After each Voces Bolivianas project in El Alto and Santa Cruz, we give each participant a survey and evaluation about their experiences in the workshop. One question was, “Are you interested in participating in future workshops in order to each others?” The vast majority said, “Yes.”
When we launched the campaign, “Voces Bolivianas in Your Community,” one of the most enthusiastic responses came from one of the new bloggers and participante in the project Voces Bolivianas – El Alto 2, Santos Huanca. He works in the radio station “Pachamama” in the city of El Alto and he has been a big supporter of our project. On many occasions, one of us has been interviewed and he has given us a space to talk to about the project.
In his free time, he works with a youth group called, “Young Communicators,” which is comprised of youth, who primarily study at night because they work during the day to support their families. Each weekend, they participate in the radio station to share their experiences with stories, interviews and commentary, but now they have the interest in transferring the same information to cyberspace and to open their own blogs. The group wrote in their proposal:
We arrived at the conclusion that the media is an important instrument for the development of a more just society, free of discrimination. We think that one of the best options in this communicative process, free of filters, possibilities of reciprocity or “feedback” and one that can help with this interculturality is the blog. It is easy to use and it is relatively inexpensive. We would like to write about our daily lives, our neighborhoods, our problems, our joys and our loves.
They live in semi-urban ares of the city of El Alto, such as in the neighborhoods of Alto Lima, Rosas Pampa, Zenkata, Santiago I, Villa Tunari, etc, where hte majority of their streets are of dirt, and the houses lack basic services.
Santos will share his experiences and his knowledge about blogs with the youth. He has been one of the most active bloggers ad he provides commentary on his blog “The Power of the Word” and writes about culture, his experiences in school, and of children that must work in order to make a living. These are just some of the examples of some of the topics that he writes about.
In addition, the workshop will also receive support from Wara Yampara, who also formed part of the project of Voces Bolivianas – El Alto 2. Her blog called Productive El Alto, writes about agriculture, but also about the traditions such as the Alasitas Fair and about the commercial movement of the markets.
Many thanks to these two participantes from El Alto 2, who have committed to teaching what they have learned in the workshops. This ripple effect is very powerful, and will allow for even more people to learn about this tool. This workshop of approximately 15 people will take place in El Alto on April 19, “Bolivian Voices Day.”