Greetings from Cochabamba,

We have had a lot of excitement these past couple of months, and look forward to sharing with you here a recap of three really positive visits we have had during this time. The first was a visit from a small Doctors for Global Health delegation, the second a larger team from First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, and the third from a father/son team from Amizade - including a face that might be familiar to some of you.

We love having folks come and visit us, so if reading this newsletter inspires you to pull together a team, no matter what the size, please send us an email and let's start planning! If you are curious about some more recent project updates, please consider following our blog, friending us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, or signing up for our more specific weekly prayer letter.

Peace and Love,

NCV was blessed to receive a delegation from Doctors for Global Health (DGH) between July 14th and 22nd. This visit followed over a year of emailing back and forth about a possible collaboration. DGH works throughout the world, equipping and empowering communities to take their health into their own hands. We felt that in order to transform communities in Mizque, this is exactly the type of sustainable program we would like to support and encourage amongst the communities we work with.

While it is still in its initial phases, the program being designed has as its goal the training of small groups of health promoters, who will provide practical knowledge and training to others in the community. Unlike past programs attempted in Mizque that have been heavily dependent upon funding from international NGOs and support from the main hospital in Mizque, the method implemented by DGH encourages autonomy within each community, ensuring that regardless of outside assistance, the community is capable of meeting the most basic health needs of its families. Irma, one of the doctors, also spoke of training promoters to use medicinal plants, a concept that was well received due to a long traditional of herbal remedies in Bolivia, especially in communities with less contact with the larger cities.

Here are a few photos from our time with Linda and Irma. There is so much more to share about this developing program, so if you are interested in learning more, or supporting us as we seek to expand our prevention outreach in Mizque, please write us at info@ninosconvalor.org.

Above Left: Linda, Jackie and Irma taking a break on the road to Mizque. Behind them and down the ravine is the road Simón Bolívar took on his march to Sucre.
Above Right: A couple of children we met in one of the communities we visited with the doctors.

Above Left: Linda and Irma held a talk our first morning with current health promoters.
Above Right: Following this meeting, they spent some time with Maria, a nurse we are coordinating with from the Mizque Hospital, and Jimena, a representative for Plan International.

Above Left: Maria and Jimena outside of the municipal offices.
Above Right: In each community, Irma and Linda spoke with the leaders and parents of the community.

Above Left: The women were shy at first, but opened up and began to share a lot of their concerns.
Above Right: Talking separately with the men helped the women open up more, and enabled the doctors to hear both perspectives.

Above Left: In pantipampa, we were able to give out winter kids to the families, thanks to a donation from First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue.
Above Right: Paola, Tyson, Irma, Jackie and Linda, enjoying a sunny morning at CDP.

Staff of both CDP and PDC also benefited from the wisdom of doctors Linda and Irma after our return from Mizque. The focus was on both pediatric health care, and relaxation techniques for them as caregivers.

Above Left: Linda sharing with the staff of PDC and
Above Right: Irma, using a hands-on approach to teach the tias how to help one another relax.

Above: The team, holding up a gift from all of the kids and staff.

We received our fourth visit from First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, and it was an awesome experience. The Belpres team group was made up of seven kids and six adults. As we mentioned in last month's newsletter, we love having families join us, and this church has sent us more families than any other. Included in the team this time around was Dave Fortin, our US Board Chair, and his wife Laurel Fortin, our US Financial Secretary, along with some of their family and friends. In CDP, the team spent a lot of time with the girls, sharing activities, bowling, hiking in Pairumani, and also managed to paint all 6 of the bedrooms. For the girls, this visit was a reunion of sorts, and for a few, it meant an opportunity to spend some quality time with their sponsors. We are so grateful for everything Belpres did at CDP, and look forward to seeing them again soon. Here are some photos:

Above Left: Emily helps Raeka and Mariela with a craft - looks like she is just as into it as they are!
Above Right: Annie shows Zamora the photos she was taking on her phone.

