Cochabamba, Bolivia

In the summer of 2012, Building Bridges volunteers traveled to the outskirts of Cochabama, Bolivia to help construct a job training facility.  The facility will be used to train Bolivians from rural villages how to use water irrigation and reservoirs in their communities to grow vegetables and other crops.   Our partner in Bolivia was Mano a Mano, a US-based non-profit which has been working in Bolivia since 1994, and has built 127 medical clinics, 44 schools, and 160 water-related projects.

Throughout the one week project, the group worked hand in hand with Mano a Mano staff and had the opportunity to visit a number of communities where irrigation projects were in use by local farmers.  Volunteers visited the rural village of Ucuchi, where volunteers worked on helping to complete a water reservoir and also visited fields that were irrigated by the project.

Volunteers also spent time at a school in the mountain town of Sancayani, where the group attended classes, taught students and played schoolyard games of soccer and basketball.  Building Bridges is currently working on planning a follow up project in Sancayani.

We chose to help Bolivia because it is South America’s poorest country, with 70% of its 8.6 million inhabitants living in poverty and 25% who are malnourished. Its indigenous population, over 50% of the total, are routinely discriminated against and are among the poorest. The average adult has had fewer than four years of schooling.

Thank you to all of our donors that made this project possible and helped to provide hope for people in the rural areas of Bolivia.