One small step at a time

I have so much I would want to write about that I don’t know where to begin. As I already mentioned we’re in the middle of the Andes, so you can only imagine what the views are like here. To wake up in the most comfortable bed I ever slept in and see the mountaintops from the bedroom window though gives a somehow unrealistic contrast to the not so peaceful life here.

Before I left Finland I had imagined the worst about this place, but realized quite soon it’s far worse than I thought, but in a different way than I expected. I can’t really explain what I mean, but I’m sure I’ll find words later during my time here. The poverty in Cochabamba is overwhelming, and it’s everywhere here in the suburbs. I could say the whole area we are surrounded by looks like a slum, except for the few so called “coca-houses” which means luxurious houses that are built with money earned from cocaine business.

Luckily Corazon Grande is located just a bit outside the suburbs on the countryside, so here you can still feel the fresh thin mountain air (which to be honest sometimes smells like shit) in difference to the suburbs and the city where cars run by gas and the dirtiness of the streets hit you in the face. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures outside Corazon Grande yet, as I haven’t dared to bring my camera anywhere. Since yesterday there have been riots going on here in Tiquipaya and there are roadblocks everywhere so it’s almost impossible to get out of here, except by foot which isn’t considered to be very safe. Even the girls have to stay home from school.

We have been here for only three days now, but in some way it feels longer. We are still trying to make sense of the everyday life here and find our places with the girls. The first day we felt a bit hopeless as the language barrier made it hard to get contact with the girls or the staff here, even though they all gave us a warm welcome. Now, just a couple of days later it feels like we’ve progressed a lot with the girls and our roles as volunteers here at Corazon Grande. 

The day before yesterday we made macramé-bracelets the whole afternoon with all the girls; luckily I had some materials with me from Finland. They loved it and we even got the other “Tías” making bracelets with us. For that, you don’t need a common language, just a few words like under, over, left, right, wait and very good! Haha :D at least we had fun. It feels so good every time you have been able to “have a conversation” in something between English, castellan and body language. Every contact we get with the girls feels like a step forward, even though they are tiny steps so far. After all, we’ve only been here for a few days and still have about 90 to go.