Bolivian Voices

The magazine “Américas” of the Organization of American States (OAS) recently published a short article about Voces Bolivianas in its October 2008 issue. Reporter Chris Hardman interviewed Eduardo Ávila about the project’s goals and about its plans for the future. The article also provided examples of some of the new bloggers such as Marisol Medina.

On a Saturday morning in El Alto, Bolivia, a group of men and women intensely watch the computer screens at the Internet Café Scorpio. Some of the users have never had access to the internet and now they are learning to write mesages, digital photograhy and video techniques, tools necessary to have a voice within the global online conversation that is the Internet.

(…)

“I think the internet can be a great equalizer, as it can connect people that may not normally interact offline,” says Eduardo Ávila, the director of the program.

To see a scan of the article please click here.

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.

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.