Letter from Bolivia

My Cousin Joy is in Bolivia with the Peace Corps. She’s up to a lot of interesting things, including this recycling program. If you’d like to donate, see me in class.

Hi friends and family,

Spring Greetings from Bolivia! I’m now into my 22st
month of service in Bolivia, which doesn’t seem
possible. I just got back to Vallegrande after
traveling around Bolivia for two fabulous,
action-packed weeks with one my best friend from
college who came down to visit me. (The pictures will
be up soon!) Amazingly, we only ran into one road
blockade (though dynamite was used...), and had two
flat tires---definitely a record for Bolivia!

Each Peace Corps Volunteer has an opportunity to help
direct a small community project, which many times are
financed from out-of-country funds. Through Peace
Corps Partnership, friends and family back home have
an opportunity to make a connection to Peace
Corps-served communities around the world by donating
to volunteer projects.

As most of you all know, my primary project is the
recycling and environmental club at the boy’s
orphanage. More than half of the boys who reside at
the orphanage Hogar Jesus Infante in Vallegrande
participate in the orphanage’s paper recycling and
environmental club. In addition to bi-weekly
environmental activities, the boys collect, sort and
bag paper that would otherwise be thrown into the
municipal dump, and send it to Santa Cruz City. A
company in Santa Cruz City buys the paper from the
orphanage and recycles it into new paper products.

As part of the recycling project, a field trip to the
nearby town of Samaipata has been planned for the end
of the school year (November 2006). The field trip
will be partially funded with revenue generated from
selling the collected paper. Twenty boys and three
orphanage employees will partake in the field trip.

The field trip will allow the boys to paint the ¨big
picture¨ view of how
recycling contributes to environmental conservation by
learning about the local flora, fauna and the cultural
riches of the area. Additionally, since the recycling
project aims to teach the boys new job skills, the
boys will have an opportunity to explore future career
options as park guides and in tourism.

Three hours from Vallegrande, Samaipata is an ideal
destination for the field trip because of its access
to natural and cultural sites. The field trip will be
a total of four days. The boys will visit Amboro
National Park, Las Cuevas waterfalls, the museum and
UNESCO World Heritage site of El Fuerte and an animal
rehabilitation refuge.

The participating boys will have an opportunity learn
about:
• the fauna and flora of the area and the “big
picture” view of how recycling contributes to
environmental conservation
• the cultural riches of the area
• future career options in tourism and as park guides

Because the majority of the boys hail from humble
families of the countryside, a field trip of this sort
would never be possible.

By selling our two metric tons of paper (!!), we hope
to earn around $100. The total project cost is $545,
so we are looking to raise at least $365 by October
31, 2006.

Thank you for all your support!
Love,
Joy