Four Little Angels

Wednesday was a bad day, at least I think that crying at work counts as a bad day. The details aren't really important, mostly just a lot of little things piled up. I was tandem teaching a cooking class with a nutritionist from Guatemala and just had to leave the room and try to compose myself on a bench outside. Because the class was in the bakery, my women were baking off site. As I was sitting there thinking all kinds of negative thoughts like "I want to go home...to Cochabamba...to the US...just somewhere away from here" and "What am I doing here?!?" etc, I looked outside and saw and image that instantly changed my attitude. Like a little Bolivian SWAT team, the four women I work with came through the door laughing and carrying their wares. They deposited their goods and set to work getting me the things I needed for my portion of the class. I perked up instantly and all my troubles were long gone. I was back in the bakery and made room for one of the women, Victoria, to sit down and she looked at me, with a big smile, and said "No, I am going to help you" I knew then what I was there for and why I make that long commute to work everyday. These four women have touched my heart so much more than I thought was possible. They are beautiful people and deserve so much better than what they've been dealt. I think I will remember the image of them coming through the door and how it made me feel as one of the best moments in my mission. More, it was a moment of recognition to what mission really is.

Uspha Uspha has no running water so water is delivered by trucks once a week. A barrel like the one pictured below costs 4 Bs to fill, approximately 35 cents. It is a price that most people can afford and all the women that I work with have one for their house. That being said, a lot of the women do their laundry in the river at the bottom of the hill (at least an hour walk from their houses) because they have large families and need the delivered water for drinking and cooking. The water isn't purified but I've seen people stick a cup into the barrel and drink directly out of it. I have learned a lot about conserving water during my time in the bakery, especially when it comes to cleaning. I'll try to take pictures of our process to illustrate.

The water trunk making it's way through the neighborhood to make more deliveries.

The colored cloth pictured below is called aguyo and is made out of very sturdy and thick thread. The women here use these aguyos to carry everything from produce to their children. The woman pictured below works almost the entire day with her son on her back.