The Bolivia team is working with Ceoli in country. This NGO works with local children and young adults in Cochabamba who have intellectual disabilities to provide an education, physical therapy services, and fun events at a community pool. Ronald from Ceoli is remarkable in terms of how much he is able to put on basically as a one man show. It is so evident from the way he speaks about his students and his team that he is truthfully, deeply passionate about Ceoli’s mission. He was very clear in our call about what he wanted from us as he knows his people and how best to support them. I admire that about him. The portions of our project that I will be working on are professional development supports for teachers, assistance in developing new lesson plans, and marketing materials. I am headed to Bolivia with a binder of resources that I have translated for the teachers and plan to ask them about their thoughts on them as well as what else they might need that we might have easier access to finding as we live in the US. The services Ceoli provides are essential to the Cochabamba community because there simply is no one else providing them.
It is estimated that 15% of Bolivians have some form of disability, which is over 1.5 million people. To make things even more difficult, very few buildings and streets are accessible by wheelchair. 75% of disabled Bolivians are without work, compared to 44% of non-disabled Bolivians. This feeds into the cycle of poverty for disabled people and means that many go without necessary health care. Half of the disabled population cannot afford health care, compared to a third of non-disabled people. People with disabilities are more than twice as likely to find health-care providers’ skills inadequate; nearly three times more likely to be denied health care; and four times more likely to report being treated badly by medical staff than non-disabled people. Children with disabilities are less likely to attend school than non-disabled children. In Bolivia, about 98% of non-disabled children go to school, compared to less than 40% of disabled children.
In Bolivia, individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities often face significant societal challenges. Cultural constructs and a lack of information contribute to stereotypes and prejudices, leading to social exclusion. Disabilities are sometimes perceived through a lens of superstition or viewed as a burden on families, which can result in isolation and neglect. Most teachers and police are not trained on how to work with people with disabilities. Poverty exacerbates these issues, as many individuals with disabilities lack access to necessary resources and opportunities. The lack of inclusive infrastructure and specialized services further marginalizes people with disabilities, preventing them from fully participating in society. Ceoli is one of the organizations that is providing these specialized services to help people with intellectual disabilities to be able to integrate themselves more into society, and where possible, take care of themselves and have a job.
Our main in-country tasks are to communicate with the teachers, get content for marketing materials, and to see the pool and competing pools. We want to watch the teachers deliver a lesson to better understand the kind of lessons that they give and what resources we could look for to offer them. We want to conduct interviews with the teachers to hear about their professional development as well as what extra support they are looking for. We have a few designs on Canva built out to show Ronald, but would like his feedback on them as well as time to work on more for him while we are there. One of the largest parts of our project is to aid Ronald in advertising the services of the pool. To have a better understanding of what these services are, we are going to visit the pool and hopefully be able to talk to some of the users of it to understand what it is that they enjoy about the pool and why they choose that one over and over.
I think the biggest challenge will be time. We have been prepped to know that Bolivians operate off of a much more flexible schedule than we are used to in the States. For example, when we were given our itinerary, it did not have times on it. For those of us going who are used to operating on a timeline, it might be tough to go with the flow when we are thinking about all of the things that we still want and need to do. It is nice to know that we will have at least 4 visits with Ceoli while we are in-country to be able to do what we need to know, so we should have plenty of time if we use our time well.
One of my favorite readings so far was “Points of Discomfort: Reflections on Power and Partnerships in International Service Learning” by Erin K Sharpe and Samantha Dear at Brock University. We had a really nice conversation in class talking about how to navigate points of discomfort. I know that I have a tendency to retreat into myself when I do something that might be embarrassing or if I mess up in any kind of way. Talking about the portion of the article where the Canadian students brought up the point of discomfort with the Cubans and the Cubans laughed at what they had done made me feel better. My takeaway was that as long as we act with the best intentions, respect, and transparency, we should be able to maintain positive rapport with our hosts. It is ok to mess up in small ways if we own up to the mistake and work to repair it honestly.
The course readings and country presentations have prepared us well for the trip. I am absolutely elated to be leaving soon and trust that we are prepared to act in the way that will best serve our client and the local community.
