Bolivia: Is it safe?

Adreana & Federal police officers in Santa Cruz

My mom always says, “The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”  I felt like I was putting this saying to the test when Reed and I decided to go to Bolivia on a mission trip.

First of all, we had to get all sorts of shots, oral vaccines and pills to protect us from malaria, typhoid, hepatitis, tetanus, diptheria, mumps, measles, and rubella.  Of course, I was the first one to get a mosquito bite to put the malaria pill to the test.

Secondly, we had to fly into La Paz to unload passengers.  I got a little lightheaded at such a high altitude.  Some passengers had trouble breathing and needed oxygen.  But that wasn’t the bad part.  Then we had to rise to a higher altitude very quickly to fly over the Andes Mountains before landing in Santa Cruz.

Reed had already forewarned me about the taxicab drivers before we hailed our first taxi the next day.  He had read some excerpts from the U.S. State Department that cautioned us to use extreme care whenever we rode in a taxi.  Some cab drivers are unscrupulous and steal from their passengers.  Not only that, sometimes they kill their passengers and dump them along the side of the road.  Our missionary friend, Adreana (in the above picture), had not heard of anything like that happening in Santa Cruz, but it was still on my mind when I got in the cab.  I looked for my seat belt, but I couldn’t find one.  Then I noticed that the cab driver didn’t have a speedometer.  He was driving an old Toyota Corolla from Japan that had the steering column on the left side, but the speedometer was still on the right side. 

Santa Cruz traffic circle

On another one of our trips to and from the missionary compound one of the men on our mission team had to ride in the back of the car where the propane tank was rolling around.  This particular cab was operated by propane, instead of gas. 

We also noticed that the stop signs, traffic lights and yellow lines in the middle of the road were only suggestions.  The cab drivers honked when they got to a stop sign and kept going, even if they couldn’t see around the corner.  The other drivers were supposed to stop.  On a two-lane road the driver made a third lane right down the middle of the road.  The other two lanes of traffic were supposed to make room for him.  As if that’s not bad enough, most of the main roads are concentric circles.  It’s a major feat to cross from one circle to the next one.

I guess the scariest situation occurred when Adreana, the missionary we were visiting, didn’t have time to give the cab driver directions to the missionary compound where we were staying.  He just took off with three Americans who didn’t know where they were going and could barely speak his language.  Fortunately, I had just purchased a map of Santa Cruz and circled the locations of the Cristo Viene Girls’ Home and the missionary compound.  I remembered enough Spanish to tell him where we needed to go and showed him the map.  He drove around and around, but couldn’t find the house.  I was afraid that he would get frustrated and just dump us off.  It was nighttime so he flashed his lights at each stop sign, instead of honking his horn and kept going.  I was constantly praying that no one else was coming our way.  Finally we were able to contact the missionary at the compound, who had just returned from church, and he gave the cab driver directions that he understood.  I gave him a tract about Jesus, and we all thanked him profusely when he finally dropped us off at our destination.  Adreana was really worried about us when we showed up about an hour late. 

When we arrived at the missionary compound we noticed a brochure about the facilities on our coffee table.  In big, bold letters we were warned not to adjust the shower head under any circumstance.  We noticed electric wires running to the shower head.  Adreana, our missionary friend who worked at the girls’ home, said that she gets a “buzz” sometimes when she turns on the water!

Shower head

We went to the market to buy groceries and rode the micro.  We passed out evangelistic tracts.  It kept my mind off of the driving!  Every person who received a tract was very appreciative.  They thanked us, started reading them right away and took the tracts with them when they got off the bus. 

When we arrived at the market we bought the meat last.  I don’t know why because it wasn’t refrigerated anyway.  One of the customers knocked a chicken onto the dirty floor.  The missionary we were with just picked it up and put it back on the counter.  I was a little concerned about eating meat from that point on.

Cooking chicken at the Girls' Home

I noticed after our meals that the dishes were washed and rinsed in cold water.  They didn’t have hot water to sterilize their dishes.  Only one of our mission team members got sick, and I think it was caused by eating salad.  The rest of us stayed away from the salad.  I felt guilty about not eating it, especially when the girls were watching.  They were happy to eat it for us, though.

Washing dishes - no hot water

Adreana taught the girls how to bake bagels.  They sell them to people in the community.  They have a problem with mice getting into the flour.  I figured that they were safe to eat since they were cooked in a very hot oven!

Bagel oven at Girls' Home

We felt safe at night at the missionary compound with barbed wire at the top of the wall, bars on the windows, locks on the doors and a barking dog outside.  Actually, we knew that God was in control and He would take care of us.  We just didn’t know if he would take us on to Heaven, or leave us on this earth a little longer.  It really didn’t matter as long as we were in “the center of His will”.

Missionary Compound & Seminary

We went sightseeing and bought gifts in downtown Santa Cruz.  While we were shopping we noticed graffiti on the walls.  Most of the people in Santa Cruz are not happy with their president.  We were in Bolivia during their Independence Day Celebration.  We had been warned of possible riots.  We weren’t sure if we would be able to fly home on schedule.  Fortunately, there were no problems. 

