March newsletter 2010

Bolivia
Why did the president choose Easter Sunday to hold elections? No vehicles allowed on the road Group meetings are banned. One of the great dates on the Christian calendar is sabotaged. Nobody is really surprised. Evo, the president, in his second term of office, had the Bible removed from the houses of parliament and his disagreement s with the Catholic church are public record. His dislike of private schools, all features of capitalism (no one should own more than one house) and so on are also public record. Many feel unsure about the future of all orphanages, centers of help for the needy, and the like. but especially the church -based organizations feel under threat.. Cochabamba alone has 139 such places.
Our home , for 33 orphaned, abandoned or abused children, is one

License
We had asked for your intercession over our license. We applied for a renewal in 2007 and after much bureaucratic procrastination now are basically doing it all again even before the other was granted. The government agency has less than !0% of all homes actually legal and after closing down nearly one dozen homes last year for various sexual abuse cases have decided to apply stricter regulations and so our new/ re-application goes before the government in April. April however is also when the officers will take their new positions after the a-fore-mentioned elections so anything could happen. With new staff, director in the government agencies it could be that everything is turned over again. Over 1000 pages. We will see.

School
Our situation is stable. Carmen broke a leg and is currently in plaster. Health wise most are fine. The usual scrapes, flu and even the day the bees got bothered and a bunch of us got stung but generally we are fine. We have watched our new admissions bulk up and flourish in an atmosphere that tries to be a family as possible. Indeed our biggest concern at this time is our daughter Nicole who has a heart sound. In process of investigation at this time.
Children are only in three different schools. I couldn’t find one school that had room for them all. After school started five staff left and it’s been very low key .One left for health reasons and the others did not want to, or could not, change their other jobs to fit in with our school day which changed and is now totally mornings. We have hired one lady to help with school work and then there is now another family on site.

Edgar and Olga
After false starts they have finally arrived. Edgar and Olga are a Bolivian couple who have finished three years of study in England It’s been nearly one month and these two are taking a big share of the daily workload. Not totally, as both are trying to also finish their university courses, but still helpful. Olga should be full time after June, July and Edgar by years end. Our plan is to have a sabbatical at the end of 2010 and leave them in charge so it’s been a daily showing of the ropes so to speak. Delia in fact complained that yesterday she was bored. Imagine, in this place! In some aspects the work load has actually increased as they brought three cows with them. Once they start giving milk it should help with milk, cheese, cream, and other dairy products. Of course one of the first
things the cows did was to decimate the veggie garden so its win some lose some. Our own vegetables for the rainy season has been great and its now our wish to now build a green house and prepare for the next growing season. Suddenly we have an abundance of manure Why is it always on the driveway, basket ball court and not where it might be useful?

Volunteers
Also helping are the volunteers who come. Have had two German girls since October last year, A lady from the Channel.Islands who has just left and an Aussie is due the first week of April. Always appreciated. One dream is to still separate the older and young children and so we look for a volunteer couple who have call to make that a reality.

Finally.
After nearly 15 years we are trying to sort out our priorities. Our own children and ourselves versus the children of Bolivia. Hadn’t personally ever felt so run down before and volition less as we were at the beginning of this year. . Already Edgar and Olga have made changes in this respect. A for instance: Delia is taking a course of 9 dental treatments over three weeks Feeling better, even confident, an abscess has been dealt with and other treatments are in the schedule. We have taken a few family weekend breaks this year. Fabulous. If we left Bolivia our first priority would be looking to catching up with people who have supported us and kept this project going. Hoping our son will get married this year. Jared? But we are also wishing to see our older ones from the home move on and into the work force. Sulma, for instance, although only in first year high is 18 this year. Our hearts are divided. Please share with us in resolving this burden.
No pictures this run as we seriously seek to be faithful to the work we feel we were called to start. Even as I write this I hear the younger children running through the house playing chase, whilst waiting for the older ones to return from a neighbors birthday celebration and we know we have made a difference. Some are alive because of homes like us. Thank you. Remember the elections over Easter and new staff in all the government offices throughout April. Remember too our children. Remember Olga and Edgar as they take a bigger responsibility and remember us. Delia and Peter. God bless.