!

My expressions of love and thanks were quickly and spontaneously reciprocated. Carla rose and said, “On behalf of the children we are very thankful and may God bless you. We hope you return again and our hands and minds will be open.” Tomas said, “thank you for your visit to Bolivia. Here sometimes we don’t have gifts, but we can provide work for you! God bless you.”

Last words came from Ivan. “It has been a privilege to serve with you guys. You have been incredibly supportive. I see it in your open hearts. And as you learn from us, I learn from you. Then he quoted Jesus who said, “may they be one” (Jn 17:20-21), and ended with a challenge: "if we have a sense of brotherhood, we can do incredible things for the glory of God.”

A note on Blogging for future teams

Reflections on blogging

When the Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team arrived in Bolivia, only a couple of people on the team knew that Brian Wiens had the foresight to set up a blogspot. No one anticipated it would prove as valuable as it did. It helped our church feel part of the mission and the advance team looked forward every morning to reading the comments from church members.

Nevertheless, there are consequences when a major element of a trip is spontaneously inserted. Why didn’t we plan? For one thing, we expected to stay in hotels and have limited access to computers. The demonstrations by the camposinos forced us into quarters at the CBM/BBU compound. However there was a big benefit! When Emigdio and Ivan went home for the evening, we had three computers to work with. An unexpected opportunity presented itself.

Should any other church wish to follow our lead, we suggest it plan better than we did. How will you get computer access? We needed a least two computers and internet access. One evening Sue, Norma and Isabelle were each on separate computers, working on contributions. Future teams need to decide who will do the work and what skills are necessary. The computer network and internet service in Bolivia were not as stable as we were used to and the instructions and "help" were in Spanish. Ray Johnson and Daniel Johns worked as a team, staying up after midnight to publish something new most evenings. Ray was photographer, copy editor and technical support. Dan was principal writer and publisher/editor. We had fun, but we were sleep deprived.
We suggest anyone wishing to have a blog site identify who will do the work and set aside time during the day for the writing and publishing. If a large team goes, it might wish to select a principal blogger and create time and space for that person to report for the team. I think, however, that back home church members will want to see contributions from all team members.

Blogs are a powerful tool than can bring the daily activities and news into the homes of all those back home and provides an ecouraging connection back to the on-site team. Our advice is that before you leave, set it up and try it out to get familiar with all the nuaces of the blog tool set.

Historical context provided by road trip

Historical context to the mission to Bolivia provided by a road trip
by Daniel Johns

Obtaining a historical context for the Canadian Baptist Mission to Bolivia was the focus of a three-day road the Laurier Heights advance team undertook on its second weekend in Bolivia. From my point of view, the trip was a highlight, but also a gruelling experience. My reactions to what we saw were sometimes completely different from other members of the team, which explains why I am writing this story in the first person. This is how I saw the trip.

Although I have not questioned the people who set the agenda, I believe the goal was to show us sites of historical significance to the Baptist Church and, secondly, allow the team to see rural Bolivia. Since several elements of our schedule inside Cochabama had been postponed due to the demonstrations by the camposinos, people from the countryside, I was interested to see them in their home settings and get an idea of the conditions under which they live. The demonstrations of the camposinos aimed at forcing the governor of the Cochabamba department (or province) to resign. Later we encountered similar demonstrations in La Paz, aimed at forcing the governor of the La Paz department to resign and those demonstrations had an impact on our travels, as will be related later in this story. The camposinos support the president of the federal government, Evo Morales, who is of native ancestry.

It is about 390 kilometres by road between Cochabama and La Paz and about half of the trip is uphill. In order to reach La Paz, a traveller first has to reach the altiplano and that involves a climb of almost 2000 meters to the top of the pass which sits at 4496 meters. Fortunately, the road is excellent, about the standard of a paved secondary highway in Alberta, but much more of an engineering challenge as it must twist along the steep slopes, often turning back on itself, all the time avoiding the dramatic drop offs on the downhill side.

The mountains in this part of Bolivia are steep, but not jagged, covered with grass and very high. At lower elevations there are patches of trees, pines and eucalyptus, but there are very few trees at higher elevations or on the altiplano. Since it was the rainy season, the hills were green. Nevertheless, the rain had created very little running water. A few rivers were encountered, but none carried nearly as much water as the North Saskatchewan River.

