Project Concern International (PCI)

Bolivia does not disappoint
By Uli Heine
Just a few weeks ago, I joined eight other women between the ages of 18 and 84 on an off-the-beaten track trip to Bolivia. Joining a group from Project Concern International, a San Diego-based health and development organization, I had the chance to travel 14,000 feet above sea level to see how the amazing work that is improving the lives of thousands of children and families in South America’s poorest country.
The trip certainly was not for the faint of heart. But hours of delay, lost luggage, challenging terrain and traveling in planes, vans and boats to get to some of the most remote places in the western hemisphere did not seem to phase these female travelers.
We were determined to see what can be done to empower families in desperate need of health care, education, clean water and livelihoods. We were not disappointed. Wherever our travels took us to, we were greeted by smiling faces of children, mothers and farmers who proudly presented their home-made flat breads and grits (made out of the local quinoa) to us.
Everywhere we went, children would line up in their best clothes to begin a presentation of local song and dance. When we visited the schools that benefit from Project Concern International’s school feeding program in Cochabamba or Oruro, children were eager to talk to us and we were delighted to see them looking healthy and strong in an area where malnutrition and child mortality is staggeringly high. They were proud to show off their vegetable gardens and clean water sources and to explain how they are working together to improve their lives.
One of the most memorable and visually intriguing moments was when the group arrived in an area of Oruro, a desolate place in Bolivia’s altiplano, often referred to as a moonscape. As soon as we stepped out of the van after hours of traveling over gravel roads, a group of farmers, in their best Quechua garb, starting playing their flutes and led the visitors in a procession to their proud source of livelihood: their llamas. Project Concern International works with hundreds of farmers and thousands of llamas in this area to increase their revenue from South America’s most famous beast of burden.

I will certainly forever keep the faces of the children, mothers, farmers and llamas in my memory.