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Dear All
This is our fourth newsletter to keep you up to date with what has been happening at Colonia Ecologica. It has been a very busy year for us and for them - we have been regularly updating our website blog and will continue to do so, you can see more details at www.charity-bolivia.org/blog
Wendell and Carlye, our friends and colleagues who have been working at Colonia over the last year since we left, are now back in the US. We would like to thank them for the amazing work they have done - they have set up a US branch of the charity and are busy raising money to support the higher and further education of children at Colonia once they leave school. Three of the children are already at this age - Favio, Kiko and Carmen's son, has now left Colonia and is building roads as and alternative to military service, returning to study next year. Susy and Roger are now living in their own rooms and have begun their studies. For more info and photos see the website blog. None of this would have been possible without Carlye and Wendell's help.
Year 8 students at Oxford Community School, where Claire works, have been learning all about Bolivia in their PSHE lessons - they had several assemblies and a series of 6 lesson learning about the culture and people of Bolivia as well as about the lives of the children at Colonia. This culminated in a very successful fundraising fair, where students came up with their own ideas for stalls and spent an afternoon running them for the benefit of each other and visiting Year 7 students. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and the students were fabulous. The staff were also very generous, especially in donating prizes and buying raffle tickets. Charity Bolivia would like to thank the staff and students at OCS for making this possible. In the end we raised a total of £355.52. We are hoping to follow this up with more events in the coming school year.
A major fundraising activity this year was carried out by Sarah Clelland, who ran the London Marathon for the charity after reading about us on the web. She managed to raise the amazing total of £1000 - we would like to thank her again for her efforts which are very much appreciated. For more info and photos, please see the website blog.
This money, together with the other monthly and one-off donations we have been receiving will be going towards the purchase of a new trufi (minibus) for the children. This will be used to take them to school as well as on outings such as camping trips etc. We now have enough for this purchase, which should be going ahead very soon.
In addition to this, Colonia has been receiving funding from a new source, Mark and Stefanie who visited the project last summer and who are now providing monthly funds and volunteers from Switzerland. Andrea, one of the volunteers they have sent out, has made huge contributions herself and has been keeping us all up to date. Charity Bolivia would like to give them huge thanks for all their hard work.
There has been a considerable amount of building work going on this year at the project. The Chiropractors who visit twice a year have funded the completion of the roof space rooms and SKiB, a dutch organisation, has funded the installation of solar panels for electricity. Because of the new source of funding from Switzerland, Kiko and Carmen have changed their priorities slightly; instead of simply completing the ground floor of the house, they decided to invest in a new hut which they are using for dining, to finish the elevated study hut and to build a new library to accommodate more children. The underground study hut which was prone to flooding is also almost finished.
The newest and youngest arrival at Colonia, Dario, who is now 9 months old, has been very seriously ill this year - he had meningitis and was fighting for his life in hospital, with Kiko and Carmen maintaining a vigil by his bed. Fortunately, and against the odds, he pulled through and is recovering back at Colonia. It was therefore a very trying time for Kiko and Carmen, but they say that it has only served to strengthen their personal commitment to Colonia Ecologica and to helping more children in difficult situations.
The priority now is to complete the toilet block. Thanks to Danilo and the Rotary club, temporary chemical toilets were installed earlier this year, relieving the pressure on the toilet shack they had previously, but there is still a pressing need for a permanent solution. Mark and Stephanie have raised some money so that the construction has begun, but there is not enough to complete it - washing and toilet facilities for so many children are quite expensive even in Bolivia!
Everyone at Colonia is delighted with the progress that has been made, but we are also aware that much remains to be done.
We have had some enquiries from several friends asking about making monthly donations to the charity, which will always be very much appreciated - a small amount every month from several people really will make a big difference to the lives of the children at Colonia. If you would like to make a monthly donation, the best way for you to do this from the UK is by setting up a standing order through your bank - this way we avoid any charges. the bank details are as follows;
Account name - Charity Bolivia
Sort Code - 089299
Account Number - 65149870
You can also do it online via paypal through our website, www.charity-boliva.org/uk/donate
Thank you to all of you who are already supporting us in the way.
We would like to thank you all for your continued commitment and support.
Claire and Gertjan
Charity Bolivia
(Newsletter No.4 - Sept 2006)
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