Bolivian Voices

Original: EL DESEO DE SUPERACION
En Aymara: Wakicht’asiñ amuyu

Mrs. Segundina Inca participates in the literacy program, and I had the chance to speak with her about her experiences. She is from Los Andes Province in the Department of La Paz. She was left orphaned as a child, has four brothers, and as she is the eldest sister she became responsible for the household, because her father found another partner. Later, she had to suffer through the flooding of the Katari River, which washed her house and animals away. Because of that she had to migrate to the city, and here she talks a little bit about her experience in learning to read and write.

I started school for a few months, which they referred to during those time as the preparatory cycle, and one of my teachers asked me what the drawing of a house was, and I responded UTA. The teacher told me that it was not UTA, but it was a house. As I did not know Spanish, I had a lot of problems. However, in spite of that, I had every intention to learn how to read and write. Sometimes when I was with the cattle in the plains, I would draw some letters in the dirt, which were erased very easily. I also drew some figures and numbers on some flat rocks. When I was younger, I looked for people that could teach me to read and write, even offering to pay money. Now with this literacy program, I am learning and I hope to read and write some day because even for something like getting on a mini-bus, one must read the letters of its destination…

Segundina is a very strong person that fights on a daily basis to move forward.

Original: Los Globazos Juego Cruel
In Aymara: Jan waliw umamp jaqusiñ anatañaxa

You can now feel that it is Carnaval in Bolivia. Neither the climate, nor the social conflicts stop people, especially young people to begin to play with water, as they do during these holidays. In the entire country, everyone plays with water (especially boys that throw water on girls), but this does not stop with one drenching. It goes much further, for example in Santa Cruz, they throw them in puddles, something that I don’t like at all, but what can one do?

Here in El Alto, the boys from the UPEA (Public University of El Alto), are already playing with water, and you know who are paying the consequences of this cruel game? Yes, you guessed correctly it is the girls, including me. When I say that it is a cruel game, I say so for the following reasons:

1 - Isn’t it cruel when you fix yourself up and dress nicely to go to the university in order to flirt with a boy that you like or look your best and all of a sudden they drench you and they leave you a disaster?

2 - Isn’t it cruel when you are walking to class and all of sudden you feel a horrible slap on your back or another part of your body, thanks to those deadly water balloons that in addition to getting you wet, even breaks your skin?

3 - Isn’t it cruel when you are walking to the university to fulfill our obligations as a student and all of a sudden one of those water balloons hit directly on your notebooks and textbooks leaving them soaking wet and ruined?

For these and other reasons, I say that these games of water balloons are cruel. On the other hand, I must admit that on the last day of classes before the Carnaval holiday, I enjoy this cruel game because it is not cruel anymore, when you are ready to play with water and ready to exact our revenge on all those boys that made suffer during class.

Welcome to Jessica Olivares, the new Santa Cruz Coordinator and Enrique Canedo, project assistant. They wrote this description of the first day of Voces Bolivianas - Santa Cruz, our newest iniciative.

The crazy weather in Santa Cruz played tricks on us, as it began to rain very early in the morning, and as we came closer to our destination, the streets and avenues beyond the 4th Ring of the city truly became rivers.

After 25 minutes of an eventful journey in a small taxi, we heard the continuous complaint from the taxi driver. He talked about his theory of the phenomenon “La Niña” that it was not the result of global warming, rather it was due to human consequences: according to him, human sin was the cause. In the middle of his whining, he spouted, “Repent, heathens because the water will wash away our sins..” in that moment we realized that we were finally arriving to our final destination, Paurito Avenue in the area of Plan 3000 near the neighborhood La Ciudad de la Alegría.

The rain was beginning to cease, and 11 individuals were waiting to begin the first class of digital literacy through the use of blogs… 11 individuals that were transformed from real-life to virtual and became part of the Bolivian blogosphere.

It was satisfying to see the commitment from the attendees, and it was also surprising to see the variety of backgrounds in this heterogeneous group. There were young people, professionals, students, commercial vendors, and novices. Most were brand-new to the world of blogs, but they had the complete interest to learn how to create their blogs, and express themselves through words to the world what they live on a daily basis.

Here are their new blogs:

Prof. Miriam Vidal- - Miriam Vidal
Capuletos- - José Armando
Eufenisimos - José Luis Alanoca
Travieso - - Kevin Ayllon
Reciclaje - Edmundo Vaquila
Turismo en Bolivia - Deisy Díaz
Crucenhito - Sergio Gutierrez
Litoraleño - Pedro Velásquez
Mi Cofre Musical OK - Silvana Salvatierra
La Docente de Siglo XXI - Elsa Muruchi

To visit their page: Voces Bolivianas - Santa Cruz

When the clock struck 2 pm, the rain had stopped and we had finished providing answers to the rainfall of questions from our new students. Once more, they demonstrated the commitment to learn and we showed our commitment to teach them. We would appreciate if you visit their new blogs!

Original: Ferias y/o Mercados
In Aymara: Coming Soon

In El Alto, there are a large diversity of fairs that are a grand attraction for foreigners. The difference between these fairs and markets are that they are annual, montly, and also the majority offer agricultural products, arts and crafts, and weavngs. Markets usually offer manufactured products. Another big difference is that the markets are open during office hours, meaning 8 hours per day. Fairs begin at daybreak and are in operation on an annual basis, except for the Fair 16 de Julio, which takes place two days a week on Thursdays and S undays.

There are also fairs in different zones, which take place on a weekly basis such as the SenKata, Ventilla and Pacajes Fairs.

