Monday, June 23, 2014

New Opportunities

     Missionary life offers many different opportunities.  Last night I was able to help and experience a different organization here in Bolivia.  I want to take the time here to share my experience, as well and share this WONDERFUL organization with everyone.
     Salesian Missions has been sending lay missioners to Okinawa, Bolivia for nearly 20 years now.  One missioners experience completely changed her life and instilled a passion for continuing the education at the university level for kids from the campo, like Okinawa.  I can say from experience that it is easy to fall in love with the beauty of Bolivia and its people.  However, you easily become aware of the poverty in Bolivia.  To give you an idea:

  • Bolivia is the poorest country in South America.
  • Over 4,000 youth of Bolivia live on the street.
  • Over 10,000 children live in orphanages.
  • In rural areas, like Okinawa, only 14% of Bolivians finish high school and 3% attend university.
     Why am I sharing these statistics with you?  Well, not only does it give everyone a look into my life living in one of these rural areas, but they also gave Kathleen Curran an idea.  She is the founder of "Keep the Faith in Bolivia," an organization whose mission is to lift the youth out of poverty and to empower them through higher education to go out and empower the world.  They assist the youth in 2 ways: (1) by supplying kids from K-12 with school supplies and assisting with tuition and (2) by providing full scholarships, (including housing, food and tuition) to kids at the university or technical school level.  Currently they are supporting 200 students grades K-12, and 5 kids at the university level.  To date, they have helped 40 youth through university to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, biochemists, and more!  The students also regularly engage in service projects, including making basic hygiene kits for children on the street.  Sounds awesome right!?
Adam and I with the kids after our presentation.
    So how did I get involved?  Kathleen, being a former SLM from Okinawa, enlisted our help to present a few of our favorite technologies to the kids, which can help enhance their projects.  We put together a presentation over Google Docs, Pinterest, and When2Meet.  We were warmly welcomed by the girls and it was easy to talk over pizza for dinner.  One of the best parts was seeing was the smiles on their faces as they shared what they were studying and their dreams, knowing that Kathleen and her organization are helping make those dreams come true.

     One of my highlights, other than getting to know the kids, was talking with them at dinner about other things.  I had heard about the SLM program through a friend at MSU who was a missioner in Okinawa. and one of the girls at dinner talked about how she was from Okinawa.  She then went on to share that she went to the school that we teach at, and that she remembers her English teacher, who was my friend!  For me, in this moment, our mission here was brought to full circle seeing how we all can and do make an impact on these kids lives.

If you would like to learn more about this organization, visit http://keepthefaithinbolivia.org.

2 comments:

  1. God bless you for taking your mission up a notch, Julie! May he also bless the undertaking.

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  2. Awesome, Julie. Thank you for serving and loving the people of Bolivia, the land of my family! Grace and peace, Paula [former SLM in Ethiopia]

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