Above Left: Ellie getting rollers ready for painting another one of the rooms.
Above Right: Her brother, Drew, happily rolling away.

Above Left: Drew, thumb-wrestling with his sponsor-sister, Paty.
Above Right: Ellie, posing at a bowling night with her sponsor-sister, Adriana.

Above Left: Laura and Paty at the top of the Pairumani hike.
Above Right: The team planned lots of activities with the girls, including some parachute madness :)

Above Left: Emily and Raeka sharing a banana and a laugh.
Above Right: Claire holding up Bryssa.

Above Left: Eleanor and Jill helping Jhoselin with one of the Independence Day activities.
Above Right: Evelyn and Vanesa dancing one evening for the team.

Above Left: Claire and Kattia, all smiles :)
Above Right: Emily and dad, Jeff, at Pairumani with Cynthia and Jhoselin.

The Belpres team was kept very busy at PDC! The boys had a great time playing, doing crafts, and just plain going crazy, while the team split up taking turns working on our aquaponics system. For an idea of how the system works, check out a diagram here. Below are a bunch of photos to give you a glimpse of what sort of things the team got up to with our boys. The experience is a great one (so here is another shameless plug to try and get more teams coming our way :) )

Above Left: Eneas and Diego help out Alexi gathering stones for the aquaponics bed.
Above Right: Elise dives into the tank to help seal the plug in the bottom.

Above Left: Marcos checking out marbles for their marble painting project as Alexia looks on.
Above Right: Claire joking with the boys.

Above Left: Ellie playing with Cedro.
Above Right: Lucas and Elisa smile on their last day together.

Above Left: Laurel and Christine goofing around with Alarico.
Above Right: Marcos helps organize seeds, generously donated by Belpres member, Ken Smith.

Above Left: Eleanor and Eneas having a serious conversation :)
Above Right: Drew was a machine, slugging gravel and helping fill the hydroponic bed.

Above Left: Marcos and Jill, sharing a moment on the last day.
Above Right: Annie reading to Marcos.

Above Left: Jeff, who helped lead the aquaponics efforts, taking a breather.
Above Right: Bernardo, a member of our Bolivian board, who designed the system, also spend a bunch of time helping out the team.

Above: Dave, who arrived later in the week, spending some time with Cedro.

Above Left: The greenhouse where is all happens
Above Right: The germination station the team set up.

Above Left: The swimming pool where the fish will live when they arrive this weekend.
Above Right: The hydroponic bed.

Above: The whole system. When all the kinks are sorted out, we will expand to be able to up production.

On this occasion, the team also helped out with our OAT program, they painted one of the rooms at Raquel's family's home. The team shared some lunch with Raquel, her siblings, and her grandmother, played with Efrain's guinea pigs, and painted one of the bedrooms.

Above Left: Efrain showing off one of his chicken's to the camera.
Above Right: The team, standing in front of Claudia's house, after finishing painting the room.

Above Left: Jill, Alexi and Eleanor taking a break.
Above Right: The kids found other ways to distract themselves - here, Drew, inside the guinea pig pen!

We receive all sort of visits throughout the year, some from organizations we are looking to partner with like Doctors for Global Health, some larger groups from churches like First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, and sometimes one or two people looking for a way to invest their time in a meaningful way. Reid Ewing, a urban planner and professor from Utah, joined Niños con Valor for a second time, his fifth trip to Bolivia, and this time came with his son, also Reid Ewing, best known for his role as "Dylan" in American comedy series, Modern Family. The Reids spent a week at PDC, helping out the kids with their homework, and taking them to the park. They were also able to help Bernardo put the finishing touches on the aquaponics system, and have a memorable visit with the girls at CDP, where Reid Jr. sang the girls a song to thank them for the impromptu dance show they presented to him and his dad.

Above Left: Reid Sr. helping Alarico down the slide.
Above Right: Reid hold up Bemabe for a photo.

