Pictures Galore (Part Two)

This is a saltena, a type of Bolivian empenada. It is usually filled with meat, this one with chicken and potatoes with a yummy savory sauce. The crust, as you see here, is absolutely delicious. I'd say it's almost like a hot pocket or chicken pot pie. But way tastier.

Scenes from a popular marketplace called El Centro.

On my last day in the office, a few of my co-workers took me out for a special goodbye lunch. In the top picture, that's me with Noemi, the Office Secretary and Volunteer Coordinator. We became good friends because she spoke some English and really wanted to practice with me. In the next picture, Moises, the Finance and Administrative Director, and Pato, the Street Outreach Coordinator. Pato is also a youth pastor. He loves these kids so much, he has such a natural way with them. In the third picture, Pato is pictured with Nancy, our Social Worker.

The final picture is a Bolivian dish called Pique Macho. French fries covered with hot dogs, beef, red onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Mmmm....tasty.

This is a picture of Casa Renacer, the transition home for the boys. About 10 boys live here at any given time, those recently transitioning from the streets, but in the afternoons all the boys (including those in the permanent homes) come together for the academic program. In this picture ChiChi, the house dad at Casa Rencaer is throwing marbles for the boys to catch to play this game where they each have a marble and flick their opponents with their own...I actually never had a chance to figure out the rules of the game, but it looked a little like a mix golf and bocce ball. It was precious to see these boys find such joy playing with marbles on a small square of dirt. It seems like nowadays kids need videogames or the tv to be occupied.

This is Camila, a Bolivian-American volunteer working on an art project with the kids. A, the little boy in red, drew a monster from his favorite book, "Where the Monsters Live". The kids love to draw and take such pride in them when they are finished. Look at that smile on A's face!

This is Erick, one of the academic tutors who works with the youngest group of boys every Monday-Thursday. The kids love Erick. I had the opportunity to teach his class numbers in English from 1 to 100. It was sooooo much fun!!

These are the youngest group of boys with BSCP, most of them living in Casa Renacer. I love this picture--I think it could be named "Brotherhood."

This is W. He was the one I mentioned a while back who had asked my host mom if he could call her mom, a few weeks after he started at Casa Renacer. He is one of the smallest ones in the program. W also loves to draw.

These are the oldest boys in the program and their tutor, Javier. The staff at BSCP have been so encouraged because they're seeing that as the first cohort of kids at BSCP have grown older (this is still a relatively young organization) they have been taking the initiative to act as mentors to the younger, newer kids. BSCP is currently in the process of gathering support and program planning to launch a project that will help the older kids transition out of the home to dorm-style housing where they will learn to live more independently and have the opportunity to learn skills that will make them more competitive in the labor force.

This was a group picture I took with some of the boys on my last day in Bolivia. They completely

surprised me by pulling me out into the courtyard and praying for me before I left. It was in Spanish, so I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was still one of the most special and precious things I could have ever left with. Two of the little ones gave me their pictures they had drawn that day. I love homedrawn kid pictures! I was so shocked by the immense love these children showed me. I know for myself, I had grown to love these kids so much in simply watching them intently draw a picture of Spiderman or write the number sixty-six in English or play their marble game or say Hi to me in English pronounced like the word "how." So really, it felt backwards for these boys to leave me with such a special goodbye.

These are a few of my highlights from the past four weeks in La Paz. I hope you all enjoyed! I will be posting once more to share some final reflections on my trip. Stay tuned... =)