What struck me was the fact there was sparse, but continuous settlement on the mountain sides. At no time was the scene devoid of signs of human habitation, cultivation and livestock. Even the steepest hills had adobe houses with grass roofs and pens for animals. Every slope had one or more visible plots of crops such potatoes, lima beans or barley. Usually someone could be seen herding sheep, tending to the cows and at high elevations, the llamas. Most houses had no services, no electricity or running water. Overall, 90% of people in rural Bolivia are without these services. In fact, many don’t even have nearby roads and must walk any produce to market.

The Quechuan people predominate on the slopes up to the altiplano, but after that the Aiymarans are most numerous. Their clothes were mostly traditional in style. In a few places people tried to flag down the vehicle, either to sell something or ask for a ride.

The slopes were steep enough that often the trucks could just crawl up the slope. Our friend, guide and driver, Ivan Gutierrez, knew the roads well and passed most slow moving vehicles promptly. At one point we were behind two large trucks. A cyclist had sprinted fast enough to catch one and hold onto the trailer with one hand, acquiring a free tow up the hill. At an elevation of over two miles, the thin air would sap the energy of any rider is, let alone the steepness of the road. One could understand the cyclist’s motivation in hitching a ride, but if he’d fallen, the second truck probably would have flattened him.

The arrival at the altiplano provided relief from being tossed from side to side in the corners for the five passengers jammed into the back of the van. Fortunately, my long legs earned me the relative comfort of the passenger. Once we achieved our highest point, the road straightened out and really did resemble a good Southern Alberta paved secondary highway. I don’t know exactly how large the altiplano is, but obviously it stretches for hundreds of kilometres. Decent sized hills stick out of the plain at frequent intervals, but the altiplano is surprisingly flat and most of the time I could see 10 or more kilometres in most directions.

The crops now included a little more variety, such as quinua and onions, but only a small part of the landscape was cultivated, likely less than a quarter. Another quarter, or less, appeared to be in what Alberta would call summer fallow, even though it was the rainy season. Villages were scattered here and there, located, I gather, according to the sources of water. Women, men and children herded animals, often mixed herds of sheep and llamas.

Our initial goal was Lake Titicaca, the highest body of water of its size in the world. We drove through El Alto, a suburb of La Paz, stopping only for fuel and preceded an hour or so further to the lake where we ate wonderful garlic trout, freshly caught, in a glassed-in dining room on the edge of the water. The view resembled a large lake in the interior of British Columbia and there were even a few of the same birds, coots, ruddy ducks and a heron resembling a black crowned night heron. The far shore was Peru.

We weren’t there to see the lake, but a village along the lake called Huatajata. The mission at Huatajata is one of the Baptist church’s proudest achievements. In the 1920’s the church acquired a large estate on the edge of the lake from another mission and ran it for years, with limited success. Rev. E. C. Merrick was put in charge in 1936. He questioned if the mission could ever achieve its goals, as long it maintained the traditional authority structure, with the church acting as a feudal landlord, leaving the residents in a state of serfdom. He implemented land reform and gave the farm to the residents, which resulted in better production and a stronger church.The model he used resembled the method used for homesteading the Canadian prairies.

In order to get title, the farmers had to make improvements. Since then the model has been used for land reform elsewhere in Bolivia and throughout South America. A church continues to thrive at Huatajata. The local houses and gardens were the most prosperous we saw in rural Bolivia.

The Health clinic serves the community

Well cared for garden of Potatoes

The next day was Sunday and we attended First Baptist Church (El Prado) in La Paz and Pastor Steve Simala Grant preached. The history of the El Prado church is interesting and it was reported on earlier in the blog. It was at a team meeting in La Paz that Steve wondered if the road trip was a good use of our time. Pastor Sue Hunter commented that she thought it necessary to give our trip a context for the Baptist presence in Bolivia and I completely agree with Sue. We needed to see the country outside a city to gain an understanding of traditional life, geography and resources. Otherwise religion, politics, and social justice would make no sense.

We decided to stay overnight in La Paz even though Ivan was concerned a possible demonstration Monday morning could trap us in La Paz. It turned out he was worried for good reason. When we arose on Monday, we learned a demonstration was being formed in El Alto. The sooner we were on the road the better. We skipped our planned visit to the Southern Cross Radio Station. When we arrived at the main road in El Alto, it was already blockaded. There wasn’t any choice of routes. Ivan questioned passing motorists and pedestrians and learned it was possible to wind through the subdivision on the north side of the highway in order to avoid the blockage. It took about an hour as we could usually only proceed three or four blocks before coming to a t-intersection or a ditch that forced a detour. Obviously traffic is never heavy on these narrow muddy streets because dogs balefully arose from the dirt, disturbed from a comfortable sleep in the sun, and reluctantly allowed us to pass. By looking to our right at many intersections, we could see the main road remained blocked. Ivan then had to make a choice of which new street to try. When asked, passers-by always gave us good advice on which route to take.
Miners helmut-the symbol of Oruro

