Watts Happenings in Bolivia 5 August 11, 2005
Dear Friends and Family,
Can you believe that we´ve been here for over 5 weeks already?¿? We´re quite settled into life here in Bolivia and have our routines.
I have finished weeding the library !¡! - well, at least finished those things that were catalogued and on the shelves - there are still stacks of old newspapers and magazines and English novels that need sorting and throwing out, but I´ll work on that bit by bit. The important thing was to get the catalogue cleaned up. Raul, our computer wiz, has gotten Windows 2003 from somewhere (I don´t ask too many questions) and now the Follett library programme is installed and I´m cataloguing like a mad fiend (or relatively pleasant Christian!). My hope (prayer request alert!!) is that by Feburary, when this term ends, I´ll have most of the catalogue on the computer and have enough Spanish that I´ll be able to train someone on the Follett programme. I am hoping that they will be able to hire a Bolivian - not just a student - to take over. A library needs a librarian that sticks around for a while to see it develop.
Carachipampa High School
Anna is having a much more happy time. Her friend Rachel Fuller, whom she had been emailing is now back from Canada and they´ve already had a sleepover at our place. Anna had to go out to Carachipampa school to write a Math exam and some sort of English evaluation. She was worried because she didn't remember doing multiplying with negatives (no, I don´t either!) in grade 7 and that was on the test, but I´m sure she did fine.There she met Rachel Fuller, whom she had been emailing and is now back from Canada.
On last Friday night we had a couple of families from the English congregation at Calama for supper (very tasty - supper not the families!). I acheived a chocolate cheese cake in our strange gas oven (ever tried to mix cheese cake batter in a blender?)! It turned out that both husbands were engineers. Saul, who is a semi-retired prof at the university here (the 2nd PHD they had in the engineering dept) has spent a lot of time travelling around the country giving speeches about what uses Bolivia´s natural gas could be put to, rather than giving it away to the international companies (from Spain, France and Brazil) - gas (which everyone uses to cook with), deisel, plastics, fertilizer, etc. As he told the people:"My students know how to make these things". His wife said that one of the reasons there was the political unrest this spring is because Saul had made the speeches and people now know what could be done with the gas, if the polititians weren't pocketing kickbacks from the international companies. Saul asked Kent if he thought a Christian should be involved in politics. He has been asked to run for the elected Senate as an independent. Isn´t that exciting? Election is in Nov. sometime so please keep that in your prayers. Someone said that Bolivia is a beggar sitting on a throne of gold. She has wonderful natural resources (gas, tin, copper, silver, gold, iron ore, etc.), the people are hard workers, but because of political mismanagement Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, the people have the shortest life expectancy and the highest deathrate amongst newborns.
Last Sunday Anna played her clarninet and I sang and played the guitar for communion. I love it when we do music stuff together! It reminds me of being a kid and Mom on the pump organ, Carter on guitar and Johnson on mouth organ and accordian (I got to hold up the mouth organ). I wonder if we can learn `Petty Harbour Bait Skiff´ (it would speed up giving out communion!)?
God is good and we are glad to be here in Bolivia serving Him.
Blessings and Love,
Susan Watts
Can you believe that we´ve been here for over 5 weeks already?¿? We´re quite settled into life here in Bolivia and have our routines.
I have finished weeding the library !¡! - well, at least finished those things that were catalogued and on the shelves - there are still stacks of old newspapers and magazines and English novels that need sorting and throwing out, but I´ll work on that bit by bit. The important thing was to get the catalogue cleaned up. Raul, our computer wiz, has gotten Windows 2003 from somewhere (I don´t ask too many questions) and now the Follett library programme is installed and I´m cataloguing like a mad fiend (or relatively pleasant Christian!). My hope (prayer request alert!!) is that by Feburary, when this term ends, I´ll have most of the catalogue on the computer and have enough Spanish that I´ll be able to train someone on the Follett programme. I am hoping that they will be able to hire a Bolivian - not just a student - to take over. A library needs a librarian that sticks around for a while to see it develop.
Carachipampa High School
Anna is having a much more happy time. Her friend Rachel Fuller, whom she had been emailing is now back from Canada and they´ve already had a sleepover at our place. Anna had to go out to Carachipampa school to write a Math exam and some sort of English evaluation. She was worried because she didn't remember doing multiplying with negatives (no, I don´t either!) in grade 7 and that was on the test, but I´m sure she did fine.There she met Rachel Fuller, whom she had been emailing and is now back from Canada.
On last Friday night we had a couple of families from the English congregation at Calama for supper (very tasty - supper not the families!). I acheived a chocolate cheese cake in our strange gas oven (ever tried to mix cheese cake batter in a blender?)! It turned out that both husbands were engineers. Saul, who is a semi-retired prof at the university here (the 2nd PHD they had in the engineering dept) has spent a lot of time travelling around the country giving speeches about what uses Bolivia´s natural gas could be put to, rather than giving it away to the international companies (from Spain, France and Brazil) - gas (which everyone uses to cook with), deisel, plastics, fertilizer, etc. As he told the people:"My students know how to make these things". His wife said that one of the reasons there was the political unrest this spring is because Saul had made the speeches and people now know what could be done with the gas, if the polititians weren't pocketing kickbacks from the international companies. Saul asked Kent if he thought a Christian should be involved in politics. He has been asked to run for the elected Senate as an independent. Isn´t that exciting? Election is in Nov. sometime so please keep that in your prayers. Someone said that Bolivia is a beggar sitting on a throne of gold. She has wonderful natural resources (gas, tin, copper, silver, gold, iron ore, etc.), the people are hard workers, but because of political mismanagement Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, the people have the shortest life expectancy and the highest deathrate amongst newborns.
Last Sunday Anna played her clarninet and I sang and played the guitar for communion. I love it when we do music stuff together! It reminds me of being a kid and Mom on the pump organ, Carter on guitar and Johnson on mouth organ and accordian (I got to hold up the mouth organ). I wonder if we can learn `Petty Harbour Bait Skiff´ (it would speed up giving out communion!)?
God is good and we are glad to be here in Bolivia serving Him.
Blessings and Love,
Susan Watts
posted by Bibliomaniac | 6:50 a.m.
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