Bolivian Baptists link social action with evangelism

Social action linked to evangelism

In Bolivia the Baptist Church has never separated social action from evangelism, Juan Guaygua, Director of Organizacion Bautista de Desarrollo Social (OBADES) told the Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team Thursday.

The meeting at the Bolivian Baptist Union (BBU) board room in Cochabama was called to give the Laurier team a description of Casa de La Amistad and Jireh, the two programs that Laurier has agreed to focus on in its partnership with the BBU. Guaygua provided an overview of the five programs OBADES runs across Bolivia and then Carla Botani, Director of Casa de La Amistad and Tomas Gabriel Huiza, Director of the Jireh project, described their projects in detail.

The Laurier team was moved and excited by the description of both Casa and Jireh, but the amount of information received at the meeting is too much to write about all at once and so, at the risk of saving the most relevant and exiting for last, this entry will concentrate on the activities of OBADES and report only the brief description of Casa and Jireh provided by Guaygua in his overview.

Earlier, the Laurier team spent most of its day at the Casa and finished the painting of two classrooms just in time for the meeting. Pastor Steve Simala Grant prayed over a paint bucket, asking it to extend to allow a second coat of yellow paint around the entire room. Miraculously, or so it seemed, there was at least half a litre left at the end of job. Tomorrow morning will be spent partly on clean up and, hopefully, on a tour of the jail so that Laurier will have understanding of the conditions the Casa children live under. The tour promises to be difficult. Just walking by the outside of the prison is enough to assure a Canadian that it will not be like an Alberta jail.

OBADES has been set up as a separate legal identity to run the BBU´s social program, Guaygua explained. While it is a separate entity, the distance between OBADES and its parent organization, BBU, is small. OBADES is registered for planning and tax purposes as a Non-Governmental Organization and at present it runs five social development projects across Bolivia.

Guaygua began with a description of Programa de Alfabetization Quechua (PAQ) which offers literacy programs for adults in rural areas who speak Quechuan, a native language. The students did not have an opportunity to attend school or church as children and are being provided a second chance. Once they achieve literacy in their first language, they are also taught Spanish. The program has had a visible impact and the first students are now teachers. In addition to literacy, farming advice is offered.

Another program aimed at rural Bolivia is Proyecto de Auto ayuda y Desarrollo Integral a Familias del Area Rural (PADEFAR). This program is supported by Canadian Baptist Mission´s Sharing Way (as are Jireh and Casa de La Amistad). PADEFAR operates across the country in 20 communities involving 500 families. The general idea is to offer loans which can come in the form of seed and livestock or money.

If seed or livestock is provided, it will be certified seed and animals with a known pedigree which assures the borrower of a decent return. At the end of the agricultural cycle, the farmer repays with a share of the produce. If cash is loaned, the interest rate is 16% which accounts for defaults and inflation. The aim of the program is to break even. Money that is returned is loaned to someone else. In some cases communities have proven to be good money managers and they have control over their own fund, making decisions on which project will be funded. Again, repayment is expected at the end of the agricultural cycle.

One of the difficulties has been getting borrowers to understand the concept of repayment. Other NGO´s give away their assistance, but OBADES does not believe this is good because it creates dependency. Surveys show that OBADES´ approach benefits the local economies.

A third segment of the PADEFAR program concentrates on providing skills such a tailoring to rural women. Also, guidance in agricultural practises is an element of PADEFAR. Technical advice covers a wide variety of crops and livestock such as llama, cattle, pigs, geese, chickens, rabbits and bees.

Guaygua noted that rural Bolivians are very poor. Statistics show that 96% do not have basic services such as electricity and running water. In many areas there are no roads and farmers must walk and carry their produce to market. Most of the projects are run in association with established churches. Overall, OBADES takes great satisfaction in the accomplishment of PADEFAR, Guaygua stated.

A third program, Residencia Estudianti unversitaria en Santa Cruz, Autofianciado (RUBA) is self-supporting and provides low cost housing for rural students who wish to attend university in Santa Cruz.

As noted earlier in this entry, Guaygua provided only a brief outline of Jireh and Casa de La Amistad. The stories told by the directors responsible for those programs will be reported in detail on a later occasion.

Guaygua said the main goal of Casa is to support the health of all those children whose parents are in jail. Food, health care and help with studies is offered and as well Casa buys health insurance for the children as health insurance is not a universal social program in Bolivia.

Jireh initially was set up to assist shoeshine kids, but is extending its reach to any child working on the streets. It encourages children to return to school and acquire skills that will some day provide a decent living. One meal a week and some health care is also provided.

At the end of all the presentations the Laurier team presented Guaygua with soccer balls, skipping ropes, frisbees, pencils, tooth brushes and toothpaste and asked him to make the decision on how they should be divided between the Jireh and Casa programs. Guaygua accepted the gifts from Laurier and asked for God´s blessing on the church.


Hands of friendship
Norma Whittle presented Tomas Gabriel Huiza, Director of Jireh, with a drawing of Laurier and a personal gift to thank him for his description of Jireh and to assist him in his work.


Laurier connects with Casa de La Amistad
Isabelle Johnson provided Laurier´s thanks to Carla Botani, Director of the Casa de La Amistad. In addition to a drawing of Laurier, gifts were given to Botani to assist her in her work.


Its about the kids
Jose dropped by the Laurier work project at the Casa de La Amistad. He and Norma Whittle enterained each other for a while. The interuption was welcomed because the Casa program is aimed a children like Jose. Having Jose around did have some disadvantages. His running sole pattern was inscribed more than once on the wet walls.