Our Monday destination was Oruro, the town chosen by the first Canadian Baptist missionary to Bolivia, Archibald Reekie, as the location in which to start his ministry in April 1898. Oruro was then and is now a mining town, but it has grown to a city of just over 200,000 people. To get there we started down the road to Cochabamba, but detoured to the south. Oruro is even higher than La Paz. During the winter overnight temperatures can fall well below freezing, even though the city lies in the tropics. The trees in the city reminded me of varieties we might see here, such as poplars. The first stop was the cemetery and a visit to the Norman Dabbs mausoleum where Dabbs, a Canadian Baptist missionary, and other missionaries are buried. Dabbs endured a violent death, but his story has redeeming features.

Dabbs, and seven other Bolivian Baptists were martyred on August 8, 1949 in the village of Melcamaya which lies outside of Oruro. They were attending a regular Monday evening service with a small Baptist congregation. According to Dawn over the Bolivian Hills, a book started by Dabbs but completed after his death, a mob, incited by a Roman Catholic priest who objected to a Protestant service, stoned and beat the victims, resulting in eight deaths and several injuries. The buildings which housed the service were burned. Besides Dabbs, the dead included a rising star in the Bolivian church, Carlos Meneses, and two boys aged 13 and 16.

Almost 60 years later there are strong elements of redemption in the tragedy. The Baptist church in Melcamaya has survived and some of the participants of the mob became members. One still survives, but he apparently is too ashamed to talk about the incident. The grandson of one of the perpetrators has entered the Baptist Theological Seminary in Cochabamba. Ivan tells another story about the tragedy, which has symbolic value. One of the burned buildings contained seed potatoes. When recovered, they were charred, but planted anyway. A bumper crop resulted.

The Gym was used for the 1994 Americas Universiad hosted in Oruro.

Reekie began his mission by founding a school and our next stop in Oruro was the Reekie School, currently undergoing a resurgence in attendance. They expect to grow by 20% for the coming school year and were preparing some older classrooms to accommodate the increase. The oldest building on site, constructed of adobe in 1924, is still solid and undergoing renovations. There are currently three other building, including a large gymnasium. A walk in the grounds leaves no doubt the school still teaches the Christian message.
The motto from Ps 119 still guides the path of students 80 years later.

The visit to the school provided me with a moment for reflection. Reekie’s widow, then remarried, was member of a Baptist church I attended as a child in Norwich, Ontario, a village of 1700. My father was the minister at the First Norwich Baptist Church at the time. I can’t say I remember Mrs. Reekie. She lived in Norwich because after Reekie retired from the mission field he took on a nearby three-point rural charge. Presumably he was happy there and continued to do God’s work, but I can’t help but think the fact he ministered to such small churches indicated that when he returned to his homeland, he was not considered a prophet in his own country and was not feted nor given a prestigious job. I can tell you that Reekie is still remembered in Bolivia and highly respected as the man who brought his Christian message there. One example is the series of devotions, Emigdio Veizaga put together. (see the download Bolivia devotional http://www.cbmin.org/web/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=3&tabid=84&img=projects&vi=;1,15;;1 ) It praises Reekie for his faith, courage and dedication.
Other than the drive home through spectacularly beautiful countryside, Oruro marked the end of the road trip. We had seen a lot in a short time and even though I was determined not to miss a kilometre, like the others, I succumbed to a short nap.

Fences and sheep folds are typical on the Alto Plano

A great Vista

Ivan managed to stay awake and keep us on the pavement. We returned Monday evening to Cochabamba.

Pastor Steve returns to San Sebastian Women's jail

Returning to keep a promise
By Steve Simala Grant

During the visit by the Laurier Heights advance team to the San Sebastian women’s prison on Jan 19, we made a simple commitment. “Yes, we can provide five new shower heads.” (In South America, the shower head is an electrical appliance, which uses electricity to heat the water as it passes through it. Without a functioning “widow maker”, as they are affectionately known, there is no warm water in which to shower).
Note the electrical wires connected to the shower head.
So to me, the only question was when we would have opportunity to pick up the materials and deliver them back to the prison. (For details on our visit to the prison, see a story by Dan Johns published earlier in this blog “Children need to escape jail lifestyle”.)

