Steve Gibson’s Trip to – March 12-24 After a trip to Tupiza with a United Methodist Building team I was unable to fly to Cochabamba due to a cancelled flight due to weather from Sucre. So I got the last seat on the midnight bus. This is a 10 hour ride over an unpaved road. My seat was in the back so it was not too pleasant, especially not being able to see out. Mauricio picked me up at the terminal and I found out we were on our way to the campo. We worked for 3 days at the school in Llallaguani. Hank Graden [chair of NCPOA Board] and Karen Brown [both had visited this area and saw the need for dormitory renovation for several students who live so far away that a daily commute is impractical. The dorms were in terrible shape as were 4 living quarters for teachers. The school at Llallaguani is a large school and has a new classroom building. The very old school was converted over to dorms for the students and teacher’s quarters. Helping with the project were Mauricio and his fellow FSD employees (Lea and Andres) and 7 of the volunteer interns. Also for each of the 3 days community volunteers came and helped as did one of the school administrators, Ruben. In addition the bus driver, Carlos helped. He is always an asset to the group since he speaks Quechua. The walls were sanded, doors installed, window panes replaced, roofs replaced and if needed the floors were resurfaced. Two of the teacher’s quarters did not have a concrete floor. Also many of the desks and the walls in each of the dorms or living quarters were given a fresh coat of paint. The students had a good time since they did not go to classes. Instead they walked to the creek and helped bring stones up as a foundation base for the floors. We spent the nights in a loft at the colonial home of Viki and Miguel Ramirez in Anzaldo. The funding for this project was raised from the sale of some corn I have at work for a research project and from the donations of past Farmer to Farmer volunteers and members of my church. In the 3 days we did not quite finish but left assured that the community volunteers would complete. One of them, Mario had attended the school and actually had classes in the student’s dorm. He was very grateful since he said nothing had ever been done for the teachers or the students who have to stay at the school site. Our first day at the site, Friday March 13 we were fortunate to witness the cooking and serving of the Stop Hunger Now meals. First some donated potatoes were peeled by community volunteers and put in 2 large pots over an open wood fire to boil. After about 30 minutes the meal bags were added. Then the children were told to run get their plates or bowls and a serving line was set up. They all ate the meals which were very well received. In addition several of the community volunteers got a taste and were pleased. Later during my visit we returned to the area and made some unannounced visits to 4 other schools. It was meal time at our last stop and this particular school had elected to alternate the Stop Hunger Now meals with some of the other food items supplied by the Bolivian Government. I saw 2 types of a corn drink, the api and another one that actually had some particles of corn mixed in with the more pulverized portion. This was being served at the last school we stopped at, Pachapata Lux. I also saw some packets of cookies and was able to read the nutrition label. The cookies did provide a small amount of protein but the diet is sadly mostly all carbs as I am sure it is at the children’s homes in the campo. The Stop Hunger Now meals I think will serve a good purpose by beginning the education process of the importance of a balanced diet. Mauricio and I were pleased that the Anzaldo and Arampampa provincial capitals were dedicated enough to pay the customs the Bolivian Government required. A provincial worker in Anzaldo explained the process how each community school decided how to use the meals and arrange for volunteer work. Both Maurico and I agreed that the need to start a locally supported nutrition project was still very much needed. We both felt that we should continue our efforts and maybe a good approach till funding is found for extensionists, etc. would be to compile the meal packets in country using some very inexpensive or donated items produced in . For example the Santa Cruz Department is a producer of soybeans and has both an ADM and Cargil facility. Soybean flour or meal could easily be purchased or obtained by donation to provide the complete protein in a meal package. For the rest of my trip I met with the Cbba POA board after our NC President, Carlos Vargas arrived. Carlos and his wife, Wilma also visited with SAR and a public school for which our 2008 summer youth visitors from Cochabamba did their volunteer project. Mauricio and I also visited CEOLI and I was pleased to finally meet Daniela, the young lady and art instructor who is so instrumental in making the CEOLI cards so successful. Mauricio arranged for me to follow up on some agricultural related activities. I spent an entire day with FTF beekeeping volunteer Juan Carlos. We visited a small fruit farm and worked 10 hives of Africanized honeybees. Also we made foundation from saved beeswax (a new experience for me). My experience this day made me appreciate our more gentle mostly Italian honeybees in NC and being able to buy high quality wax foundation. We also met with representatives of ACHROBOL with whom we collaborated for the dairy project when FTF was officially funded. For the planning for the nutrition improvement project I was fortunate to meet with Carla Quiroga who now is in the food science department at a private university. Carla is very interested in collaborating with us now and after we find funding for the project. After a month in it was sad to leave but as always I was ready. The volunteer spirit of our POA counterparts and others and their patience in trying political and social times is admirable and should serve as encouragement for us to keep on trying to make things happen. [Editor’s Note: While substituting at Cary Academy the other day, I saw in a basket on the desk 3 Stop Hunger Now packets of food. Upon inquiring I find that the 7th grade did volunteer packaging of the meals as a community service project. I provided the teachers with some photos to share of the recipients in .] See photos in Gallery