Presto & The Yuquis
travel | August 3, 2010
This is the last of my little sets from Bolivia, from the last few days on mission. The first few photos are from our short day trip to Presto, about 3-4 hours out of Sucre. When we were last there in 2006 most of the journey was on dirt road but to our surprise, this time the path was paved with cobblestone which made it a lot more comfy to travel!
The poster pictured here is one of Godi’s optom tools. Not everyone in the rural villages are able to read and write so they used hand symbols instead! I think there’s a ‘hand dance’ floating around on someone’s video somewhere :)
This is the lovely Martina. We stayed in her little house last time we were there, and boy has it improved since then! Gone is the dirt floor and leaky roof and everything looks so nice and neat. The kittens have also grown up but there’s still lots of chickens running around. Martina has also found a hobby and hopefully also a small income source in making these woven blankets you see pictured here.
This is Noellia, you may have seen a glimpse of her in Joel’s video. She was only a little one year old last time we were here and couldn’t walk but in the years passed she had grown to be a gorgeous bubbly little girl. Until February this year when she began to have bleeding noses accompanied by a lump on her nose which continued to grow. Biopsies were conducted and the cells were confirmed cancerous, she was taken to La Paz for a month to undergo treatment but she couldn’t bear the chemo and missed her family back home, who were also missing her. She has only be given a few more months to live, and our prayers go out to her and her family. We thank God that her family’s faith is not shaken and they continue to trust in the power and providence of God despite this pain and sadness.
We presented them with a big group photo of their church which was taken in 2006 and they loved it! One of the missionaries we met in Bolivia talked about how there may be language barriers, especially in short term trips like these, but there is always a language of love that speaks louder than words, and it was moments like these – seeing their delighted faces and their warm embraces – you knew that being there made a difference.
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Part II begins in The Yuquis – a jungle tribe outside the city of Cochabamba which involved travel of three separate taxis, and an hour long boat ride in hulled out tree trunks pictured here. At this stage in the trip, it was just myself and Tina remaining and after a couple of rough days (I kinda had some domino-effect sickness), we were ready for our last trip with the Elijo La Vida girls. We were told to pack for warm and humid weather with a jacket just in case….boy were we lucky for the jacket just in case!
Warming up by the fire…
The Yuqui people were very different to the other people in various communities we had met. They qualified for government aid and often had people visiting them and providing donations of clothes and food. Personally, I was a little surprised by the difference in attitudes, and began to understand why you can’t ‘just give’, even from most honest of motives, as expectations are created that are not sustainable for communities such as these, who begin to rely on others to survive.
We had a little house to cook meals in – deep fried donuts and hot milky oats for the kids, and deep fried fish and rice for the adults!
The morning after we heated up another big vat of milk (from milk powder) and gave them some bread with dulce de leche for breakfast. We also handed out big packets of powdered milk and oats per family to take home.
Very interested to see how this community progresses – they have a church and a school and a big bunch of kids running around and a lot of love from the many people who visit. I do hope that education will play a big role in teaching them how to look after and work for themselves, and how to help work together to build the community up as a whole. Okay, that’s it for me from this trip…if you are interested in finding out any more about this trip or mission work in general don’t hesitate to drop me a line, I’d be happy to chat or put you in touch with the right people!
I have a bunch of weddings and shoots to share with you after this…so stay tuned, or get the sneak peek on my facebook page if you’re impatient :) xx
3 comments
Muy, muy preciosas fotas! x
noellia’s story is so sad :( very moving photos.
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