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As Rob said, for the last month we have been working on separate volunteer projects. I´ve been living and working in one of Bolivia´s main cities, Cochabamba and volunteering at an environmental NGO called the CEDESOL Foundation. CEDESOL is a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on renewable energy, alternative education and health by primarily designing, building and promoting ecological cookers. CEDESOL build two types of ecological cooker: the more fuel efficient wood-burning stove and the solar cooker. Ecological cookers not only help reduce carbon emissions and the depletion of natural resources but they also offer significant health and financial benefits. Toxins emitted from traditional wood burning stoves combined with the lack of ventilation in traditional homes make these toxins a bigger killer than malaria! By providing families with ecological cookers, they either significantly reduce the toxins or in the case of solar cookers eradicate them completely. Families also make significant savings on fuel costs. The cost of fuel in the case of solar cookers is free and as the fuel efficient wood-burning stoves are up to 80% more efficient than traditional stoves; significantly less fuel is needed. CEDESOL also work on many social projects: they offer microfinance solutions and they have also created a prisoner rehabilitation scheme. It was a great place to get varied experience in the not-for-profit sector!
My first day at CEDESOL was an experience. The office is a little out of town so my journey there involved taking a "trufi" with the locals. Trufis are like taxis; they are on set routes and the number or colour of the trufi determines the route they are taking. You just have to flag one down, hop in and contort your body into a shape that can squeeze into what you would think would be a full car already. I think the record number of people I´ve experience in a trufi so far is 12! The drivers have usually tried to adapt normal cars as best they can to carry as many people as possible. They take out the normal seats and boot to replace them with more seats. The best seat is the front seat but if more people get in, you end up sharing the driver´s seat and changing the radio stations with your knees! Fortunately the gear stick in trufis has been moved to the dashboard. In some cases the cars are right hand-drive and it´s always a scary experience when you realise your feet are on the pedals! Drivers usually hook them up to the left side with a series of cables.
On my first day I was asked what I wanted to work on and what I could do for CEDESOL. This was quite daunting, having never worked in an NGO before I had no idea what might be required! However, after a bit of brainstorming, I was soon able to come up with some ideas and had plenty of things to be working on. The CEDESOL office is also the workshop so there were plenty of opportunities to get stuck in, help build the solar cookers and practice Spanish with Freddie, the guy in charge of the warehouse. In the office I worked with two British guys called Rob and Alistair. They were both there as engineers and working on a number of projects. We had a good set up in the office and it was a fun place to go to work everyday.
During my time at CEDESOL I tried to help with cooker demonstrations and trainings in the rural communities as much as possible. Solar cookers are basically just a wooden box with shiny panels and it´s hard to conceive that you could ever cook food in them. Using a solar cooker requires a re-education on cooking and also knowledge of the environmental benefits. As a result CEDESOL promote the cookers by going out into the community and cooking a huge meal in the solar cookers. It´s really good fun, and the idea is that the locals make the meal as part of the training. We had some delicious meals and favourites were chicken casserole and banana cake!
As part of my work at CEDESOL, I also had the opportunity to go and work in a high security prison called "El Abra". This was certainly an experience as those of you that have read "Marching Powder" will know. Unlike in San Pedro prison in Marching Powder, at El Abra the prisoners do seem to have more help from the government and it was a surprisingly okay place. For example, they didn´t have to buy their own cells. Some features were still the same though and it was interesting to learn a little about how El Abra was run. El Abra was essentially run by a prisoner called "The Boss". From what I heard, The Boss had received life imprisonment and decided that if he was going to spend the rest of his life in the prison he was going to make it a better place to live in. He set a rule that all prisoners have to work at least half a day. There are now several workshops in the prison and they sell their goods on the outside. The prisoners had built churches, playgrounds and shops and it resembled a small village more than a prison! Whilst inside the prison, we had to pay a "taxi" to escort us. This was just a mean looking prisoner. You could easily forget where you were. There were families in the prison and male children are even allowed to live with their fathers. We visited the artisans and I was able to buy a couple of beautiful pieces from them. The prison was still a very dangerous place to be in after dark though, for example, anyone caught selling drugs other than the Boss "disappeared". The Boss was murdered recently though and I didn´t hear anything about the new prisoner in charge.
Cochabamba has been a great city to live in. It has a year round spring/summer climate and there are lots of cool bars, cafes and restaurants. There´s also a vast market called "La Cancha" which is supposedly the biggest in South America and you can find anything you can think of there. I´ve been living in a huge house dubbed "The Gringo Mansion". The house is owned by the organisation I´m volunteering through "Sustainable Bolivia" (www.sustainablebolivia.org) and it´s beautiful with lots of art work from previous volunteers, a big kitchen and airy spacious rooms. There are quite a few volunteers here and there´s a good social life. I´ve been taking Spanish lessons and I have a really good teacher so it´s been great to pick up the Spanish again. Probably the best thing about living here though is learning more about Bolivia and making some Bolivian friends. It´s been an interesting time to live here as they have just had their presidential election, although there wasn´t any of the drama expected. There have been a couple of festivals whilst I´ve been here and I also had the opportunity to go to a Kóa which happens on the first Friday of every month. It´s kind of ceremony for Pachamama (Mother Earth).
Rob is now back in Cochabamba and we´re looking forward to spending a relaxing Christmas here in the sunshine.
Sarah x
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Geneviève Hi Sarah, We haven't met yet. I am your Uncle David's partner. Just wanted to say that I am thrilled to read about your experience in Latin America. I am more of an Asian person myself, and happy to discover this part of the world through you. Anyway, all the best for 2010, and hope to meet you soon somewhere. Am in Brussels with our 2 boys until June and then will join David in Nigeria. Best wishes, Genevieve