A story by BBC about child labor in Bermejo.

By Andres Schipani BBC News, Bermejo

Fiser's mother wants him to return to school some day
To see children's silhouettes at sunrise, bent as they chop canes with machetes, is to see the scale of poverty in Bolivia, where often every member of the family, no matter how young, has to work.
Fiser, 10, is one of Bolivia's many child labourers.
"I am not going to school any more. I left it this year when I started working here," he tells me.
His hands are covered in blisters and dark with a sticky dust after hours harvesting sugar cane.
Child labour is illegal in Bolivia, but it is estimated that almost a third of the country's children and adolescents (320,000) work in extreme conditions; in the mines, Brazil nut plantations and the sugar cane fields.
Boys like Fiser earn less than $5 a day during the six months or so that they work harvesting sugar cane, often from sunrise to sunset.
Such work is considered one of the worst forms of child labour by international bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN children's agency, Unicef.
Ciro, 13, is typical. "I'd like to study or maybe work in something better, something lighter. But I work most of all for my family, my family is really poor so they have nothing and I need to help my six little brothers," he says.
"I wake up at four in the morning and come out to work until six in the afternoon, sometimes until eleven at night. The work is really, really hard."
Temporary migrants
Until recently, many farmers were moving away from sugar cane because they could get better, government-guaranteed prices for other crops, such as soya, rice and the local crop, coca - the raw material for cocaine.
The work is hard, very hard... I don't want to do this any more, but I have no choice
Luis, 13
But now, the price of raw sugar is hitting highs not seen for nearly three decades and farmers are switching back to sugar cane. Whole families are moving across Bolivia to work in the fields.
Sugar cane has a particular economic advantage: the harvest provides an income for a relatively extended period - roughly between April and November.
It is a way of making a living in Bermejo, a poverty-stricken area of south-eastern Bolivia on the border with Argentina.
Most of the heavy harvesting work is still done manually. Children aged between seven and 17 set crops alight to remove all unwanted foliage and then chop down the canes. Later, the top is cut off and the rest of the cane is stacked and loaded for transportation.
Luis, 13, started working three years ago.
"The work is hard, very hard, exhausting," he says. "The canes are heavy, cutting, chopping all day, last year I had a terrible back pain from work. I don't want to do this any more, but I have no choice."

High prices mean sugar is once again a sought after commodity
About 60% of the sugar cane harvesters are temporary migrants from Bolivia's poorest areas. They live in shacks that are little more than mud huts, or under blue tarpaulins on the edge of the sugar cane plantations.
There is no hygiene; no privacy. As the local saying goes, they have "sweet canes but bitter lives".
"It is not a secret that children of all ages work in different conditions, in different sectors in this country," says Unicef's Bolivia representative Gordon Jonathan Lewis.
"As long as poverty exists, and the magnitude and the prevalence you have in a country like Bolivia, you will always have the need for children to contribute to households and local economies."
But in the sugar cane harvest, the exploitation of child workers can be extreme, Mr Lewis adds.
This view is echoed by Anastasio Rueda, a sugar cane trade union leader in Bermejo.
"Sometimes the boss takes advantage of them because they are young, and treats them badly. There are accidents. And of course there are children who do not want to come to work because the job is harsh, but some parents force them to," he says.
Forceful approach
Now, nearly 20 years after the Convention of the Rights of the Child was agreed, Unicef is trying a range of ways to tackle child labour.
One is a "Child Labour Free" stamp for certain Bolivian products, like sugar. Together with Unicef, Bolivia's government has drawn up a plan to reduce child labour by 2015.

Angelica does not want her son to have her "rotten" life
"The plans exists, the public policies are in place, the legal framework is there but right now we really do need a much more forceful approach," Mr Lewis says.
Some parents would prefer their children to be at school rather than in the fields. Unfortunately, money compels them to take their children into the fields with them.
That is the case for Fiser's mother, Angelica, who is working alongside him.
"He helps me a lot. He used to be at school but I need him to come to work with me, at least this year, then he can go back to school. Now we need the money so his little brothers can eat and go to school."
Angelica knows about the harsh reality of child labour herself as she has been toiling in the cane fields for a pittance since she was 10. She is now 44.
"Now he got used to work and he doesn't want to go back to school because he earns some petty cash and knows I need help," she says.
"But I tell him, even if it is a huge effort, he has to study so he doesn't end up like me, old and working in the sugar cane harvest. The children should have that opportunity. We are rotten already."

South American Trip Part III (this is it, I promise)

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

After the lovely Bariloche, Eme and I booked it further south to the Atlantic coastal town of Puerto Madryn. We found another traveling couple and rented a car to check out the sites.

First, we drove south to Punta Tombo, the worlds largest Magellanic penguin colony (outside of Antarctica). It was crazy! As soon as we stepped out of the car there were penguins milling about everywhere! You could walk right up to them and pet them, if you wanted to lose a finger that is.

There were over 200,000 breeding pairs with their nests and eggs. The chicks had apparently just started to hatch. We were lucky enough to find one nest with a little grey chick. So cute! But I didn't get the greatest shot of the chick... so this penguin on it's egg will have to do.

You want a hug?

