CONFIA La Paz, Bolivia

Before CONFIA was formed, children in Bolivian orphanages were only supplied with milk until their second birthday. Through our advocacy, the Social Management department of the Prefecture of La Paz now provides milk for children up through 13 years of age, three times a week. When we began our work, we became aware that many potential donors existed, and a multitude of available products that could be of great benefit to the needy. Unfortunately, these products were often destroyed rather than donated simply because of concerns about the administration of such goods. We helped to allay this fear through providing an efficient distribution of goods to programs both secular and religious that had a proven need.

In addition to our annual Milk Drive for the city orphanages and the administration of donated goods to needy institutions, we also dedicate a good portion of our time to programs of an educational nature. As a result of our initiatives, books from the Education Reform have been provided for orphanages, and with the sponsorship of a host of enterprises, including the Calvert American School, educational videos and reading libraries were donated, enabling the children of these institutions to enjoy the benefits of quality educational tools.

We have a system in place that ensures solid stewardship practices: An enterprise donates the goods, which we deliver to the administrator of the institutions on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Since we regularly visit the establishments, we can assure the donors that the donated goods are being properly used. The recipient institution acknowledges receipt of the goods to the donor, specifying the amounts and description of the goods received, plus a letter of acknowledgement goes to us, the intermediary project.

We also focus on building capacity for the educators of many of the city's orphanages, as well as providing therapy sessions for the children. Working with the Derechos del Niño Internacional (International Children's Rights) we have devised a project to provide adult training, covering subjects such as Human Rights, Building self-Esteem, Philosophy, Physical Abuse, and Psycho sexology. Additionally, training is provided for the psychologist assigned to the orphanage to be trained as facilitators, able to do the follow up and evaluation each six months.

We believe that it's worth fighting for these services for the orphans themselves, as their advocates, as they have so much potential to be realized. And in this respect it's our philosophy that it's better to build a fence at the top of the cliff, rather than a hospital at the bottom. And if the government is not sufficiently meeting the need, then private citizens like us, and our sponsors, must. We have a moral obligation to look at these kids as future leaders of tomorrow.

Other Programs
The Mamitas program (Little mother´s program): On our frequent visits to a social hospital, we get to know a lot of poor mothers who have given birth there. We have been registering them for this program. There are already about 400 families registered. We are able to give them food and sometimes milk as well.
A young mother (right) with her own mother. They are visited by a social worker to verify that they are needy.	Mamitas go home happy with their bag of baby supplies.
Seminars Organized: We host a series of seminars for the "mamitas", the young mothers, at the orphanage "Virgen de Fátima". Martha does regular weekly seminars on Human Relations, and the health-related ones are conducted by local nurses. We organized these seminars because we found out there is a lot of information that these new mothers simply lack concerning basic health prevention and sickness. For example there was an epidemic of Hepatitis in the orphanage, and the mamitas didn't recognize the symptoms until it had already spread considerably. We also organize seminars for university students preparing for a career in social work, bringing in specialists to speak on Reproductive Health, Environment and Legal Aid. This is backed by the CIB (Center of Investigation of Bolivia), where Martha serves on the Board. Additionally, we organize forums such as the Health Political Forum. In this case, the Catholic Church asked us to help organize a forum for presidential candidates, the objective being to stress the priority of Health as a citizen's right, and therefore as an obligation of government. The forum allowed each candidate to present their program on Health issues, as well as answer questions from the floor.
Banners like the above were city-wide, advertising the Health Political Form, as co-organized by CONFIA and Caritas.	Health Political Forum. Participants of each political party
Assistance to Institutions:
Giving sweet bread and words of encouragement to a young patient.	Martha encouraging the hard-working staff
Juan Jose Mamani gently carrying the toy received from Isabel, at the Mixto La Paz orphanage.	Thankful orphan children opening their Christmas gifts.

Medical checkups for students

Many Bolivian villagers offer no medical facilities for their residents, in particular their children. We arrange with universities to involve their medical students in doing general check-ups for the children, as well as their area of specialty, be it dermatology or whatever.

Villagers receiving health supplements for their children

CONFIA volunteers serving a snack to 140 children.

Newspaper Article

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES! (Excerpt from Bolivian Times newspaper article)

"WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE"

Not often one would consider a La Paz Orphanage a place where dreams come true, but for two consecutive years, thanks to the selfless interest of such individuals as Isabel Girardot Berg of the World Bank, and a host of enterprises, Christmas at Mixto La Paz orphanage was just that.

Isabel Gerardot Berg (above) enjoying the moment at Mixto while delivering Christmas gifts to orphans. This Christmas, two orphanages celebrated together, with gifts sponsored by a group of Marines and their wives,attached to the U.S. Embassy.

In addition to Project Managers Juan Power and Martha Sutter, other CONFIA
team members include:

Luis Alfredo Gavilano
Technology Department
Systems Analyst. Creator of a tech program for the blind.
Beatriz Murillo De la Riva.
Reproductive Health Consultant offers training in Advocacy in gender equality and women rights. Specialist in Evaluations.
Tatiana Flores Escobar.
Legal Department. Worked for four years offering free Legal Aid to rural communities.
Dr. Aracelli Cabrero De Lazarte
Medical Department. Worked for two years administering free medical Aid to Street Children