There are a lot of women wearing the native skirts, shawls and hats; they love the shiny and pretty fabrics, with lots of confeccion. El Alto is the city built around the valley of La Paz—on the flat land around the rim of the city. There is a huge amount of construction here; the people are moving off the land into the city to an easier life.
We left La Paz again and had a trip to a little branch of the church in Suriquina, which is not even a town, but rather an area of scattered farms on the altiplano. This area of the altiplano seemed better for farming, except for all the rocks. There were many piles of rocks which I wondered about, then saw a farmer throw another one onto a pile; they are trying to clear enough to farm. We saw big stacks of cowpies by most houses which they must collect for fertilizer. The only water that these people have comes from the ditches that they have dug to bring water to their houses, I don’t know if each house has a ditch or not. We went through several places with water over the road, but it wasn’t much of a worry because it was so rocky that you knew you wouldn’t sink in. Br. Cabezas had warned us that they would have a meal for us, but I was not prepared for this meal; everyone brought small potatoes, except one girl who brought beans. And we ate with our hands, and there weren’t enough plastic cups to go around so we shared. The limiting factor for farms in this area they said was water, though there is a lake nearby, and of course the fact that with the altitude it is cold at night year round. There is one man who has a greenhouse where he is growing flowers to sell in Lima for some cash income. Other than this one man, everyone else is subsistence agriculture in Suriquina. Education and employment in any sense that we understand does not apply here. Even starting a small business would have to be modified because there is no town to sell in.
This is a letter I wrote to a friend:
It is so nice to be remembered. We have had some wonderful experiences here and it is good to be in the sunshine for a couple of weeks. I hope that the sun will soon return to Lima. This morning Br. Cabezas took us out to a branch of the church in the altiplano. He has been there before but could hardly find the way–on dirt roads, through a river and irrigation ditches, to the church building that is in the middle of nowhere, with no town. The members have to walk from their homes great distances to get there. I gave the same talk that I gave in Manchay. glenn talked about laws you have to live to have prosperity; these people have almost none of the things to be even minimally prosperous, no clean water except from the ditches, homes of adobe, no medical care available, there are schools for secondary, but no vocational schools or universities, and the food is questionable. They served us a communal meal; everyone brought something to share which they laid out on the floor. Each woman opened her packet of food and each brought potatoes. One girl brought habas. and they also had a dish that was fresh cabbage-like with sardines. We ate without plates, utensils or napkins. The branch president had bought several bottles of a punch, but they did not have enough plastic glasses to go around so when we finished ours we shared our glasses with others so they could have a drink. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. The branch president spoke both spanish and aymara and some of the people did not understand spanish. The branch president said as a summary at one point that they knew how to work because if they did not work they would not eat. And you knew he meant that literally.
Br. Cabezas is over employment in this area. But he has no idea what employment can do to help the members in this area. It brings a new perspective to the term of both employment and prosperity. He says they try to visit this branch once or twice a year, but he has no idea what to do to help. He promised to bring the kids gifts for Christmas. We are impressed with his love of people and desire to serve them.
We came back to La Paz and were the guests of honor at a stake event: a Folklorico. We met a lady Thursday at a fireside and she invited us to the show, but I didn’t realize how important it was to her for us to come until we got there and she said they waited on our arrival to start the show, and she seated us in the seats of honor and announced that we were there. Now I know how it must be to be a general authority–the people honor you, not for yourself, but because of who you represent (though in our case we are just missionaries). Each of the 10 wards and branches presented a traditional dance from different areas of Bolivia. It was a wonderful event. The costumes were fabulous and the dancing very good. And I almost couldn’t keep from crying when I saw the little children and families; it made me so homesick for my grandchildren; and I was touched by the great spirit of cooperation and friendship of the people in this stake. This has been a wonderful trip so far. Bolivia is so much nicer than I expected. Hopefully the government won’t do harm to this country and the people–there seems to be that possibility.
We are returning on Thursday. Just before we left Br. Hooker said we should also go to the other area in Bolivia so we changed the plane tickets to stay a couple of days longer. We are hopeful that some of our training gave Br. Cabezas some new ideas and help with PEF and Self employment and supporting the stake specialists. We have been well taken care of and we have grown to really appreciate Br. Cabezas and Br. Agremont.
See you Friday, Veronica
We had a great experience in La Paz, except for the very last day when we went to visit a district called Achicachi outside La Paz. There was a good turn out; but the discussion of the fund turned into a debate between Br. Cabezas, who is the church employment person in La Paz, and 3 men in the audience who just wanted to complain and criticize. They said there is prejudice against them in the church—noone ever visits them from the headquarters; and they complained about a number of things that we can’t do a thing about such as the fact that their youth have to go to LaPaz to study because there are no schools in the district, and how the fund won’t pay for kids to live in La Paz while they go to school. They just wanted to complain because we weren’t doing enough for them. What was the sad thing is that those men wasted the time of all the other people who did come and had a good attitude; because the time was wasted with their griping, Glenn didn’t get to present much of the message he brought.
