Simple Facilities But Keen Hearts
Bolivia is characterized by simplicity. Transportation is simple (BOA has no first class seats!)—buses are the preferred method of getting around. Farming has been organic forever because no one has access to insecticides! Books are copied with abandon because no one can afford the price of new books—the idea of copyright is considered unjust! Cocoa is grown and chewed freely because it helps reduce the effects of altitude sickness—the drug problem exists in other countries after the cocoa is greatly altered and processed. Building facilities are generally simple, barebones, with little thought for frivolous details.
Let me give you some examples of this simplicity with some pictures from my recent teaching in Oruro:
Simple facilities! No fancy classrooms or technology–a definite absence of personal computers! Just desks, chalkboards, paper, and pens! But also keen hearts with a desire to learn! In this case simplicity wins out over complexity!
Good reminders from the heart of South America. Keeping it simple is often the best route. What is most essential is the quality of the heart or one’s desire. ‘To will one thing,’ the philosopher wrote. Another wrote, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.’ Stuff can’t replace that which is central–a passion to grow, understand, expand one’s mind!
Oruro—Church of the Miners
I have visited a lot of churches in my day—but never one with its own mine! However, this summer in Oruro I found this unique church. High in the altiplano miners still work for silver, tin, and zinc, and this church is a place of refuge for the miners and their families before they engage in the dangerous work of going underground.
The church is brightly colored and in excellent condition. Everything shines and is full of joy! In the corner is the entrance to the mine where one can descend hundreds of feet into an old mine shaft (which has now been set up as a monument/museum in honour of the miners).
The photos give a sense of the place but do not capture the stale air and the danger that that these miners faced every day—darkness, collapses, poisonous air, to name a few! No wonder that the miners had their own god set up in the cave to call out to in their moment of need (see the last photo).
For me the church has a wonderful reverence! It speaks of celebration, festivity and drinking the moment—because this moment may be the last one. It is a reminder to not get too far ahead of ourselves, for the present moment is the only one we ever really have.
Meetings Bolivia Style
I was in La Paz this past weekend to participate in a series of meetings with a group of pastors who have churches in the city centre. My own church (Weston Park Baptist) has entered into a 3 year agreement with these churches to help support them in a variety of causes. The purposes of the meeting were to meet the players and to iron out some of the details of the agreement.
What was fun was how the meeting proceeded! We met in a restaurant on the Prado during the world cup final between Spain and Holland. The pastors were all keen football fans so this event added to the excitement of the meeting. Before the meeting started we ate trout (trucha) which was caught in Lake Titikaka—quite tasty by the way! After several courses including salad, soup, trout, desert and coffee—2 hours in all we finally started the meeting!
We talked about the specifics of the project focusing on the desire for a ’social needs’ aspect of the effort. The pastors were in agreement for this new directive but needed more time to decide what the project would encompass. This discussion lasted for 2 more hours—total 4 hours!
A few things impressed me about this gathering: 1. A bit distracting but a great idea to hold it during the world cup final (hooray for Espana due to my Bolivian sympathies)! 2. Holding a meeting over supper made for a casual and informal discussion (no wine but the expressos were reasonable). 3. The meeting was considerably longer than the North American equivalents but the results were significant. It struck me that our commitment to efficiency, short meetings, and a utilitarian approach (which seeks clear strategies) does not always create the best scenario for the softer side of design/project management to occur.
So let’s hear it for human connection! Meetings over meals! Less rush! Effective listening!—and of course the sound of gooooooal in the background (which only the Spanish announcers do properly!) reminding us that our projects happen in the real world where real people live. In other words let’s stay grounded, make a difference and do it in a manner which supports each other’s God given humanity!
Three Verbs To Conjugate
During this past week I traveled with a colleague high up into the Altiplano to the city of Oruro. The city sits at about 14,000 feet and is a centre for mining. It has enjoyed this reputation ever since the Spanish explorers came in the 16th century in their search for gold and silver. They found plenty of it in Potosi and Oruro.
