Wednesday 2 April 2008

Paula - A Librarian Volunteer

I came to Cochabamba in July 2003 and haven't left! The city is small and cosmopolitan, it doesn't have many tourists which makes it a nice place to be as a foreigner. It is an easy city to live in, safe, a lot of fun places to hang out and wonderful people.

Bolivia itself continues to surprise me, even after almost 5 years. If you are interested in travel then it's the perfect place as there is so much to see (Here´s me - second from the left - visiting Torotoro national park on a trip organized by Javier and Bolivia Cultura travel).

I knew nothing about Bolivia before I came here and I kind of preferred it that way as I wanted to discover it for myself. I guess I probably would have liked to understand the political situation a little more as within 3 months the government fell and I didn't believe anything the Australian government or press was telling me as it wasn't based in the reality I was witnessing. I would recommend these sites to read if you are interested:

www.upsidedownworld.org
www.democracyctr.org/blog
www.nickbuxton.info

www.boliviatransitionprojecti.org

and if you can get your hands on John Pilgers documentary "The War on Democracy" I would see that.

In terms of Volunteer Bolivia as far as my experience is concerned, nothing but positive. Although I didn't live with a family I have lots of friends who have and had wonderful experiences, and there was no problem with them going out late or organising other things to do, you just have to tell them and be upfront with them about what you expect and what you want.

What I can tell you about is the Spanish school and the volunteer experience. Cochabamba is a great place to learn Spanish because the Bolivian accent is easy to understand and people are very patient with you. I took lessons at another school for the first 2 years here and then changed and noticed the difference immediately. The school has some of the best teachers in the city, they tailor your classes to what you want to do and learn so you set the agenda. I learnt so much in a short time there that I cant recommend them highly enough.

Volunteering literally changed my life. The great thing about VB is that they work only with very small projects which have
little or no outside help so you don't feel like you are swamped by huge NGOs and usually you are the only volunteer and you are really in the community. I'm a librarian so through VB I started volunteering in a small public library. After about 2 years of doing this I'm now working with a network of public libraries, founded during that time, to train librarians, find funding for resources and doing reading programs. So my life has taken quite a dramatic turn.

Both Lee and Javier have been a huge support to me, emotionally, professionally and personally. I'm independently working now and am outside the program but could not be doing what I am doing without the support they gave and still give me.

VB cares a lot about Bolivia and, more than other organisations, put a lot back into the country. Your experience here will be positive if you are prepared to be challenged and take what ever comes. The homestay option will help your Spanish enormously and you will get to see another side of Bolivia you wont get to see anywhere else.

Paula