Oblivious to Bolivia, Not...

I read a quote somewhere - Micheal Jordan (Not the RCMP Member) said that there were 3 kinds of people -"those that wished something would happen, those that wanted something to happen and those that made something happen" - My boss John O, definitely belongs to that third group.

For the past 10 days my boss and a group of Canadians have been down in Bolivia, spreading the good fortune that many of us as Canadians take for granted - the goal of the trip was to help out some local Bolivian service organizations and they attempt to serve one of the world's youngest and poorest populations. They are on their way home tomorrow, but have been located in the city of Cochabamba, which is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with a metropolitan population of more than 800,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qhocha, or swamp, and pampa, or open plain. Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known throughout South America as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its warm temperatures year round and abundant well kept parks.

He has kept all of us at work updated on the daily activities and they maintain a blog from Cochabamba when they can, here is the link.

Giving to others is a way of life for some, and unnatural to others - people would actually consider taking a week off of work to go south and lie on a beach, sipping cocktails and going for the occasional swim. Very few (probably not enough) would consider taking a week off work, paying thousands of dollars to fly into the poorest of the poor South American countries, to spend a week doing hard labour helping the helpless build a better life. People do it all of the time, no matter what their age, it's more dependant on the size of their heart.

As Canadians we are a privileged lot, there are services that exist here to take care of the poor, the disenfranchised, the mentally ill - we're not a third world country, we have low unemployment and you don't have to get any shots to come to Canada. We owe allot of these things that we take for granted, as well as the high esteem that we are held internationally, to those that serve this country by going abroad and protecting those that need it.

They say that "ignorance is bliss" - well that bliss came crashing down in the last couple weeks in our neighbourhood - We've lost 8 of our brave soldiers over in Afghanistan. They are over there trying to improve the world for the citizens there, a world that more closely resembles something off of Star Wars rather than anything you'd ever see in Geary - But just like the group that is in Bolivia, Our Soldiers are elsewhere protecting those that cannot protect themselves and building a brighter future for both Afghanistan and the world - They (and the ones that love them here at home) have my respect, my gratitude, my condolences and my prayers...