CDP
Library Connects Students with Literature
The
community of Ravelo is a place where children are traditionally
not accustomed to love schoolwork. This is a result of the mentality
of a zone where fatalism is widespread and a pessamistic worldview
affects the development of the area at all levels. May people
believe that education begins and ends by learning to add and
subtract. After that, children are needed in the fields to help
with the crops and with herding the few animals that the family
owns.
In
the year 2003, when the Child Development Program of FHI-Bolivia
entered the community, a small library was inaugurated. Children
began to attend it with interest. In the beginning the children
used to attend the library just to play with the games it has.
Now they attend it in order to read books, Bible related materials,
poetry and more.
An
interesting fact is that girls attend the library more than boys.
In a culture where the participation of girls has been systematically
neglected, it is very revealing that girls love to attend the
library to read and learn more.
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86
CDP Children Paricipate in Celebrations for the Day of Bolivia
Eighty-six
CDP children participated in a contest of folkloric dances of
Bolivia which was organized by the school Manuel Ascencio Segura
of Ravelo, the office for the Defense of the Children of the Municipality
of Ravelo and the Child Development Program of FHI-Bolivia. The
purpose of the participation of the CDP children was to thank
God for one more year that He has given us and to share the beauty
of the artistic expressions which define Bolivia’s culture.
The
location of the event was the school of Ravelo. Many of the dances
of Bolivia were presented but the predominant were those that
identify the North of the Department of Potosi. These traditional
dances help illustrate the struggles, triumphs, and ideals of
the area. The 6th of August, which is set aside as the National
Day of Bolivia, 86 children of the Child and Youth Coalition participated
and had a wonderful afternoon.
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Meet Sofia and
Celia: Two Volunteers Making a Difference
Sofia
Amajaya and Celia Carmona are the names of two girls that are
enjoying volunteer work in the Child Development office in Ravelo.
They are very happy because they are being trained to become Sunday
School teachers and to become community strategists that will
help enhance the development of Ravelo.
The
volunteer work that Sofia and Celia do begins at 8:00 in the morning.
They help the CDP library by organizing and maintaining the books
and games and helping the little ones who come to do their homework.
Besides this they need to spend one hour reading any book that
they want in the library. When they finish the reading they present
a report to the FHI staff in Ravelo. They need to explain what
was that they understood from their reading and what benefit they
received through it.
This
activity has produced changes in Sofía and Celia. Eleuteria,
a friend of Sofía says: "Sofia used to be very disobedient
to her mother and used to respond her in very bad manners. We
didn´t like this conduct of Sofía. Now she helps
her mother, and has changed. All of us are encouraged by this
change and want to attend the CDP activities."
Zulma,
a friend of Celia says: "Celia has changed in a incredible
manner. Some time ago one of her friends spoke lies about her.
She went and grabbed her in the school. We thought that there
was going to be a fight because we knew that Celia is very violent.
But Celia said to that girl, ´I could do damage to you but
there is a God in heaven that is watching us´. The girl
stopped talking about Celia. All of us have been very surprised
with the changes we've seen in her."attitude
of C
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300 Children Brighten
the Day for Community Members
Every
Sunday morning the children of Ravelo gather for their weekly
meeting as the Child Coalition. Because the number of children
involved is so large, there is no room where they can meet. Instead
of a room, they meet in the main plaza of Ravelo.
Community
members were accustomed to children getting into trouble on weekends
for lack of healthy activities with which they could be involved.
Now, however, they see the children gather together to sing, listen
to speeches, do games and more, every Sunday. The community is
encouraged with the changes.
One
of the last Sundays people of the community were attending mass
in the Catholic Church that is located in the main plaza of the
community, where they were remembering the death of one of the
respected members of the community. They were very sad. At the
time when they finished and begun to leave the church, they found
that large group of 300 children running around the square. It
was an uplifting sight for the attendees and helped changed their
sorrow for smiles and good comments about what FHI is doing in
the community.
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School
attendance jumps from 64% to 94%
A
very important increase in the school attendance in Ravelo from
64% in year 2003 to 94%, motivated the authorities to wonder what
has happened during the last year so that children have now more
interest in education.
The
traditional attitude towards education in Ravelo, like in any
of the rural communities of Bolivia, is to place it as low priority.
Fathers normally think that if their boys finish elementary school,
it is more than enough. If girls learn to add and substract, that
is sufficient. A logic consequence is that attending school used
to be an activity of less importance for everyone.
But
that has changed. According to the teachers Teodoro Flores, Yolanda
Huayllani and Cresencia Jancko, the presence of the CDP program
of FHI in Ravelo has been the motivator because there are always
good activities carried out, like video showings, poetry contests,
school reinforcement and more.
The
CDP staff in Ravelo recognize that this is not the result of the
action of a group of people, but the merciful intervention of
God, who uses His people to do His work.
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Poetry
Contest Awakens Interest in the Arts
A
poetry contest organized by the CDP of Ravelo provoked an unexpected
interest in the small city of Ravelo and helped people realize
that there is big potential in their children for fine arts.
Teodoro
Flores, Literature teacher of Ravelo expressed that the poetry
contest had totally unexpected results as he saw children and
teenagers work to be prepared in such a manner, both in the FHI
office and in the school, that they even used video to watch themselves
and improve.
“I
could not believe what I was seeing because I had tried to organize
an activity such as this in the past and no one paid attention.
The interest was such that even the shyer children decided to
participate,” expressed Professor Flores.
“This
activity motivated the interest of all the community; many did
not even know what poetry was,” said Flores.
“The
level of concentration and dedication to this activity was enormous.
Some children who had decided to ignore it wanted to register
the last day when the event was already starting. At certain point
nearly all members of the community were present. It was striking,”
concluded teacher Teodoro Flores.
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