In these fairs, we can find everythng from a simple needle to cattle. Among the most important annual fairs is the Alasitas Fair, where we remember the God of Abundance. This fair takes place every 24 of Enero and the tradition is that people purchase miniatures at 12 noon, so that they receive everything they want. They can buy houses, cars, stores, food, tools, pastries, dolls, clothing, land, and even miniature currency bills. Another larger fair is the Ramos Fair, which take place in April. The photos are from last year´s fair.

Original: ALGO SOBRE LAS COSTUMBRES Y TRADICIONES
In Aymara: Coming Soon

El Alto is a city filled with traditions. On the 24th of this month, Alasitas is celebrated with a lot of faith and hope for the new year. Alasitas is a fair with vendors who sell miniature articles. The story is that if you purchase on January 24th at 12:00, then all of the things you wanted to acquire during the year that the god Ekeko will provide it to you in abundance.

The Ekeko is a small chubby character with a mustache. He is holding anything that you can imagine and for that reason he is the god of abundance. Countless number of legends surround the Ekeko.

My grandfather told me one of these stories, and it goes like this: On the eve of January 24, a couple along with their son and his wife were hurried. For one, they were manufacturers of miniature objects to see at Alasitas. In addition, the son had suffered an accident and his wife was due to give birth precisely on those days. For those reason, they could not finish the order of the miniatures. One night an older, chubby man named Pancho knocked on their door. He asked if he could stay the night at the family’s home. The family had always been very generous with others and let the man stay the night. During conversation, the they talked about their work and the problem that they were facing. The guest offered to help. While the daughter-in-law gave birth, Pancho had finished all of the orders for Alasitas. When the family arrived home, they were surprised of what had happened and reaffirmed their belief in Alasitas. Ekeko really existed and was the visitor.

Note: Voces Bolivianas seeks to support Bolivians from underrepresented groups and regions so that they can create their own blogs, so that voices from those groups and regions are heard. This begins a series of “spotlights” on blogs that already exist from these Bolivians.

Blog from Yapacani is written by a blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Idolo”. Originally from the Department of Cochabamba, he now teaches at a local school in the community. Yapacani, with an estimated population of 31,000, is located in the Department of Santa Cruz, located approximately 120 km from the city of Santa Cruz.

Here is an excerpt of a translated blog article about a sparsely attended rally in support of autonomy in the community of Yapacani. Read the rest of the article here.

I just finished playing in an inter-university tournament here in Little Bolivia or Yapacani. After finishing the game, which fortunately we won, I heard firecrackers coming from the main plaza. As I am curious, I went to see what was happning. I was some “pelados” (kids) who were throwing rocks and launching firecrakers towards the crowd. Today this happpened because the autonomists, who number very few her, put on a small act in the place. They planned to have a raffle and some prizes, but more than anything to ask people to sign the petition for autonomy. I still don’t know how this small conflict started, but there were no wounded or anything very serious.

Original: Los Niños, Los Niños
In Aymara: Coming Soon

Harvested in fertile land, ready to grow, waiting for someone to appreciate and cultivate their abilities, skills and virtues, with their innocent smile lacking in any hint of evil in their soul, so adorable and as John Fitzgerald said, “children are the most important resource in the world and the best hope for the future.” So that they have a better future, we should treat children with much care so that a seed can be harvested for the future, with fundamental values such as respect, reciprocity and humanity.

In the city of El Alto, many children stay at home by themselves because the father and mother work all day in order to provide a daily income. They leave them sleeping in the morning and find them sleeping at night. They cannot spend the necessary time with them to give them support. For that reason, some children are raised by the media, which some of the time does not contain educational programs and often shows them a reality that does not exist. That reality for some families can only be changed by education. It is the responsibility of the entire society, the parents and teachers.

Original in Spanish: ¿el modo de hablar puede unir o separar?
Translation in Aymara: Aski uñacht’äwi: Mä arsüwix jak’achistaspat jan ukax jaljtayistaspacha

Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to visit many departments in my Bolivia; and even though the official language is Spanish, other languages are spoken, such as Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní, etc. In the case of Spanish, it is also divided into dialects depending on one’s place of origin.

I was lucky to be able to learn Quechua during one of my visits to Oruro, when I was 8 years old. But upon returning to Santa Cruz, my accent had changed. My cousins made fun of me, which made me forget that language altogether. I had to, in order to be a part of my social circle. Now I regret that I had forgotten that language, even though I am trying to learn once again, although it is turning out to be difficult. I would have liked for the government to have supported the use of our native languages.

My friends in Santa Cruz still make fun of me because of my accent, but now that I am older I am able to defend myself. When they hear my reasons, they become quiet, and even perhaps, embarrassed. This is what I believe in, and what I want. I hope that many other people change and learn to value our languages before they disappear.

In 2007, we launched the teaching of participatory media, with emphasis on blogs. Blogs are webpages that are easy to use and it allows bloggers to communicated with the rest of the world by writing about their daily lives. Bloggers can share text, images, audio and video. It is not difficult to use. If one can use e-mail, then it is just as easy to blog.

n the first pilot project, El Alto I, 20 individuals participated with www.vocesbolivianas.org, and the website for the first project El Alto I can be found at www.vocesbolivianas.org/elalto , and included individuals that wanted to show “the other side” of El Alto. There are also translation websites in Aymara aymara.vocesbolivianas.org and English english.vocesbolivianas.org

The Closing Program for El Alto I will take place:

For those people arriving from La Paz, take any mini-bus that goes to Ciudad Satelite. These go along 4th Street in the neighborhood of 12 de Octubre (see map).

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