Bolivian Voices

Columba Stettner is a blogger from Guayaramerín in the Department of Beni. She currently resides in Germany. Her degree is in World Religions and she is pursuing a Master’s degree in History and Political Science. She also has plans to return to Bolivia one day. The topics of her blog named “Guayaramerín Analitica” concentrate on providing information on the history, legends, and culture of Guayaramerín. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 40,000. She writes:

Guayaramerín was founded by the pioneers of the rubber industry in 1892 with the name Port Palmira. Between 1905 and 1915, it was named Port Sucre, but later it became known as Guayaramerín. It currently sits at 45,000 residents. It is located in the Amazon region next to the Brasilian city of Guajará-Mirim and is separated only by the majestic Mamoré River. It sits at 212 meters above sea level. Currently, Guayaramerín is a commercial center and has a spirit of a bordertown, with the cordial atmosphere of a tropical city. The people of Guayaramerín is warm like the land, its people are joyful, hard-working, who enjoy the land, its natural resources like the streams and animals.

She thinks that there are not many blogs in her city because of the high costs of internet (average of Bs. 10 per hour = $1.35 USD). In her opinion, another factor is that many Benians study in other cities and now identify more with their new cities like Santa Cruz of Cochabamba.

Bolivia currently is a deeply divided country. Differences are accentuated often through generalizations, stereotypes and through traditional media. However, when there is person-to-person contact, similarities seem to be more notable. Learning about one another and connecting has often broken down these barriers. The availability of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) make it possible for citizens from around the world to have a voice in their societies and join into the global conversation.

Voces Bolivianas will be launching its initial pilot project in the city of El Alto, a city that has an underrepresentation in the Bolivian blogosphere. Through interactive workshops, where participants wil learn to use blogs, photo, audio, and video, residents of El Alto will choose how they are represented.

This website will highlight some of the featured blog posts, photos, videos and audio of the participants. You may also find all of their entries on their personal blogs. The project begins on September 22 and will run through November 10.  There are plans for other projects in other parts of Bolivia in 2008.

The pilot program is funded by Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices Online.