That is a hard thing for a teacher, or in this case leader who really did come to try to help these people, to learn to not let a few people dominate and ruin the meeting for everyone else. And it was hard to listen to people who say the church is rich so why isn’t it giving them stuff. There is actually a lot of division in the country overall because of the current president who is fomenting division between the campesinos and the wealthier people in the cities. This mentality that you owe me something and should give me stuff is actually common in the US also, but it is not the teaching of the church. The church programs are intended to help the members help themselves.
Actually there is some merit to the complaint that the PEF serves the wealthy more than the poor. The poorest don’t know how to get through the process to get the loan; they don’t have computers and in many cases computer skills. They are the least able to pay the cost of transportation to and from school, etc. But it is not an issue of prejudice or lack of desire on our part to help them. The system is just so complicated and it is hard to train all the local people on how it works. If these men would have worked with us to make sure they had the stuff they need in place in their district we could have accomplished something. Instead they wanted us to do everything for them, and complained when we couldn’t. It was a pretty frustrating experience.
This is the story Br. Cabezas told about Achacachi. There is a village near by that no one goes to because they eat people. If you go there you never return. I think he was serious. Also in Achicachi two people were killed, but the community decided to not tell the police anything, and so no one did. They are a pretty proud and close knit community, but not necessarily in a good way.
The land on the trip to Achacachi looks more prosperous that in the other direction toward Oruro. The farms have electricity and the road is good so they can get their produce to market in La Paz. Sunday must be wash day because we saw people who had brought their wash to the river in their car. We passed Lake Titicaca, or a small corner of it. I didn’t realize how big the lake is until we saw it from the plane when we flew out of La Paz to Lima. There was a man who played the piano in Achicachi; almost every place we went in Bolivia someone played the piano at some level of competence, in contrast to Peru where very few wards or stakes have anyone who plays.
We spent two days in Cochabamba and two days in Santa Cruz, which is the area for the other employment office in Bolivia.
Monday Sept 21 We are now in Cochabamba and I am looking out the window of the hotel and the traffic is lined up in an orderly fashion, staying in the lane lines and stopping at stop lights. Not at all like Peru. We went to a market where they offer anything you want and it is pretty cheap. Stuff comes in from China through Chile. We talked to a lady who is a member of the church who has a little stall selling pots and pans and other kitchen stuff. She said that when they joined the church 4 years ago they decided to not sell on Sunday. Her relative who has a store beside her made fun of them and said their business would fail. She said she couldn’t see any loss. She and her husband also attend the temple every Thursday. They go to the 7:30 session in the evening, but don’t open their store on Thursday. They want all day to be sure they are not rushed when they go to the temple. What incredible faith and dedication. We could learn from her!! The other member we talked to with a business said she has a degree in psychology but can make more money with the family store—they sell toys from China. She also designs educational toys so she is using her degree in that respect.
They had everything you could get at Walmart in this shopping area. And it was cheap. Unfortunately it is cheaper than the locals can produce stuff for and so is it good or bad for the country? Cheap stuff available, but it takes away local jobs?
Santa Cruz, our last stop: Santa Cruz is different than the rest of Bolivia, in fact they really want to divide from Bolivia and form their own country. It is the beginning of the Amazon and so it is green and tropical. Their main industry is petroleum, gas, farming, soybean, sugarcane, sunflowers for oil, livestock and fish. And there are all kinds of fruit: banana, pineapple, coconut, mangos, oranges, watermelon. We were there the day of the celebration of the cities founding 197 years ago. You did not see women dressed in hats and skirts like in the mountains. The city is 80% people who have come here from other cities, called cullos; and 20% are people of native tribes called cambas. Some people think there is prejudice between the two, but I couldn’t look at them and tell who was who. “Santa Cruz is a land blessed by God.” We are not supposed to talk about politics because someone from Bolivia might read this and think we represent the church and be offended, but I am going to risk it and tell you what a taxi driver told us. He said that Santa Cruz is run by 8 families, who own everything, the electric company, most of the land, the water, etc. They have a counsel that runs the politics and if they don’t like you they will kill you. So there is need for reform here. Most of the people will vote for Evo Morales. He is a good president; in fact someone said he is the best president they have ever had; but they are worried because he has some people advising him who are corrupt, and he is leaning toward communism like in Castro’s Cuba. And everyone acknowledges that he will win the upcoming election, the question is by how much. If Evo wins by a lot and tries to enact reforms, there may be a civil war when Santa Cruz opposes him. And no one will win if that happens. In Bolivia there is a saying: Beware of Peruvian men (they are thieves), Chilean women (they are unfaithful), and Bolivian justice (there is none).
After 2 weeks of living in hotel rooms, even very nice ones Lima almost feels like home.
