Hey everyone just wanted to welcome you along for The Bolivia Project continued into 2007. Unfortunately some of the old crew isn't along for the ride - Collin, Clayton, Sly and Zach will be missed. Regardless Mike and I have returned with the hope of continuing the Bolivia Project mission and determining some priorities to provide a long term project to financially support CEDESOL and eliminate IAP in Bolivia. Thanks for your all your support last year and here we go again!!!!
So, Monday we got to work and have been doing so since. Ruth showed us around both the workshops and Cedesol and Sobre La Roca have made good headway since we left in December. The $2200 our family and friends sent to Sobre la Roca in December was able to help in the distribution of 80 solar cookers to the state of Oruro in the altiplano. As a result of the international recognition Ruth and David got last fall they are continuing to push forward and look for bigger and bigger grants. As always money is tight and as the price of commodities rise in Bolivia the hoops are becoming harder to jump through. Nonetheless Dave is continuing to make the best of his agreement with the German non-governmental organization (NGO) called GTZ. He´s also competing for highly competitive grants supported by the United States EPA and wants to get involved in the carbon emission trades that are going on in Europe. As usual Dave is optimistic that we´ll continue to grow while Ruth runs around the city like a nutcase haggling over 50 centavos and keeping a completely unpredictable Bolivia as predictable as she can.
Dave and Ruth want everyone to know that your donations and the 9,000+ donated by Mike and Collin´s Bolivia Project last year have played a huge role in keeping cookers going out the door when other companies who´ve received the same grants from GTZ freeze up without the couple thousand dollar pushes we have been able to give as private donors. With the help of Ruth and Dave I`ve been trying to dive into the literature and budgets in search of how best to support Dave and Ruth´s vision to eliminate indoor air pollution in Bolivia and improve the quality of the environment. A lot of reading in Spanish and I´m doing pretty good. Reading has been better than my speaking which will take a week or so to get back to where I was when I left in December but no worries. Either way as more info continues to unfold I´ll let you know. I hope everyone is doing well and let me know what´s up. I love this country!!!!
Paz y Amor,
Chris
