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High Adventure in the Land of Coca |
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High Adventure in the Land of Coca |
by Marie-Pierre Tremblay
In collaboration with Olivier Foug�res
December 2002
Monique and Micheal Hazel have always had a yen for adventure. But the organized trips they have taken around the world since retirement have fallen short of their expectations. They were always on the run, only saw what the guide chose to show them, had little communication with the local people and never got to know them.
One evening, three years ago, they went to a meeting of the "Retrait�s fly�s", and they met Yvon Sabourin, a former Montreal teacher who has become a Salesian volunteer (Salesian Congregation) in charge of an orphanage in Vallegrande, Bolivia. Monique, who was a teacher for many years, and Michael, who is very adept with his hands (remember those magnificent sculptures at the NFB/ONF exhibition last year), talked it over and decided to strike out in a new direction while making a contribution to the community.
The Pitfalls
The official status of a volunteer gives one a right to certain advantages, but it is not easy to become one. When the Hazels went before the Rassemblement Missionnaire La�c (RML), a lay missionary group responsable for choosing candidates for the orphanage, they soon discovered that this was not the way for them (you had to take courses, leave the country on the dates set by the RML, fill out piles of paper). They weren't ready to fit this mould, and in any case their application was turned down. So they decided to pursue their dream on their own. They were already in contact with friends of Yvon Sabourin, and they knew they would be welcome at Vallegrande. They left Qu�bec last January, for three months, with a certain amount of trepidation.
The Hogar
When Sabourin took over the Hogar Jesus Infante (orphanage), there were about thirty children, dirty, emaciated, and in poor health. Working in collaboration with the Salesian Congregation, other charitable Qu�bec organisations and Montreal laypeople, he set up the Foundation for Bolivian Children, and went looking for government subsidies and donations. With the help of educators, volunteers (always a changing number) and local workers, he reorganized the premises and bought a small farm on the outskirts of the city where he built a chicken coop and planted strawberry bushes. The profits from the sale of eggs and strawberries cover the cost of feeding the children.
Donations pay the salaries of the ten farm workers.
Today 96 boys aged 6 to 18 live on the hogar and the farm. They have all been deeply affected by difficult childhoods, abandoned by a mother or a father or both, or badly abused in various ways. "Some bear such terrible marks that it's beyond the imagination. I have never seen children so badly abused," sighs Monique. They end up at the orphanage because a social worker or a parish priest removed them from their wretched surroundings.
Boys between 6 and 14 go to school. Those between 14 and 18 divide their time between school and the farm. The young ones live at the hogar, the older ones at the farm.
Initial Contact
Vallegrande is 200 miles from the Santa Cruz airport over hairpin roads and two mountain ranges. The trip takes 7 hours. Around the hogar are adobe houses that all look the same. It's hard to tell who is poor or who is better off. Some have gardens in the back but they are not visible from the street. The street is unpaved, strewn with bits of building materials, piles of dirt and sand.
A quick glance around the hogar was sufficient for Micheal to gauge the work that lay ahead: bags of flour and rice were piled any old way on the floor, next to the vinegar, preserves and canned good; the ladles and other cooking utensils had no handles; several electric outlets weren't working, the taps leaked, the drains were blocked, the lighting inadequate.
"I'd listen to the woman in charge talk about her
problems, and I'd grab onto one and tackle it."
"I started off by making wooden handles and riveting them to the ladles. The handles were so short that the cook had to climb up onto a little bench to stir her soup. It was very dangerous. Then I built cupboards and shelves out of plywood for storing all the stuff on the floor. Since I didn't have a workbench, I went to see a cabinet-maker. But his table saw was made of wood! The only metal pieces were the blade and motor. It wasn't very precise so I had to do a lot of planing afterwards. The wood there is very hard.
What I liked best was going to the general store to buy a piece of wire, fluorescent light, light switches. The store was a mess. I'd ask for what I wanted, and because my Spanish was so poor, I had to draw it. Now I'm a bit better at making myself understood: I have 96 teachers! But it was pretty complicated when I had to ask for help to repair something."
"I tried to make good things out of practically nothing."
Even though Monique was supposed to help the children with their homework, she soon discovered that her talents as a teacher were badly needed in other areas. She started by drawing up an inventory of all the teaching materials available. "The school books belong to the hogar. They have to last. They were in terrible condition. I redid the covers, and I used rails and rails of sticky paper to patch them. There was a small library and, with the other volunteers, we tried to ascertain the contents. We adopted a very simple classification system based on the children's age and the subject. There were many National Geographic magazines and a mishmash of stuff left behind by previous volunteers. That year, the hogar had received $1,000 from the employees of the Shawinigan Tax Centre and we were able to buy brand new books. I also organized activities around fixing things, table games, etc. I tried ta make things out of practically nothing. I even made plasticine... yes, using flour, water, salt, and vegetable colouring.
It's not easy to help with homework when you're working with two or three editions of textbooks. The children are very free, and recruiting teachers is not easy. While we were there, three teachers were fired for brutality or lack of maturity."
An All-Enveloping Life
Living at the hogar is communal living. You can never entirely
dissociate yourself from the group. The volunteers are with the children every day, they are concerned about their slightest scratch, their psychological troubles, their material well-being and their future.