The response of the inmates quickly revealed that for them, the question was not “when” we would return, but “if”. It seems that many who tour through the prison make similar commitments, but never follow through, so our return with five shower heads a few days later came as a surprise.

“Gracias!! MUCHO gracias!!! Doblé!! Triplé!!!” was the response from one inmate, a member of the inmate council who had given birth since our visit four days earlier. The faces of these women were full of joyous gratitude, which also included Spanish expressions of thanks to God (at least, as best as I could understand!).

The gift doubled the number of workings showers. Now the approximately 250 people who live in the prison will have 10 showers instead of five. Because the showers are also used by the children who attend Casa de La Amistad, the gift was in keeping with our goal of supporting children’s program. As it turned out, the gift may help us achieve our goals in ways we did not expect.

What was intended to be a brief delivery of some materials quickly turned into a meeting in the office of the warden of the prison, where a lively, positive, and significant discussion ensued between Irene Quisbert Coronel (Director of the San Sebastian prison), Ivan Guittierez (CBM field staff, Bolivia), Carla Botani (interim Director of La Casa de la Amistad), the inmate council, and me, the pastor of a church in Canada who is partnering with the Casa in ministry to the children of the prison.The discussion was too important to interrupt with “real-time” translation into English, but the body language I read was positive, intense, and forward-looking. Guittierez and Botani later reported that discussion included other ways the ministries can support children, including kids who are soon graduating and hoping to attend university (a need which has been recognized, and which the Casa is already considering). The meeting was extremely positive, and significantly strengthened and reinforced an already strong relationship between the prison, the Casa, and Canadian Baptists.

At our farewell dinner that evening, Botani hand-delivered an official letter from the Warden, which reads:

Cochabamba, 23 de Enero de 2007

Senor
CBM, Laurier Heights Church

Presente.-

Distinguido Senor:
Por intermedio de la present hago extensiva mis agradecimientos a nombre de las senoras internas del Penal “San Sebastian” Mujeres y mio propio por su aporte valioso de dotarnos los cinco duchas (Lorenzzety), que nos es de mucha utilidad para el aseo de las senoras internas y ninos.
Con este motivo saludo a usted con las consideraciones mas distinguidas.

Irene Quisbert Coronel
Directora Centro Penitenciario Femenino “San Sebastian”

TRANSLATION:

Distinguished Sirs:

I would like to express my deepest gratitude on behalf of the ladies from the "San Sebastian" women’s penitentiary. The women and myself, would like to thank you for the donation of five showers heads that are very much a necessity for the women and children.

With this I thank you with distinguished thanks and considerations.

Irene Quisbert Coronel
Director of the central women’s penitentiary, San Sebastian.

Casa has achieved much, but dreams of doing more

Casa de La Amistad has achieved much, but dreams of doing more

In its 13 years of existence, the Casa de La Amistad (Casa) can point to proud achievements, but it dreams of doing much more, acting director Carla Botani, told the Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team at a meeting in Cochabamba during the team’s first week in Bolivia.

Casa was started by the Bolivian Baptist women in 1994, but taken over by OBADES, the Bolivian equivalent of the Sharing Way three years ago. Casa provides programming for about 170 children who live with their parents in both the San Sebastian men’s and women’s prisons across the square from the Casa and in the San Antonio men’s prison a few blocks away. About 300 children live in these prisons. Programs run by other organizations help some of the other children.

Casa operates during the school year. As the Laurier team visited in January, the Bolivian equivalent of July, the children were on summer vacation but over 40 attended a party arranged so they could meet the Laurier team and celebrate their bright new classrooms, painted by the Laurier team. (The party has been previously reported on in this blog.) Pre-school, after-school care and homework help is the primary programming offered in the classroom like settings of the three storey Casa building. About 80% of the children do their homework at the Casa. The supplementary education is working because all of the children completed their school year. The crowded and active prisons would not allow most children an opportunity to concentrate on their studies and complete their homework.

Other services are provided. Children are fed lunches, offered some clothing and shoes and benefit from training in hygiene, visits by dental students and access to computers. As well health care insurance is purchased for every child. The Bolivian government gives some financial support to the lunch program, based on the number of children. It should be noted that the prisons only provide a very limited amount of funds for food such that almost every prisoner is dependent on someone from outside the prison to help them.

.Laurier Team and Casa Staff after successful Fiesta

Casa staff includes a director, psychologist, paid teachers and some teenage and youth volunteers who help operate the programs. The teachers are not always adequately trained. Medical volunteers also contribute time on a scheduled basis.

