VOC, Inc.. founder, Roxana Bowgen, participated in this overseas project to aid the poverty-stricken people of Chochabamba, a Bolivian city of about one million residents. Less than twenty years ago the population totaled about one hundred thousand.

In a two week period a team of seventeen members completed a church school yard at the Community Center of Bethel, a suburb of Cochabamba. Cement was mixed and poured, fencing was put up, lines were painted for courts, land was cleared for new construction and a bathroom painted. Land was cleared of debris and landscaped. The fencing was to deter small school children from running into the busy road and into a toxic waste area adjacent to the center.

The volunteers interacted with the local children daily during vacation school. Some members taught, translated and worked with the youngsters while others worked with the adults in physical labor.

The group met with three womens groups who are trying to become financially independent. Many of these women are single mothers whose husbands have left them to provide alone for their children. Through cottage industries such as sewing and baking these women sell their products to raise money. Some of the hand-sewn items were brought back to the United States by the team for sale. The proceeds were returned to the women so they could buy sewing machines and ovens.

During the stay in Bolivia, four members from the team, including Roxana Bowgen, were selected to participate in a fact-finding mission to reach an isolated Andean community, Sajpaya, whose population is suffering from a disease called Chagas. The entire village over two-year olds is infected. The Chagas disease is caused by the bite of an insect about one-half inch long that lives and thrives in thatched roofs and mud walls.

The purpose of the fact finding mission was to identify the number of families in the village and to set up mechanisms for rebuilding their homes with materials that will eliminate the insect from their homes.

Along with two translators, the four volunteers met with the village elders. The dialect spoken in this region of the country is called Quechua, an aborigine dialect leftover from the Inca days. An English/Spanish translator was needed as well as a Spanish/Quechua translator.

Sixty families make up the village of Sajpaya. Twenty one have signed up to participate in the rebuilding project that is estimated will take four to six months. The rest of the families hope to sign up when they can raise the funds to register for the program.

In order for homeowners to participate in the refurbishing, they must raise about $150 USDLRS with the balance of the funds coming from State and private donations. This represents an enormous sum of money for a population who feeds on local fruits and must walk about three hours to the nearest trading village. Upon returning home to the United States the volunteers that visited Sajpaya brought back the news to their congregations and managed to secure donations in the thousands of dollars toward this effort.

The refurbishing/rebuilding of this community is for the next generation. The current population will not see the entire village converted from thatched roofs to tin roofs and from mud walls to stucco overlays. Their days are numbered…

The two week long service in Bolivia afforded the American team the opportunity to eat meals with the local population, learn new building skills and share in worship with the community. The team successfully completed this project.

Before leaving the country the group identified a new building project in the town of Piedra Viva, a nearby community from Bethel.