Food
The volunteers share the same noonday meal with the children. Rice and a meat sauce or beans and api, a drink of purple corn (if you ferment it, you get chicha), vegetables and fruit (tomatoes, green onions, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, marrows, papaya, bananas, potatoes, peppers), a little deep-fried beef, a lot of pork, chicken. Sunday is a feast day: potatoes and fried chicken, rice and plantains. Everything is served on the same plate. There is never any dessert. The volunteers serve the children and are responsable for dishing out the food fairly and serving the children. They keep an eye out for pilfering from other children's plates. In the evening, they dish up the food, help with the dishes but let the educators put the children to bed. They go back to the "volunteers' house" a mile and a half from the hogar, and spend the little time left to make a good meal, rest, read, discuss and decide on the next day's activities.
In a country where families are always looking for food, where people chew coca leaves to stave off hunger, the meals at the orphanage are considered almost palatial. The children eat better than in most families. The result: they are in better health, are taller and bigger than the average child in Bolivia.
"The cooks are extraordinary. They try to make balanced meals. And we encourage them to use their resources to the maximum by showing them how to make potato pies, pizza, banana cake. At the hogar, there is a magnificent eight-burner stove, a gift from Canada, and the baker has just been given a new bread oven for her weekly baking of 1,600 loaves. I wrote out all the recipes. At Easter, we made 150 chocolats eggs. The kids had never eaten any before. They were surprised and delighted to receive them from the paws of Mother Rabbit!
Water, Health, Cold
"We use city water which, in theory, is filtered but still carries
bacteria. We have had cases of typhoid fever and salmonella. It is difficult to introduce hygienic measures in the city but at the hogar, it is absolutely essential: washing of hands before mealtimes, washing of teeth twice a day, shower. There is a small hospital in Vallegrande that offers good services. For children under 14, medication is free. The hogar has to pay for the older ones and it is very expensive.
Every week, a local dentist gives free dental care to children with very bad teeth: 6 to 25 cavities. They don't drink milk but that is about to change because the farm has just been given two cows that have recently calved. There are other diseases transmitted by insects which are life-threatening if they are not treated. And the ills of the soul! These children have been rejected and their behaviour shows it! They need a lot of affection.
La Paz is at an altitude of 15,000 feet. In April, we froze, and it was their summer. In Santa Cruz, only one hour away by air, it was twenty degrees warmer. The orphanage is at 6,500 feet. The air cools off in the evening and also with the change of seasons. The houses are not heated - nor are the hotels. The children have to be dressed as if for winter. I was in charge of distributing shoes: "I want the yellow ones, I want the blue" regardless of size! What a job! Every July in the mountains, children die of the cold or have limbs amputated because of frostbite. It is a very harsh country. No mercy."
Holidays
"We did travel around a bit. We went to Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz, Lake Titicaca. But whenever we went to Santa Cruz or Cochabamba, it was usually on business. To buy materials, books, to sell the products from the farm. The roads are in terrible condition. Everything is more complicated, there.
And it was difficult to get even a bit of money because often the banks run out after the first transactions of the day. And what a circus! Police at the door, a huge line-up."
Future Plans
"We're going back on January 10. We're taking along simple stuff like baking powder and baking soda that you only find in packets (in pharmacies), pencils, paper, string... and Michael has bought a circular saw that works on 220V."
There is no shortage of projects. "We think that winter is very hard for them because they have no food reserves. Our aim is to improve what happens to the fruits and vegetables after they are harvested. This year, the strawberry beds will double. The tomato seeds should bear fruit, the peach and apple trees planted a while ago should mature. They will eat part of the harvest, sell a part, but what will they do with the rest? They know practically nothing about preserving food."
"The first thing I'm going to do," says Michael, "is find a way to wash the food on site with water from two little ponds, and then put them in the shade as they are being picked. My plan is to build wheelbarrows to expedite transport from the field to the larder. As it is now, each picker brings his own little containers, eight at a time, and the fruit is often damaged after being exposed to the sun for too long. Another of my projects is to show them how to make cellars to store potatoes."
But this objective won't be achieved as long as they don't have "their" own preserving shed. "We did a lot of research to know how to do it. Most of the materials are there and grants will help us get what we need and pay the person who will oversee the project. Monique knows how to preserve fruit, vegetables, and even meat. She will share her secrets to everyone's advantage. The teenagers will feel more useful, because it is difficult to keep them busy. Local help will be called in and that way a little money will be ploughed back into the community, and more than anything, the hogar will be better served.
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Monique Hazel has prepared three lectures on Bolivia. They will appear in segments - with photographs - on the club website (www.geocities.com/nfbclubonf). Thanks to our webmaster, Guy Maguire.
Micheal Hazel left the NFB in 1995. He worked in Technical Services for 34 years, and was a sound recordist, administrator and worked on more than 200 productions.
Monique Hazel taught history and geography at the Montr�al Catholic School Commission (CECM) for 35 years and took part in many teachnig projects. She retired in 1995.
Members wishing to contribute to the Hogar Jesus Infante farm can do so by sending a cheque to :
Les Enfants de Bolivie
6901 des Roseraies, app 704
Anjou, QC, H1M 3N5.
Tax receipts will be issued on request.