Just as importantly as meeting physical needs, Casa attempts to teach values such as justice, love, faith and Christian principles. This teaching is important, Botani says, because the children will be returning to a jail atmosphere. “It is not healthy for children to live in prisons,” she says.

Although some parents are in jail for years simply because the judicial system has not gotten around to trying them yet, others are there because they are robbers and cocaine dealers. These people are not good examples for children and they act and speak in ways children should not witness, Botani explained.

Living conditions depend to some degree on income. Children live in men’s prisons as well as with their mothers in the women’s prison. A rich prisoner can pay for special accommodation that enables him to live in a comfortable suite and bring in his wife and children. On the other hand, in the women’s jail, a mother may have no choice but to live with more than one child in a cell one and half meters wide with the children sleeping with her and on the floor.

Botani dreams of more ambitious programming. If an adjoining property could be purchased there would be room to expand the project to provide some skill training which could be shared with the Jireh project. Ideally she would like to have a residence where the children could stay overnight, outside the jail, but still be close enough to make regular visits to their parents. “To be able to provide a nursery and a foster home would allow the children a much better chance” explained Botani. The owner of the adjoining property would likely sell if Casa could come up with sufficient funds. A detailed plan of the opportunity and requirements was provided to us by Botani. (contact Ray Johnson for more details).

Another dream of Botani is to be able to work with families just released from jail as this is often a time of instability. Families are released without resources and unless they can be supported until they have acquired jobs and an income, they may be forced to return to the lifestyle which put them in jail in the first place.

At present Casa is currently trying to address some of the problems it has witnessed in the dynamics of the families by offering family counseling to help them learn how to operate in a less aggressive mode.

How To Help

Reading some of the stories in this blog, we expect that some might be moved to respond. We want to help, and that is a great thing!

As a church, we have entered a partnership with both the Jireh project, and the Casa de la Amistad project. Both of these are described below. Our partnership is very carefully crafted to ensure that financial support gets directly to the places where it can do a lot of good, and where it will not do any harm.

If you would like to support these ministries financially, donations may be made to "Laurier Heights Baptist Church: STEP Bolivia". Donations are tax deductible in Canada, and every penny will go to our partners. Questions or further conversations can be directed to Pastor Steve, or to Ray Johnson.

Of course, financial support is only one way. Other ways to support include being aware, participating in the stories, and above all by praying. We commited to finding specific prayer partners for the 40 kids in the Jireh project, and we'll also be looking for prayer support for the kids in the Casa as well.

posted by Pastor Steve

The rest of the JIREH story

Jireh rescues street children from a dangerous life

None of the 40 children living on the streets of Cochabama admitted to the Jireh program run by OBADES, the social program wing of the Bolivian Baptist Union, sniff glue, use drugs or alcohol, Tomas Gabriel Huiza (Gabriel), the project director asserted at his meeting with Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team.

The team had been scheduled to meet with Gabriel at the Jireh site near the main plaza of Cochabamba the first Saturday, but the demonstrations by the camposinos (mainly poor rural farmers) forced a cancellation and the team was not able to reschedule a visit of the Jireh site until the afternoon of its last full day in Bolivia. Nevertheless, it received an insight into the program during a meeting attended by Gabriel on the Thursday of the Laurier team’s first week in Bolivia.

On hearing the program was drug free, one Laurier team member asked how Gabriel could make such a bold statement because Canadians are familiar with drug addiction issues and know the temptations are strong.

Gabriel was un-phased by the question admitting that absolute certainly is difficult, but he has become close friends with the children and that is why he is confident he can make the statement that the street children in his program are not users. Besides, the children all know each other and if one was sniffing glue, or drinking, another would tell Gabriel.

A program volunteer, Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon, says Gabriel is more than a social worker to the Jireh clients. “Tomas is like a second father.” She says Gabriel is able to solve many of their problems and runs a good project and loves the kids.

The word Jireh means “God is my provider” and through support from OBADES and the Sharing Way, run by Canadian Baptists Missions, Jireh is attempting to address some of the needs of 40 children and it will soon increase that number to 45. If it had resources (space, money and volunteers), it could take in many more. The need is immense.

Jireh offers the children a chance to attend school and provides them with a place to do their homework. Without education they will have little chance to escape the streets and face a high probability of ending up in jail. Jireh also aims at Christian formation, provides one meal a week, addresses some health issues and arranges for some technical training.

Initially Jireh served only shoeshine children, but it is expanding its scope to accept children who live and work on the street. It cannot accept all children who have a need. Younger children are taken first and they must not abuse drugs, glue or alcohol. At the moment glue sniffing is a particular problem and visitors to Cochabama have no trouble identifying the glue sniffers on the street.