My purpose for the trip wasn’t to go traveling (although I did visit and explore an ancient mine), but to teach a 3-day course on the Book of Ephesians to a group of students and pastors at the Baptist Seminary in Oruro. This was my first course to teach in Spanish so I was a bit apprehensive. However, all went well and the students seemed to understand my Castellano which is the name they use instead of Spanish (they like to distance themselves from the Spanish conquistadores).
What struck me by this group of students was their keenness and attentiveness. They came for 5 hours a day (3 days for a total of 15 hours) of instruction on an ancient text of St. Paul. They were happy to be there and were ready to learn!
Their focus reminded me of a line from Evelyn Underhill who says there are three verbs to conjugate in this life: (1) ‘to have’, (2) ‘to do’, and (3) ‘to be’. She argues that we spend a lot of time conjugating the first two verbs and forget the most important verb–’to be’! It seemed to me as I interacted with these students that they understood this truth. There are not a lot of opportunities for ‘doing’ in Oruro and certainly not much ‘having’ in the Altiplano–but they had hooked into the importance of being!
I was humbled by their approach to life. It reminded me how much time we in the north place on having and doing and rather less on being. We spend a lot of time consuming and pursuing our career objectives and forget the fundamental importance of ‘What kind of individual am I becoming’?
So a big thank you to my students in Oruro! A good reminder from a city 3 miles high–a bit of heaven shining through the human overcast of wanting and achieving. Being is the most important verb to conjugate. We want to become what we are fully capable of becoming–mature, authentic, integrated beings who understand that having and doing can’t replace the quality of our being!
What Touches You?
The Bolivians are crazy about the world cup! They follow every match regardless of who is playing, and go especially ‘loco’ when one of the South American teams are on the pitch—especially Brazil or Argentina! Bolivia doesn’t have a team in the tournament, but it doesn’t matter—they just love the ‘beautiful game.’ It touches their heart! It’s their passion!
Interestingly, from a biblical perspective whatever touches you most deeply is your passion. You can say whatever you want but your passion is what touches you hardest. It could be football, money, career, fame or even a relationship. It could be something helpful or it could be destructive, like Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler, who abuses his body for the adulation of the match (I have time for a little movie watching too in Bolivia!).
What is your passion? What really touches you? Football, hockey, the Max? Where is God in this question? Is there a desire for his touch? It is a personal query that only you can answer. Do I know myself–do I know my passion, do I know what touches me? Once we have honestly identified our passion, we can evaluate its worth. And that bit of knowledge, my friends, can have seismic changes in each of our lives.
A New Point Of Reference
I had an interesting conversation with Maria Elena who is on staff with Compassion Bolivia, an organization providing meals, education, training for some 50,000 Bolivian children and youth who otherwise receive very little help from anyone. She was thanking a group of volunteers who had come from Sackville, New Brunswick to help in the services to the younger children. She addressed the question of the value of their effort in the great scheme of things. Wouldn’t it be more useful to simply send a money draft to Compassion? Her immediate response was ’No! It is far better that you come and be with the children!’
As we chatted she explained her reason for her dogmatic assertion: ’Your presence helps to give the children a new point of reference. They live in a world of few opportunities. They simply follow in the paths they see before them—shining shoes, selling trinkets or food, working in the fields or the mines. When you come you present the children with a new point of reference. Your words, letters, and encouragement help them to look beyond their limitations and see new possibilities.’
A powerful insight! How we all need ‘points of reference’ that lead us into greater visions—to dream of expansive opportunities. The Bolivian children need these ‘points of references’ but so do we who often live with truncated goals and diminishing aspirations.
So two questions for you: (1) What are your points of reference? What leads you ‘farther up and farther in’ as voiced by C.S.Lewis? (2) Are you a ‘point of reference’ for someone else? Maybe your words, expression of love or guidance make the difference and help someone to see new possibilities and dream greater dreams?
