Despite all the best laid out plans, something inevitably will go wrong in a business trip to three countries with countless pre-arranged meetings. Julia Nelson and Linda Hveem were set to depart on a three week adventure to Mexico, Bolivia and Peru on June 1 but were delayed due to a hold up with their Bolivian visas. The Bolivian consulate in Houston ran out of visa stickers! This frustrating news also shed some light on potential differences in business efficiency between the U.S. and business conducted in Latino America. The delay caused them to miss the Mexican Writing Workshop in the city of Xalapa in the state of Veracruz on June 3, 2010. The workshop was organized jointly by Project WET, United Nations (UN) Human Settlements Program (also known as UN-Habitat), UNESCO, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Fortunately, Project WET’s Mexican partners at UN Habitat were able to conduct the workshop in their absence. The workshop gathered suggestions from local teachers and government officials in the ministries of education, health and environment in order to customize educational materials on the topic of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for the state of Veracruz, Mexico.
Despite delays in obtaining their Bolivian visas, Linda and Julia left on time from Mexico City for Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Saturday, June 5, 2010. They were greeted on Sunday by their partner from UN-Habitat Bolivia, Claudia Vargas, who took them for a traditional Bolivian lunch and a tour of the city center and plaza with her family. It was a wonderful welcome to Bolivia!
After numerous meetings with government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Monday, Julia, Linda and Claudia flew to La Paz, Bolivia. The airport for La Paz is in the city of El Alto at approximately 14,000 feet. The city of La Paz sits down the “hill” at a mere 12,000 feet. However, as mountain women from Bozeman, MT, Julia and Linda had no problem adapting to the high altitude (except for the 3rd flight of stairs at their hotel where both have arrived at their rooms wheezing daily). La Paz is a beautiful city located in the Andes Mountains with streets that climb from 12,000 feet in elevation to 14,000 feet.
Project WET’s meetings with government officials and NGOs in La Paz were both productive and informative. The municipal government of La Paz took Julia, Linda, and Claudia on tours of several schools in poor neighborhoods to see new sanitation facilities built by the government to and get a feel of the school units in La Paz. Some schools have as many as 3000 children throughout the day, divided into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions.
On June 9, 2010 Project WET conducted a Writing Workshop with 25 participants from various organizations including the government sectors of water and heath, NGOs, teachers, and education specialists. The workshop demonstrated Project WET’s pedagogy through participation in Project WET activities from the Healthy Habits, Healthy Water, Healthy People guide, and gathered suggestions from local participants to adapt guide for use in Bolivia. The workshop was successful with a high demand for Project WET materials (Linda and Julia did not have enough materials to meet the demands of the participants!).
On Thursday, June 10, Linda and Julia will visit schools and projects implemented by UN Habitat and Plan International in Patacamaya, a town in the Altiplano of Bolivia. Friday, they depart for Peru and will continue their journey, spreading Project WET’s educational materials about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene to more countries in South America.
No comments:
Post a Comment