Most of the children Jireh serves are from families who have emigrated from other departments (provinces) or from adjacent country places around the city of Cochabamba. The first achievement of Jireh has been to motivate them to study again. Some of them couldn’t get to attend school without the intervention of Jireh because they do not have identification cards. Without identification cards it is impossible to register in school. Jireh helps them through the red tape and provides the children with an identity. Last year 80% of the children finished their grade and advanced to the next level.

Although it receives financial support from the Baptist church, Jireh has a limited budget and does not have full time paid staff. It currently operates out of a small building behind a parking lot. There is one large room, three smaller rooms including an office and a kitchen. Space is a problem. Gabriel would like to rent an apartment, but landlords are cautious about having street children on their property. Gabriel has been looking for two years. One possibility for more space could be provided if funds are found to buy a property adjacent to Casa de La Amistad that would benefit both programs!

A new initiative is to provide scholarships for five children to take technical training at a cost of $20US/month in fields such as computers, industrial sewing and electrical construction.

Thomas Gabriel presents a picture of the Jireh kids to Laurier


In a question and answer portion of the meeting, Laurier pastor Steve Simala Grant offered to find prayer partners for each of the children and Gabriel will forward a list of the children. Gabriel, understanding that Laurier is in a partnership with the Bolivian church, also said that the Jireh children are praying for Laurier Heights Baptist Church.

Laurier member Norma Whittle read one of the prayers Laurier members sent with the team for the purpose of being shared with the Bolivian Church. A Laurier young adult prayed: “That the children and people of Bolivia would see and readily experience the pure love of God that is so unconditional.”

Gabriel was moved by the prayer and the emotion Whittle displayed when reading it. Gabriel said that a verse, Mathew 18:5, helps him. The King James Version, favoured in Bolivia reads: “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” He asked that God bless Laurier’s endeavours in Bolivia, especially among the children.

Carlitos rescued from streets he fled to when aged eight
Tomas Gabriel Huiza told the story of one child, now a teenager, who attends Jireh in order to illustrate the problems faced by street children.

Carlitos escaped from his home when he was eight years old, unable to continue witnessing the fights between his parents. He slept on a mattress outside near a lake on outskirts of downtown Cochabama, or sometimes under a bridge or in the main square.

When Gabriel first met Carlitos as a 12 year old, it was Gabriel’s intention to restore Carlitos to his family. By then, Carlitos’ father had died. Gabriel found Carlitos’ mother who worked in the market. When he told her he knew where her son was and asked if she wanted to see him, she broke down crying. There was an emotional reunion. Nevertheless, Carlitos never returned to his mother permanently. While he did not see her often, he did provide her with some money or clothes on a regular basis.

Carlitos’ mother also passed away recently, but Carlitos could not face going to the funeral as he felt it would only make him feel worse. For a time he sniffed glue, but he realized the dangers of that lifestyle and is now free from drugs. He is living with his brother. He is enrolled in school and passing. Education is a key to escaping the street life.

Laurier Advance team leaves hearts in Bolivia

Laurier team left Bolivia on Thursday Jan 25, 2007.
As was mentioned at our farewell dinner to our Bolivian hosts, "We may easily leave our hearts behind." There will be a few more blog entries over the next 10 days to complete some of the stories of our incredible experience.

(Profiles written about three young missionaries are the focus of this posting. See story below.)


A surprize at Santa Cruz Airport ... 2 taxis


Viviana takes the Laurier Team on a tour of the Santa Cruz Plaza

Young People put their Christian faith into Action!!

Missionary work can be performed regardless of age, as three young people encountered by the Laurier Heights advance team proved. At this stage in their lives all three are volunteers who want to put their Christian faith in action.

Two of the young people are Bolivian and one is a Canadian. All are in their early 20s. The advance team met Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon (Benavidez) in the first week when she attended the team’s meeting with OBADES, the Bolivian Baptist Union equivalent of the Sharing Way (see previous story on this blog) and she also was at the children's fiesta at the Casa de La Amistad to act as an interpreter. (See the blog entry "A Big Party")

The team encountered Chris Mager, from Richmond B.C. Canada on their first Sunday at First Baptist Church (Calama) in Cochabamba. He accompanied the team on its visit to the Baptist Theological School, where he stays in the residence. Mager also helped us paint at the Casa one morning and attended our farewell dinner.

