Bolivia Encuentro - March 2005

Encuentro (Spanish term meaning gathering or meeting.): CFCA gathering of staff in a region where CFCA serves. Participants share stories, methods, ideas and hopes for the future of CFCA in the region.

I wish you God’s blessings. Roughly 70 percent of my days are spent on the road in the CFCA projects around the world. I consider this a unique privilege. I am grateful for the motivation and nourishment I receive from inspiring people in each corner of the CFCA world. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the sponsors on mission awareness trips, with the inspiring children, youth, aging and our co-workers around the world. I enjoy trying to bring to life the CFCA values and policies.

Prior to leaving for Bolivia on March 11, I spent two weeks visiting CFCA subprojects in the mountains of Guatemala and Honduras: Guastatoya, El Chol, Carcha, Raxruha, Pie de la Cuesta, Ocotepeque. My wife, Cristina, fell off her horse on one of the mountain trails of Honduras. She and the horse chose a nice soft spot, so she is fine -- got back on and finished the day’s trip.

We left for Bolivia with a certain trepidation due to the insecure political situation in this troubled country. Then again, our sponsored children and their families live in Bolivia all the time. I prayed that the highways would be clear enough for our participants from the various parts of Bolivia to travel to and from the Encuentro in Cochabamba without incident.

We landed in Santa Cruz in the early morning of March 12. Santa Cruz Coordinator Tamara and her husband, Gunter, were so very thoughtful to meet us at such an hour.  We were able to rest for a couple of hours and then head out to the Viru Viru airport again to board the short flight to Cochabamba.

What a surprise we had 45 minutes later. At least 100 children and parents in full Indigenous garb were there to receive us.

We headed out to the Primero de Mayo subproject, where we have 500 children and aging sponsored.  The reception was traditionally Quechua with native band, dances, and so much confetti that we were literally chewing it. What an inspiration it is to see a CFCA community of compassion up and going, under the direction of some wonderful women religious, Hijas del Divino Salvador. These sisters seem to understand our mission. They demonstrate a capability of progressing toward our stated ends and protecting our core values. 

After the long trip, I was grateful for an early morning run in Cochabamba. I encountered plenty of early-morning revelers making their way home after a night of partying. Later in the morning, our team headed over to Tiquipaya, where we have almost 500 children sponsored. This is an integral development program, lay-based and spiritually grounded. We had a nice gathering and lunch with  Encuentro participants. Lively Bolivian folk dances at Cochabamba altitude gave everyone a good workout and served as a good mixer and warm-up for the work ahead.

We celebrate this three-day Encuentro at the Salesian novitiate. This is a tranquil place. As we ate supper and introduced all participants, we noticed the variety of nationalities represented. Also, more than half are religious sisters. We said our night prayers and said buenas noches. Beyond some mosquitoes, an otherwise restful but short night began.

I am happy to report that the Encuentro went very well. I talked about the application of CFCA Values and Policies on the ground today. Thanks to the help of Paul Pearce (Director, International Programs) in Kansas City, I was able to brighten up these presentations with beautiful photos from the projects worldwide. I also used the music of the Walking Years CD.  I feel that the response of the 110 participants was very positive.

Bob Hentzen

President and Co-founder