The All Volunteer Conference

So I left you on the edge of your seat right? Were you waiting to see how the plastics project went after the first couple of weeks? And then nothing… I left you again… Well not only did I have to leave you waiting and wondering about all of the plastics not being burned in San José, but I also had to leave waiting and wondering about what was going on in San José to go to an “All Volunteer Conference”. I was not looking forward to the more than weeklong meeting; it wasn’t great timing with my big project just starting. But this was not an optional meeting, so off I went to Santa Cruz. We were put up in a resort outside of the city and held there for about a week. I have to admit the meeting went way better than anticipated. I got to see all my B45 friends (minus Hannah and Brandon, and Jamel who happened to be vacationing), got to meet our new Country Director who comes to us from her last post in Georgia (the country) and before that the International Banking Sector, we got to play with trash in typical basic san fashion, I went on morning runs with the “cross country team” and even got to fit in some nice swims and lots of good friend time. It was a good break from normal life, and a unique experience to be together as a whole country.

During our meeting we reflected on Peace Corps Bolivia. We are now missing 2 groups, thus down about 60 volunteers. When the last 2 groups were set to come in, there happened to be some political craziness going on, forcing the groups to be canceled. And as it goes in Peace Corps, ever few months a group leaves… so we have had the groups going out, but not coming in. This has greatly affected the projects, the placement of volunteers and the financial stability of Peace Corps Bolivia. Not to mention, that it is getting a little lonely feeling. In my area of the Chiquitania those of us that take the death train out of Santa Cruz are quickly diminishing. For the last year we had a pretty sturdy group of Abe and Mathias in Robore, Josh in Santiago, then joined by Chris, and then later his girlfriend Kate, and then there is me and Jenny is San José. Well now, Abe and Josh are done and gone… Abe backpacking up towards the United States with his awesome Bolivian wife Carla, thankfully Josh didn’t make it as far and is going to be a volunteer leader in another region in Bolivia for the next year. Chris, Kate and Jenny are done this month… leaving me and Mathias… and that’s it.

Another big thing to mention is how much Peace Corps has been affected by the “economic crisis”. As volunteers in foreign countries our salaries are paid in local currency, the fall of the dollar has caused a deficit. As I read in my Newsweeks- which now have been canceled also due to the same problem, that alongside the “Economic crisis”, we have the “Food Crisis” and the “Gas Crisis” all these crisis’s add up to a humongous shortfall in our poor little Peace Corps Bolivia budget. It has been sad to see the changes that have to be made our programs, the letting go of staff, and the closing of our training center… Thankfully our director is a former banker and definitely knows how to take care of this kind of thing in the best way possible. We even got a little raise, to account for the rise in cost of evvvverything.

As much as the political situation in Bolivia continues to be unstable, both with relations within the country and also their not so affable relationship with the US, Peace Corps Bolivia continues to be optimistic about our status here. Just to give a little update on the situation:

The area where I live- Santa Cruz, continues to be extremely anti-Evo, who is their President, who happens to be the first Indigienous President here. Santa Cruz along with other areas of what is called the Media Luna have continued fighting for more independence from the government, they want to be Autonomous from the central government mostly in economic terms. They argue that although the majority of the money is made in Santa Cruz, a large percentage of it is unequally distributed across the country, where people do not have as much money. Santa Cruz and the other regions want their autonomia to distribute their gains on a more equal basis and promise to still spread the wealth across the nation, just in what they consider a more just manner. The people in this region “the Cambas” are also typically very prejudice against people from the more northern regions “the Collas”. Typically the Cambas are whiter looking, and the Collas more indigenous looking… It is truly heartbreaking to hear such blatant racism day in and day out. Recently, during our All Volunteer meeting there was an important vote throughout the country to decide whether Evo would continue as president. He won the election, and things went surprisingly smoothly considering the division in the country. As there are calls for reforms in the Constitution and for New Constitutions the future is uncertain. In terms of relations with the United States, things again, as always are not so clear. USAID has been kicked out of several areas of the country, there have been questions about what Peace Corps really does, and our Ambassador has been called a liar among other adversities. Overall, there continues as always to be unrest, road blockades and strikes but this is the norm and I wouldn’t expect any less from Bolivia.