Viviana Claure Veizaga (Claure) appeared unexpectedly on the last day as the team was leaving Bolivia. She rescued us from 10 hours in a strange city with our limited ability to communicate in Spanish. The team’s first leg from Cochabamba back to Edmonton was a 45 minute hop to Santa Cruz. The schedule had us arriving about 1 p.m. and leaving just before midnight. We had to change airports and either sit there bored, or find lockers to store our baggage and then take taxis back downtown. Instead, to our delight and astonishment, an engaging young Bolivian woman approached us and asked us if we were Canadian....in English!. It turned out that after we were in the air Emigdio Veizaga, one of the two principal coordinators of our trip in Bolivia, had phoned his granddaughter who was on a vacation break in Santa Cruz and asked her to meet us. She did. Not only did she facilitate the change in airports, she arrived with two taxi's and took us to a church in central Santa Cruz to store our belongings securely. She then took us to a great place for lunch where we met her Aunt and another friend who lives in Santa Cruz. Lunch was followed by a grand walking tour of the city’s main plaza and the surrounding area. (See two photos above)

Volunteering in order to make a difference for kids

Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon has lead a comfortable life, but says she volunteered with the Jireh program (one of Laurier’s two focal points) because she wanted to feel useful.

“My family has everything,” she says, “not that we are rich.” However, her life is still a big contrast to the children she works with as a volunteer. They live and earn their keep on the streets, primarily shining shoes.

It was her father who referred the Jireh program to her. When confronted with the suggestion that many fathers might consider working a project aimed an inner city street children too risky for their daughters, Benavidez reacted with surprise. “I’m never scared,” she says.

She has found that street children do not trust people easily, but she has earned their trust and many tell her their troubles. She takes their problems to Jireh director Tomas Gabriel Huiza and they act as a team in their attempts to find solutions.

She likes working with Gabriel calling him a “good man”. Further, she observes that, “Tomas is like a second father to them. He is very nice.”

Gabriel is taking public accounting in university at Cochabamba. Public accounting could lead to jobs with the civil service or with non-governmental agencies. She intends to keep volunteering to make a difference where she can.

Encountering the challenges of cross-cultural ministry

His Christian faith is providing Canadian Chris Mager with an opportunity to pursue his interest in different countries and cross-cultural encounters.

“There is nothing more rewarding that hearing God’s word and following it. If you are thinking about going to different countries and cross-cultural settings, it is really exciting and worthwhile,” Mager says.

Cochabamba is his second mission experience. In his first year out of high school he attended a short term mission in Guatamala where he learned “a bunch of Spanish” and fell in love with Latin America. The experience gave him a head start in his current one year placement in Cochabamba. He has over 10 months left before he returns to Canada.

Sometimes living in a different country can be challenging, Mager acknowledges, but he does not think courage is an issue. “I’ve never thought about it that way. Maybe I’m more ignorant than scared,” he reflects modestly.

Canadian missionary Terry Janke is Mager’s mentor in Bolivia and Mager appreciates the opportunity to shadow an experienced missionary. He says he is learning the language and seeing how the Gospel is delivered in a different culture.

“I’m growing closer to God in an amazing way,” he says.

Mager’s placement is part of his four year program in Intercultural Studies at the Columbia Bible College located at Abbotsford, B.C., the same institution attended by Laurier member, Alex Wiens. (The two don’t know each other.) The third year of the program is a field placement designed to give students experience in the field. In the long run Mager would like to be a long term missionary and he would like to train local leaders around the world.

If people want to share his experiences, Mager invites them to look at his blog at: www.xanga.com/cloudedjourney.

Scramble needed to meet need of kids in jail
The passion to serve has been passed down the generations. Viviana Claure Veizaga, granddaughter of Emigdio Veizaga, and fourth year Medical student in La Paz shares her grand father's concern for social justice. She related the following story over lunch in Santa Cruz with the Laurier team.

Just before Christmas in 2006, Viviana hoped to provide relief from jail for a few children living with their parents in a large crowded La Paz prison, but instead found herself in a mad scramble to meet an unexpected response.

Claure was aware of the Casa de La Amistad program in Cochabamba, one of the two focal projects for the Laurier Heights Baptist Church Bolivian partnership. She regretted there was no similar project for prisons in La Paz and so decided, of her own volition, to run something similar to a vacation Bible school for children living with their parents in a prison in La Paz. The children themselves are not accused nor convicted of any crime and in fact their parents might be still awaiting trial and not yet convicted either.