Graffiti in Santa Cruz

In a previous story I mentioned all the wonderful things that happened at the Cristo Viene Girls’ Home, which far outweighed my concerns of safety.  A Bible verse (paraphrased by my dad) came to mind occasionally:  “Worry about nothing;  pray about everything, and God will give you peace of mind the whole world wants, but only Christians possess it.” 

Wonder where God will take us next time.  Adreana is already asking when we’re going to come back.  We’ll see…

Bolivia countryside outside Santa Cruz

You’ll never be the same…

Cristo Viene Girls' Home

Elvira hugging Nicol

When I called my mother and told her that Reed and I were going on a mission trip to Bolivia she said, “You’ll never be the same.”  I wasn’t quite sure what she meant until I had spent a week at a Bolivian Girls’ Home. 

Adreana (standing on the far left in the picture above) is a missionary from our church in Virginia.  She asked us to come help out last summer.  Five members from our church volunteered to go.  We asked her what she wanted us to do while we were there.  She gave us several suggestions, but mainly she just wanted us to “love on the girls”.  That suggestion didn’t sound like a very important job.  I thought you were supposed to go on a mission trip to witness about Jesus.  I found out that loving was just as important as witnessing.  Some of the girls are orphans;  some have been abused;  some of them had to leave home because their parent(s) couldn’t afford to support them.  All of them need love.

On the first day in Santa Cruz, each of us gave our testimonies about Jesus, which were interpreted in Spanish.  We offered each girl a Spanish Bible.  They only took one if they didn’t already have one of their own.  We also brought a new set of sheets for each girl.  Marcee’ and Adreana, the two directors at the girls’ home, told them that they would receive the new sheets after they washed the old ones.  They had to wash the sheets by hand and hang them out to dry.  The old sheets were given to the poor people.  We thought that we were already giving sheets to the “poor people”, but I guess it’s a matter of perspective.

Several times we took the girls to a nearby soccer field to play softball.  They had never played the game, but they caught on really fast.  Before long the boys who were playing soccer joined us in playing softball.  They had a great time!  After the game we gave them Spanish tracts about Jesus.  They eagerly read them and took them home.  They didn’t throw any of them on the ground.  In fact, I was surprised that everytime we offered people these religious tracts they immediately started reading them, whether it was a passenger on a bus, a cab driver or the military police standing in the town square.  We told them in Spanish that it was a gift for them.  They seemed very appreciative.   

The girls loved having their pictures taken.  Elvira wanted to have her picture taken with Reed and me, pretending that she was our “hija” (daughter).  Then another girl wrapped her arms around me and wanted to be another “hija” in the picture.  We became attached to several of the girls.  We were very sad when we learned that Elvira had run away from the children’s home a couple of weeks after we returned home.  Adreana said that they found her working in a family’s home.  I hope she’s okay.

We took a different group of girls out to eat almost every night.  This activity was a special treat.  They have very little variety in their meals.  We took the younger ones to La Dumba.  It was like a McDonald’s, but dirtier. The play area was very small and needed several repairs.  While we were eating, a large light fixture fell next to our table.  Needless to say, La Dumba wouldn’t have passed an O.S.H.A inspection.  We went to several restaurants with the other girls, but La Dumba was the worst.  The girls didn’t notice any of the problems we saw.  They had a great time!

Ann, the other lady on the mission team, and I did some craft activities with the girls.  Three of the girls gave me the Bible bookmarks that they had made.  I thought they would want to keep them since they had so little.  Elvira wrote on her bookmark (in Spanish), “The girls love you very much.  To Cindy.  From Elvira.”  She was always practicing her English on me while I practiced my Spanish on her.

The girls really enjoyed reading the Spanish Bible stories we brought them.  They would sit as close to us as they could.  The little girls would climb up in our laps.  They laughed when we tried to read to them and stumbled over the Spanish words.  They loved looking at the picture albums of our families.  Adreana told us to be careful selecting our pictures.  She didn’t want us to show our houses or cars.  It wouldn’t be polite to show off our “wealth” when the girls had so little.  None of the team is wealthy by American standards, but Bolivians would think differently.

One little four-year-old girl named Nicol had a skin disease on her scalp and had her head shaved.  Adreana said that the the infection was gone, but she still sprinkled a  white powder on her scalp to make sure.  One day I found Nicol crying.  I think God was testing me.  I am very germ-conscious, especially after taking Microbiology in college.  I went over to her and picked her up to console her, trying to ignore the powder in her hair.  She snuggled in my arms while I talked to her, trying to remember a little Spanish.  I asked the other girls why Nicol was crying.  They said that someone was teasing her and calling her by the name of her ”amigo” (boyfriend).  She quickly recovered and started playing with her friends again.

The three men on the mission team also read stories and showed them their family pictures in their free time.  They did some repairs on the childrens’ home.  Reed and Ann worked in the small garden located in the courtyard of the childrens’ home one afternoon.  When we returned home Adreana said that the girls took some of the plants to the “poor” people.  They are always thinking of others.

Mom was right.  I’ll never be the same again.  For years I supported missions by praying for missionaries, supporting them financially, inviting them to speak at our church and taking them home afterwards, teaching GA’s (a girls’ mission group), and serving as a member of the missions’ committee at church.  All of those activities were fun, but there is no greater joy than going on the mission field and serving with the missionary.

Fabiola