I thanked Maria Elena for her comments and for her encouragement (it’s a long way to Cochabamba if a cheque is actually better!). Points of reference? Sign posts on the way that lead us into fecundity and joy. We all need them! Wherever we are! Whatever country we call home!
Changing Speeds In Santa Cruz
My journey to Bolivia begins with a routine flight to Miami, a six hour wait, then a normal but long overnight flight to La Paz. Upon landing the security crew boards the plane and checks each seat with precision before we proceed to Santa Cruz. Then I experience my first Bolivian left turn: the flight to Cochabamba has been rescheduled. The six hour wait has quickly turned into twelve. Not fun.
After some consideration I decide to take a taxi into Santa Cruz and make the best of my delay by enjoying the sites of the ‘plaza mayor’ in the city centre. I end up visiting the old cathedral off the plaza—which I might add boasts a fabulous wooden decorated ceiling; watching part of the Portugal/Ivory Coast football match over a fine cup of coffee; meandering the veranda covered stores surrounding the plaza; and having lunch at the Irish bar overlooking the palm tree covered square (the Irish are present everywhere!).
Sudden left turns. No warning. What do we do with them? How do we receive the changing day? With frustration? Anger? Depression? Or do we make the left turn and see where it takes us…maybe to a new place, a new experience otherwise missed? A change of plan can often be redeemed—’redeeming the time’—a biblical principle often ignored in our proactive, day timer laden society.
The surprising moment, a sudden left turn—a ’gift’ if we have the eyes to see?
Bolivia Beckons
Over the past number of years I have been spending a month or more in the beautiful country of Bolivia. Landlocked (not so good for an avid scuba diver), but a country graced with a myriad of beauties other than the ocean. Here are a few photos which demonstrate some if its gifts:
This coming week I leave for the city of Cochabamba which is in the central plateau area of Bolivia. It has a marvellous climate of warm (humidity free) days and cool evenings for sleeping. From this place one can drive down the mountainside and enter the rain forest in 4 hours or drive across the high plateau to the snowy peaks of La Paz in 6 hours.
Happily I will be missing the swagger of the G20 conference in Toronto during these weeks…enjoying instead the simplicity of a forgotten country. I will be reminded (as I am year after year) that there is a world not dominated by English, international financial systems, and North American fast food outlets (actually there is one Burger King in Cochabamba, but that hardly counts!).
Gracias a Bolivia para tu simplicidad y tu descanso a mi alma. Gracias! (Thank you Bolivia for your simplicity and rest for my soul. Thank you!)
Seeing Anahilt
Roots. Where does one come from? This question led me back to Ireland, specifically to the town of Hillsborough located some 30 miles outside the city of Belfast in the country of Ulster. I travelled to Anahilt Presbyterian Church established in 1667 and walked around the graveyard connected to the church. There lay the grey granite gravestone—’The Family Grave of James Davey, Belfast’ and the bones of my grandparents, great grandparents and various uncles and aunts of previous generations—young and old. The surrounding area is still rural Ireland. Cows still graze across from the churchyard and the rolling hills have not changed from the days of my great grandfather.
I am reminded of Annie Dillard’s book ‘For The time Being’ where she reminds us that all of us have ‘our time under the sun.’ Make sure you live your moments under the sun because they are limited and not to be wasted. They are precious gifts to be received as holy moments. I think all the members of my family grave in Anahilt would say a rousing ‘Amen!’ to that one!…whispering to all who hear: ‘Live, enjoy, receive, give thanks. Take nothing for granted. Drink your cup to the very last drop!’
This week my suggestion is to be aware of your time under the sun. Receive it all as blessing—whatever your circumstances. You are in the extreme minority of persons who are now living and breathing; conscious beings who can say ‘yes’ and make a difference in the land of the living. No small thing! An exclusive group!
Say ‘Yes!’ Breathe deeply! Listen to your own Anahilt!