Claure delivered 70 invitations to a seemingly disinterested staff member at the prison and Claure expected she and two other volunteers would easily deal with a handful of children. Instead 170 turned up the first day putting Claure’s well intention plans into near chaos. She had to deal with a surprised bureaucracy inside the jail which stated she had not issued her invitations in a proper manner. Claure apologized and promised to do things right in the future.

On the first day there were moments of panic when a boy in a wheelchair kept yelling that his brother was lost, but eventually it was found the brother had simply gone on ahead.

Even though she recruited four more helpers, it was clear she could not cope with 170 children and so told them only girls could return one day and boys the next. She also went to the Canadian Baptist Institute in La Paz to borrow school space.

Word was out in the jail that presents would be given out on the final day and 230 children showed up. She was thankful that she and her friends had obtained 250 small toys just in case some extra kids might arrived.

The experience might overwhelm some volunteers, but not Claure. She scrambled to find the space, the extra volunteers and the food and drinks to make the children's time special and memorable. When she returns to La Paz she hopes to run a “happy hour” on Saturdays for the same children. Claure also hopes to work with children in her future career. When she completes her fourth year of medicine she wants to specialize in pediatrics.

Visit to Free Hands, Jireh and then a farewell

Bolivians want us to be one in Christ

At a farewell dinner in Cochabama on Tuesday evening, Emigdio Veizaga, administrator of the Canadian Baptist Missions program that brought Laurier Heights to Bolivia thanked the Laurier team for having open hands, hearts and minds, and for being open to God leading us in our future together. (In the background is Tomas Gabriel Huiza, director of Jireh). A story about the farewell will be added to the blog in the future. This entry may mark the end of the entries written in Bolivia. Appreciation was shown by Laurier in the form of small gifts, including a drawing our church, an Alberta flag and other items. By the way, the Laurier team assures all viewers that the bottles in the photo are not beer.

Jireh is one of our focal points

Laurier visits Jireh program

The Jireh program for street children in Cochabamba is one of the two projects for children Laurier Heights Baptist Church is focussed on. A group of kids were happy to have their photograph taken with Jireh director, Tomas Gabriel Huiza, today (Tuesday).
Putting a sparkle on her shoes

Norma Whittle´s shoes received a makeover, thanks to Marcos, one of the street kids served by Jireh. Looking on is Juan Carlos.


Sharing love

Delia, one of the children Laurier met at Jireh, hugs an unnamed little girl.












Free Hands supports women and children in
San Sebastian prison

The Laurier team had their picture taken with women of the Free Hands Cooperative.
The Christian organization provides income for inmates and inmates recently released from jail. The income earned by the mothers supports many of the same children who attend the Casa De La Amistad.

Free Hands provides a complimentary service

Free Hands Cooperative is a complementary program to Casa De La Amistad, one of the two projects in Cochabamba which will be the focus of Laurier Heights Baptist Church´s partnership with the Bolivian Baptist Union.

Free Hands was started by Suzanne Windsor, a Welsh woman who came to Cochabamba with the intention of starting a program for children eight years ago. Instead, she took on a mission with women prisoners, realizing that any help she gave them would help children.

Laurier learned about the program from Alison Currie when it attended a service at First Baptist Church (Calama) in Cochabamba. Alison´s laugh and outgoing personality encouraged Laurier to visit the cooperative and purchase articles, knowing that by supporting Free Hands, the purchases were also supporting the children at Casa. Some of the handcrafted goods will available to Laurier members at future fund raisers.

Currie has been at Free Hands for about a year. She was born in Glascow, but calls London her permanent residence.

Free Hands has about 25 members. A story run earlier on the blog about San Sebastian prison for women mentioned there was a room with sewing machines. Currie says there are actually 15 machines. Not only are the machines used by members of the cooperative, other inmates use them when they take sewing lessons. The two hour lessons also include a five minute Bible dynamic, which Currie says is presented in simple terms.

The members of the cooperative may supply their own materials and have their products purchased by the cooperative, or more commonly, Free Hands supplies the material and pays the women for their work.

Currie says the intention of the missionaries is to train the women to take over the cooperative. The women need to acquire business skills, including the use of computers and learn a minimum of English.

Anyone wishing more details may check the internet at: http://www.freehandsbolivia.org/.


Products from Prison
Sue Hunter and Norma Whittle pose outside the entrance to the Free Hands Cooperative in the photo at left. It will soon move a block away.







In the bottom left photo, Daniel Johns shares a joke with Alison Currie, volunteer and short term missionary to Free Hands, as well as a friend to CBM.

It is up to Steve Simala Grant to perform the most important task, spend money (bottom right).