Support 125 children at Refugio Rafael in Bolivia

“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”- Goran Persson.

Reflecting on 2021, we feel like closing this chapter with a deep breath and joy for the accomplishments we made, along with fresh hope for making 2022 a year of connecting and creating an even stronger community!

In 2021, we had so many transitions, as did the whole world. Here are the highlights from our programming:

• We transitioned from lockdown in the latter part of the year to restart afterschool programming with some Covid changes. These included allowing only small groups in the school at a time and working with a rotating schedule. In addition, our teacher split her time between the children of the community and the new incoming families to the Refugio (housing portion of the program). Education is general was severlly impacted by lockdowns and lack of internet access and computers. We are doing our best to support the families who live in our program as well as the rest of the community, but we know we are not alone in these challenges.
• One of the original residents of the Refugio faced severe health challenges throughout the year. We supported her to receive regular treatments for a persistent staff infection, as well as for the accompanying pain and stress this condition caused her. We are hoping for a strong year in 2022 for Her health. As her children begin to age into adulthood, we also provided special support for them. The plights of older teen women in Bolivia can be very challenging, and we see their success as the success for the program as a whole. We continue to work with them on career and life goals, and to support them with as much support for their educational goals as we can. 
• We accepted 4 new families into the refugio as the 4 founding families worked their way to independent living. Part of our work is following through with all the families who have lived in the refugio to ensure their independence is ongoing and sustainable. This requires travel and social work that stretch us beyond our initial budget and as 2022 arrives, we are planning for the next level of development for the program overall and hope to establish an endowment to allow for long term sustainability as we adjust we the needs of our community and the generosity of our supporters. 
• 2021 was a year of resilience, for our staff, families, and community. We are happy to be able to continue to offer income opportunities, educational support, health care and housing for the most vulnerable among us, and to strengthen the ties that help us be stronger individually, and together.

With this report, we are thrilled to have reached our initial funding goal for this project, though it was over a longer period than we had hoped. We will continue to accept donations here for ongoing programming, and please look for a new request for donations for the next evolution of our programming, through this site as well as on the website for Refugio Rafael. We thank you so much for your support and look forward to traveling in 2022 with volunteers and supporters of the project. If you would like to join us to offer your skills to our work, please reach out!

We have been adapting, pivoting, adjusting and hoping throughout 2021 just like the rest of the world. Covid hit our community hard, along with some other illnesses, and it has not been easy, but we are tough and we are carrying on! I say it's time to reboot, because we are ready for a new chapter.

The last school year in Bolivia was most challenging for the members of our community. With little to no internet, very little access to computers, and the need to social distance, students had no consistent support for learning. The educational system made the choice to pass all students to the next year, but they are far from prepared for that step, so we decided to reopen the afterschool program on a staggered schedule with fewer students. So far this has been a huge boon to the students, both those living in the refugio, and those in our community. We hope to increase numbers of students as vaccinations become available.

The refuge portion of our work has welcomed in new families and we are excited to see how the community begins to evolve in terms of wider support as women gain independent living opportunities and are able to support those coming into the refuge. We know the resilience and success of the families who have stayed in the refuge for some time will be the greatest asset to our community as a whole, and our work with single mothers in crisis circumstances.

The small enterprise portion of our work is inching along, and we are thrilled to have sent an order of handcrafts to the States for wholesale and retail distribution. While the small animal production hit a road bump, we have been able to run the bread-making program as an income generator for various family members when they most needed a boost.

Each day is a gift, and we are so grateful for the bonds of friendship and community this project has helped to foster. We look forward to traveling in 2022 to offer moral as well as financial support to the project and to reconnect in person.

We thank you for your support and look forward to new momentum as we reboot this quarter and take on new challenges in 2022.