Referendum day

Today is a big day for Bolivia as they hold a nation-wide vote on a new constitution. No vehicles will be allowed on the roads and everything will be shut down - people have to walk or ride bike to their local voting place! There are strong feelings on both sides, so we pray there will not be violence during this referendum day and especially in the weeks to come as the risk of confrontation will be high regardless of the outcome of the vote.

If you're interested in more detail about the constitution and the various points of contention, here's a good overview from the Andean Information Network.

Lynn

Nathan's surgery

Yesterday we had an experience that we didn’t plan to have in Bolivia. Soon after we arrived in Santa Cruz, we discovered that Nathan had a hydrocele (type of hernia) that requires a surgical repair. After stalling out a bit on the idea, we decided to go ahead with the surgery. Yesterday was the day and we’re very thankful that all went well. It was a fairly minor surgery, only lasting about 45 minutes, but he did need general anesthesia. All and all we were only at the hospital about four hours. It’s a great relief to have it over with. Now the challenge is helping him recuperate without overdoing it.

Having surgery at one of the nicest hospitals in Santa Cruz gives us some food for thought. On one hand, my North American nurse eyes saw some things that were lacking or at least not the way it would be in my ideal scenario. But I feel a bit ridiculous even mentioning that because of the overwhelming sense that we benefit from a great deal of privilege when it comes to many things here and at home in PA too. We’ll just add this to the mix of questions and tensions to recognize.

Gratefully, Laurie

Christmas

Merry Christmas! The past month seems to have been a flurry of work and festivity mixed with the ongoing growing pains of adjusting to our new place in the world.

A couple work-related highlights first: MCC had the privilege of hosting John Paul Lederach (author of many books about peacebuilding, who happens to be Mennonite) for breakfast at the MCC office in early December. He spent several days in Santa Cruz giving workshops and speeches, and meeting with high-ranking officials to discuss both sides of the conflict here. It was inspiring to participate in several events during his time here, and a great opportunity for building relationships with other peacebuilding organizations. Also, Laurie made two different trips to visit SALT volunteers in their communities as part of her orientation to the SALT program—both involved bus and/or train travel at night. Exhausting, but exciting to see more of Bolivia. An ongoing challenge continues to be figuring out how to balance work, family and child care—especially right now that the kids are on summer break from school.

Christmas is a hard time to be far from family, friends and home, but we’ve had some good things to fill the season, too. Here are a few:

• Making Christmas cookies to take to a few of our neighbors.
• Receiving tamales from Cesar and Lizette, the MCC directors here. They are from Honduras/Nicaragua, so they brought that familiar tradition from Central America.
• Wedding of Zulma, a Bolivian woman we work with at MCC. The women of MCC were named “madrinas de torta” (provide and serve the wedding cake).
• Maria singing with her Sunday school class in the Christmas program at church – see video. (Nathan was home sick with what turned out to be dengue fever, but that’s a whole other story—he’s doing much better now.)
  
• Christmas Eve spent with friends (MCCers) Chris, Lindsey and Caleb. We made pesto together with the first cuttings from our basil plant, set off a few firecrackers, and went to mass in the community where Chris and Lindsey live. I appreciated the priest’s message of Christ’s peace, love, and justice being born in our hearts, and the challenge to take part in making that real in the world around us. This parish, in a relatively conflictive part of Santa Cruz, is planning to form a “peace commission” in the New Year, and we as MCC are working to accompany them in that.
• Lots of firecrackers at midnight on Christmas Eve! Nathan, Maria and Jesse slept through it, but it brought back nice memories of Guatemala for Laurie and me, and reminded us again why Central and South Americans who experience Christmas in North America say it seems so sad and quiet there. :)
  
• Christmas Day lunch with several other MCCers. We all chipped in to make turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies, salad, pie and passion fruit punch. Then we went outside and set off more firecrackers.
• Birthday party on Christmas Day evening for a now 8-year old boy named Jesus, who lives with Juana’s family (the woman who cares for our kids). Nathan and Jesus have enjoyed playing together at church, and it was nice to spend some time with Juana and her family in their home.
• Skyping with our parents and siblings, as well as some friends. I’m thankful for it and it’s better than nothing, but definitely not the same as being there…
• Hearing that some friends of ours went Christmas caroling to my parents, who were alone on Christmas Eve (thanks Tina and Doug…)

The office is closed next week, and we have nothing on our calendar. I remember longing for that while juggling a full holiday schedule at home, so we’ll to try to enjoy it. Laurie took Nathan and Maria to a pool this afternoon, and we might get away for a few days at a nearby hotel or something, but I don’t think we’ll be going far. It should give us a chance to do some needed organizing of our lives and household. Thanks for remembering us these days – we miss you and love hearing from you!

Lynn

14 photos from December


18 photos from Christmas Day