Above Left: Reid and Marcos formed a bond, and Marcos was happy to have him around every day for at least a little while.
Above Right: We don't have a lot of male volunteers join us, so Reid was a hit with our boys.

Above: The park was part of the daily routine, and the Reids played just as hard as the kids.

Above Left: The boys enjoying a snack break at the park.
Above Right: The Reids pose for a photo with the day staff and boys on their last day at PDC.

We can't close off without highlighting some of the exciting events we have had these past couple of months, like NCV's first annual Family Day, Bolivian Independence Day, and a couple successful hospital trips.

Since most of our kids in both homes are not blessed with the consistent presence of a stable mother or father, the staff of our homes are very much "family" for the children. As normal celebrations like Mother's Day and Father's Day can be difficult times for our boys and girls, we decided that starting this year, we would celebrate the family they do have. Board members, staff, volunteers and kids all headed out to eco-tourist park Pairumani for a fun day of activities, hiking and eating, celebrating the loving family we all have in Niños con Valor. This day also was a very sad day for us, having to say goodbye to an important part of our family, Megan Lewis, who returned to the US.

Above Left: Kattia and Johana race to see who can beat the other in a no-holds-barred egg race.
Above Right: Bryssa sees how low she can go!

Above: Mateo and Lucas go bowling - a unique throw stance...

Above: An NCV classic, the older girls of CDP and Paola's daughter Camila try to snag an apple off of a string.

Above Left: Look at Abigail's determination!
Above Right: Day tia, Viselia, with sons Zakiel and Carlos. We encouraged the staff to bring their families.

Above Left: Sofia and Bernardo help out Alandra and Karina in the bopping-ballons-with-your-backside relay.
Above Right: Megan, who we already miss SO MUCH, with Nohemi on her last day with NCV.

Every August 6th, Bolivians celebrate their independence, and this year our girls and boys got into the spirit, preparing traditional dishes and presenting traditional dress and dances of the nine Departments of Bolivia, as well as Litoral, the Department lost in The War of the Pacific (1879-1883).

Above Left: Evelyn representing the Department of Tarija during our Independence Day celebrations.
Above Right: Jhoselin representing the Department of Litoral - lost to Chile and still a motive of great bitterness for most Bolivians as it cut off their access to the coast.

Above: Zamora and Raeka wave the wiphala, the flag of the andean indigenous peoples.

We also have some exciting news about Raquel, the younger daughter of a family we support through our OAT program. We have known Raquel for 4 years now, and are always impressed by her hard work ethic in her studies, and positive outlook on life. When she was very young, a skin condition on her right cheek became infected due to poor medical treatment. When we first met her, we thought the scarring that had occurred was due to a serious burn. Long-story short, we were very excited when we heard that Raquel was eligible to receive free plastic surgery, performed by German doctors who arrived at the end of August with Interplast. The surgery was a success, and we look forward to sharing some before and after photos once she is fully healed.

Above Left: Raquel's first sponsorship photo.
Above Right: Raquel's most recent sponsorship photo.

Finally, here are just a few more photos from the last couple months for you to enjoy - for no particular reason, except that our kids are cute :)

Above Left: Tia Isabel chasing Eneas up the slide.
Above Right: Laura, recently hired on full-time to help out in the days, lifts up Cedro at a park near the home.

Above Left: Eneas enjoyed the extra park time during the visit from the Reids.
Above Right: Marcos is growing up so fast!

Above Left: The boys getting their groove on to celebrate Independence Day on August 6th.
Above Right: Patient Manolo was in his bull costume for at least half an hour.

As you can see, we have been busy down here, and thanks to our community here in Bolivia and outside of Bolivia, we are accomplishing some exciting things in all three of our programs. If you would be interested joining us as a team or volunteer, or helping us out in any other way, please get in touch with us!

Peace and Love From the Children, the Staff, and the Volunteers of Niños con Valor.