This is the link to where we are heading in Bolivia, the orphanage in Riberalta - apparently, sweltering hot.. Yeow!
www.casasegura.spaces.live.com
By the way - looking at the map, you may think, why didn´t we go straight to Riberalta from Cusco, Peru. Well, we looked into it and it would have taken about 4 to 6 weeks on bumpy, un-paved roads and crapy buses.. I think we have picked the better option...
Hey all again...
It has been a while since the last update. I'll try to briefly cover what we have been up to at the mo.
So we spent a week in La Paz with Rodrigo and Wanda (friends of Mik and Kays who have now moved to Casa Segura permanently). These two are the worlds most wonderful and accommodating hosts and gave up their free time to show us around La Paz. La Paz is a beautiful city made all the more wonderful by the company of friends. And unlike what you might think La Paz is not the capital of Bolivia. We had originally planned on staying in La Paz for just 2 days arriving on the Tuesday and leaving on the Thursday but after an offer we couldn't refuse we ended up staying a week.
Rodrigo convinced us to stay for a conference being held on the Saturday called Noches de Gloria. It was spear headed by a phenomenal man of God from South America. We ended up being very glad that we had stayed to witness Gods power and love moving through this country. It ended up being a great decision for other reasons too, when we found out that a plane we may have caught to Riberalta had crashed seriously injuring passengers. All flights we subsequently cancelled.
We finally made it to Riberalta after wanting to get here for many months. We stepped out of the nice cool plane (being acclimatized to cold weather) and into the tropical heat of the Amazon. As you can imagine for a small city the airport is tiny and not frequented with many Gringos, so finding the Gringos of Casa Segura was not to difficult. Mik, Kay, Maggie and Rudy (who is a true blue Riberaltian working along side Mik since the start) were there to meet us with open arms. We were doubly excited because no longer did we have to struggle and stumble through speaking Spanish, ENGLISH it was baby.... Good ol Aussies.
Casa Segura is set 10km from Riberalta along the main road that connects the town to Brazil. It is a good hour to the border... not far at all. Mik was given a vision from God about 5 years ago. Mik describes himself flying over the orphanage just as it is now but a little greener and complete. He has been in Riberalta for around 3 years now, planning and building the orphanage from scratch which is located amongst the thick of the Amazon jungle. The culture of Bolivia makes this a slow process and we really admire him and Kay for their determination. Currently stage one is being built and at its completion there will be 10 cabins housing about 60 children, a school, clinic, toilet block, laundry block, kitchen, dining room and wells to supply the community with clean, safe water. Ohh now we cant forget the drop dunny. We at least get to sit on normal toilet seats and if you don't look down the hole or breath in, it is quite a normal toilet. Joe doesn't like the flies and bats flying out and hitting his bum. Understandable ...
About one year ago a family (the family of Eddy) arrived in Riberalta and now live on the property. Mik says that this family have been a blessing from God as before they came the property was regualry robbed. The family also bless the project in many other ways. Eddy and his son Alejandro work with Mik and Rudy building. Sandra the daughter of Eddy has taken on the role of cook for the orphans. In general the family have been wonderful for the first orphans as they provide an aire of familiarity amoungst a completely different and scary situation. So they live at the front of the property in a beautiful little house that was made from donations from Australia after their old house was blown away in a storm.
We feel that since we have arrived we have been lucky to witness a great transformation at the project. We have been here when the very first 3 orphans have arrived. Yasmine (17), Rosa (14) and Mariano (10) lost their parents within the space of the last year. They have an older brother and a sister who still live in town. One can only imagine the heart ache and pain they have felt over the last year and a bit. They have settled in here as well as can be expected. The girls are older than what had been planned, and with this brings difficulties of teenage girls. But the family is some what together and for that they are happy.
Since arriving Joe with the boys have been busy busy busy building. The very first cabin has been completed with Maggie and the kids moving in. The brand new school is complete, a new jetty was built in the pond. Joe has built the new kitchen for the orphans. The laundry is on its way to completion and we have put a new door on our previously trap doored house.
Katie has been helping in the building when possible but also runs English classes in the afternoon. She is planning out the clinic which will not be built for a few years. Restocking first aid kits, Tending to people here when they cut themselves, sprain themselves or are just sick. One of her major tasks before we leave is to set up a hand washing station outside the toilets to try and lower the rates of belly illnesses here.
We stay in the coolest little place down a little jungle track from the main cleared area which is so peaceful. Ours is a plastic house, first made as a platform for Miks tent when he first moved out here and then later extended with a fake floor, trap door and plastic walls. It can get pretty hot in the middle of the day but we love it. The heat here is pretty intense at times... But bearable... We eat lunch in town on most days with the towns pastors family (Luis Antonio) which we love - they are the nicest and most welcoming family. Luis Antonio and his family are originally from La Paz and Mik had worked with Luis for a few years in the prisons and with the street kids there. They are such a great loving family. They provide us all with lunch every single day.
We had a day trip to a lake with the street kids from the town which was great... Everytime we go into town now, they are always yelling out to us... Pepe (Nickname for Hose - Joseph in Spanish) and Peepee (Nick name that we came up with for Katie which stuck) they call us. They are always keen for a little chat and bug you through dinner or in the internet... We love them... And love them even more so recently after we thought we had lost Katies bag with a lot of our valuable stuff in it. We went into to town to ask around where we thought we had left it but they didn't know and the street kids were so concerned...
We are known as hermano Pepe (Brother Joe) and hermana Katie (Sister Katie) at the casa segura site which is because every Christian calls another Christian Brother or sister over here.
There are three dogs here in Casa Segura, Blondie (Miks dog), Weaky (Eddys son, Alejandros' dog) and Blancito or whitey (Eddy's dog). I (Katie) am in heaven with them all. When we arrived Blancito was soo skinny. I took a liking to him and started to feed him. We have injected him for skin conditions, sprayed him purple for skin infections. Poor dog. But now as we come to our end here, Blancito is looking great, muscly and strong. He has grown up from a big hyperactive puppy to a strong bush dog. I love him so much, he is our dog now. Poor boy he has never been liked by the family who own him, and is blamed for everything. But he is a sweety and I love him.
There is an assortment of animals here, sheep, pigs, chickens. The sheep have had 2 babies since we got here, the first got eaten by the dogs one night. The second is now 2 weeks old and growing stronger every day.
The property has a beautiful creek on the edge of the boundary. Here we can swim or the more common thing is to wash our clothes. A good 2 hours of working with scrubbing brush and soap turns our red clothes into their normal colours again. Not the kind of work we are used to back home hey.
Mik is from Dayboro Church and spear heads the project. He is a great guy and has such a passion for the plan God has given him. Great sense of humor too. Kay is from Taigum Church and has been here helping Mik for 2 and half years. She heads up administration and is soo kind and gentle. The calm one of the place. Maggie arrived 4 months ago and is also from Dayboro. She is the very first house mum here and has been doing a brillieant job in a situation that is quite difficult. She also runs Sunday School.
We have had to renew our visas twice. People here take it very easy and each trip in to renew our visas takes hours as each line is written with such perfection it can take up to 5 minutes. PHEW.... Talk about us learning patience.
We are leaving here on the 9th of October to return to La Paz for a few days.. Then we plan to go down to Uyuni (Bolivia) and do the salt flats and then travel through Argentina...
Until next time - Still kicking
Joe and Katie
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