| Thursday, February 23, 2006 |
| Rowdy kids... |
Hola amigos, I have officially commenced my volunteering adventure for my South American journey! My former spanish classmate Chris (from Denmark) knows a bunch of people who are in Bolivia with this organization "ICYE", who is affiliated with ANOTHER organization (which I dont know the name of) who organizes volunteer trips for gringos around the world. They stay with families and volunteer at houses for street kids. One German girl who I talked with, named "Bieta" (I have NO idea how to spell it, and honestly I dont really know how to pronounce it right) is working at a house called "Alalaly" which happened to be super close to my hostel. She showed me around and I talked to the directors there, and as of monday this week I have been acting as the "hermano" of these kids! Hermano means brother, by the way. Theres about 20 boys that live there...the youngest is 8 and the oldest is 20. They all spent at least some of their life living on the street...presumably as shoeshine boys (of which there is a rediculous number of in La Paz) its a big house that they live in, and they all eat together and hang out together. In the mornings they do their homework, play soccer, watch tv, whatever, and in the afternoon they all go to school. School starts at 2:00 here and goes until 6:00. Its an all boy house that Im working in, and theres an all girl house about 10 minutes away belonging to the same organization. The group also has houses in El Alto and Sucre, and I think Cochabamba. From what I gathered they get most of their money from donations and some sort of thing in Austria or Germany.
The boys are a rowdy bunch. Haha, the kind of kids that I HATED to be around ten years ago (I hated playing rough) but theyre all such nice kids. They play rough because its how theyve been raised, on the streets. But underneath theyre just nice kids, and Im beginning to love them all. I dont have to do much, just (try to) talk with them, help them with their homework (little Beto tries to get me to do his homework for him all the time..."No puedo esto!!! Lo haces!!!" I cant do this! You do it!) walk the little ones to school, and sometimes do some chores around the house (though the kids do most of them). Theres two much older kids that live there, ones 20 and the other is 19....and theyre sooo awesome. Super nice guys....one of them they call Aflac ("flaca" switched around, which means skinny) and hes a cook at a restaurant (he got instantly in my good books just for that) and hes trying to learn english so he can travel to the USA, and then he wants to go to Japan so he can eat sushi and see girls in kimonos (I told him to come to BC...he can save money on airfare and with all the asains that live there its pretty much going to the same place) the other I cant remember his name, but hes also a super nice dude...its really inspiring to be friends with kids my age that have been delt such a shit hand in life but have been able to come out just fine.
Im planning on staying here for 2 months more, working with the kids 9-5 monday to friday and partying on the weekend, ooooh yeah. After that Ill probably go around Bolivia a little more and then to Peru....Id like to stop in Venezuela for a little while while Im down here as well. But Im not even going to try to make plans at this point because everything changes when youre traveling Ben style.
Yesterday I drank rum with Patricia and her friends while we watched the Brazil vs Bolivia soccer game at a smokey pub on El Prado (main street). Bolivia got their ASSES KICKED. But it was a lot of fun to watch....Bolivians (as well as the rest o f this continent) LOVE soccer (or "football" as they call it here...pfffft) and they get really in to it, its super fun.
Take care everyone! I havnt gotten food poisening again yet, so Im doing good so far.
ps: On the right hand side of my blog there is a list of websites that Ive set up. Theyre there for a reason. Go to them. |
posted by Ben @ 5:41 PM  |
|
| 4 Comments: |
-
Hey Ben!! I'm so proud of you for helping out with these kids. Don't you wish you hadn't quite soccer so soon? Those skills would come in handy now! I hate to say this....but you are sounding more and more like a social worker. As they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". Enjoy yourself, learn lots, and be careful with the rum. As you know, it makes some people swear more!! Also, I am bonding with your drum. You might have to fight me for it. Love Mom.
-
Ben! Moharsky!
I finally figured out how to deal with this silly comment posting scheme! I was reading your blog and was like, what the heck, how am I supposed to post a comment again....but ALAS! Anyways...man, I am so happy, it sounds like all of this is quite the blessing. I hope you are remembering to be dangerous! Maybe even a swashbuckler, ninja, or lumberjack, because as we all know, they are probably about the most dangerous things you can have besides an angry woman, haha. Miss havin you around you old scoundrel and the thing about the kids, man, you're living a dream I have too, so I hope you enjoy it! Adios, hablamos mas tarde!
Dios te Bendiga
-
I don't know how you can drink rum, I shudder at the thought. *shudder*
As far as I'm concerned all alcohol tastes the same, disgusting. Except martini's. But you can't taste the alcohol.
You should post some more pictures next time you're on.
love ellie
-
Hi, Ben! It sounds like your having a great time, still; even food poisoning and near death can't keep you down, nah? Good job on the volunteering, that's fantastic. One small thing: careful when you characterise Chile as left-wing. While the governing party pretends to be, they follow neo-liberal policies, bow down to the IMF and continue many programs that Pinochet began when he was the dictator. Other that that, it sounds like your learning a lot (stick to the Trots, eh?).
Brianne
ps- I got accepted to a school in the UK for next year. I am so excited.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
| Ben Martin's log of his 6-month journey to the South American Andean nation of Bolivia. |
| About Me |
|
Name: Ben
Home:
About Me:
See my complete profile
|
| Previous Post |
|
| Archives |
|
| Shoutbox |
"Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world." -Tommy Douglas, the Greatest Canadian |
| Other things |
| Feel free to use my logs for whatever purpose, just make sure to credit me! |
| Links |
|
| Powered by |
Isnaini Dot Com
 |
|
Hey Ben!! I'm so proud of you for helping out with these kids. Don't you wish you hadn't quite soccer so soon? Those skills would come in handy now! I hate to say this....but you are sounding more and more like a social worker. As they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". Enjoy yourself, learn lots, and be careful with the rum. As you know, it makes some people swear more!! Also, I am bonding with your drum. You might have to fight me for it. Love Mom.