The next morning we headed north to Reserva Faunistica Peninsula Valdes where the highlight of the day was, by far and away, the boat ride out in the bay to see the southern right whales and their calves. I've attempted whale watching a few times before, but have never had any luck so I was really excited to finally see them and was pointing, ohh-ing and aww-ing like a little kid! I was absolutely awe struck watching these giants peacefully diving and interacting with their calves. One came within 10ft of the boat to check us out!

Montevideo, Uruguay

I ended the trip with a few days in Uruguay. The capital, Montevideo, was a lot like it's Big Sister Buenos Aires, but a lot smaller, tranquilo and on the coast. It seemed to have a cool vibe, but unfortunately I didn't get to spend too much time there.

One of the cities many plazas.

Garbage collector

Punta del Este, Uruguay

I was on a mission to hit the beach before heading home to Winter in the States. So I headed to the famous/infamous (?) Punta del Este, playground of the buena gente (folks with money). It was off season so it wasn't too crazy. Not too many boob jobs on the beach.

It looks sunny and beautiful in this picture, but it was also quite windy and hard to really be comfortable just hanging out in your suit on the beach (I'm a wimp). So unfortunately I didn't get too much beach time . I rented a bike instead and rode around town.

The local harbor where dingy old fishing boats are parked along side million dollar yachts.

Part II

Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

Tiwanaki Ruins, outside of La PAz

Valparaiso, Chile

Yay!! Go Obama!!

Mendoza, Argentina

On a bike tour of the vineyards.

Barriloche, Argentina

A black glacier. Wierd, huh?

South American Trip '08 Part I

Mancora, Peru

So after all the stress of evacuation it was only fitting to start the trip with some r&r at the beach. A group of us headed north, way north, to Mancora, Peru. A cute little beach town practically on the border with Equador. We didn't do much but lay in the sand, play in the waves, take naps, eat ceviche, and drink cerveza for five days. In other words, it was absolutely perfect.

A little game of sunset soccer.

Huaraz, Peru

A few of us girls hesitantly left the beach and headed for Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca (Supposedly the most beautiful region of the Andes, but personally I think Bolivia has got more pristine, beautiful places. People just don't know about them.) Anywho, I acquired giardia from my last plate of ceviche on the beach and was incapacitated for the first couple of days in Huaraz and couldn't do any hiking with my friends. They had to leave for Lima, but I stayed for a few more days to explore the area solo.

A little town outside of Huaraz. There was a festival going on and everyone was dressed in their best bright and colorful clothes.

Parque Nacional Huascaran. Named after the tallest peak in Peru. (note- that is not actually Huascaran in the background)

Now this is actually Huascaran. In the foreground and behind the camera is the remains of Yungi, a town of 30,000 that was completely buried by an earthquake and the resulting landslide from glaciers on Huascaran, in the late sixties. Only a handful of people in the whole town survived by running to the tallest part of the cemetery which was built like a wedding cake. This cathedral was built on the site of the original. Now the site of the disaster is a park for tourists and New Yungi was rebuilt nearby.

A bus that was partially dug out of the rubble. They're not sure if there were people in it or not when the landslide hit.

Potosi, Bolivia

Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). Once one of the most productive mines in the world, fueling the once richest city in the world, Potosi. Production has since slowed down dramatically, but miners continue to work and die (40 per year) in incredibly harsh conditions.

One of the "nicer" sections of the mine. You could actually fully stand up. There are many long sections where you have to literally get on all fours a crawl through dark spaces (the only light is from your head lamp) and try not to choke on the dust. How the miners actually drag heavy bags of rocks through these spaces I have no idea. We spent just a few hours in the mine and we all came out with scratchy voices (from the dust I think) and completely exhausted from crawling up and down the mine shafts. My quads were hurting for days. And the miners do it 12 hrs everyday!

Fun with dynamite. A demonstration of how miners put together dynamite, light it, bury it, then run!!

Huayna Potosi, outside of La Paz

A big group of B44ers reunited in La Paz to conquer Huayna Potosi. A mountain just under 20,000 ft. I personally didn't fell fit enough or have the ganas to climb the giant so I went as cheerleader for the team and just kind of hung out in the lodge while the real bad asses climbed.

The girls. Erica in the middle was the only woman of the group to climb the mountain. Huayna Potosi in the distance.

Team Coca Boca (Coca Mouth). Named after the guys' ability to chew ridiculous amounts of coca.

I hiked up the mountain the first day with the team for their practice session in ice climbing techniques. This is as far as I made it up the mountain, but it's the first time I actually touched a glacier!

While the team was climbing I made a flag for us to pin up on the walls of the lodge. I tried to incorporate the themes of America and Peace Corps. Pretty nice, huh?

BOLIVIA EVAC EXPRESS

Where to begin?? Well for starters we´ve all been evacuated, all 113 of us. Peace Corps Bolivia has been suspended. Meaning they have the intention of starting up the program again someday, but no one has any idea when. Rather than reenlisting I have chosen to COS or close my service.

Over the last year and a half of my service we´ve had countless EAPs (emergency action plans) and even one consolidation where all the volunteers were brought together in one place because of an upcoming referendum and the potential unrest that could ensue. But throughout all the EAPs, marches, protests, riots, and bloqueos I was never actually worried that anything was going to happen to us. It was just something that you delt with being a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia. There had been lots of evacuation talk over the years, but I never bought into it. ¨It´ll blow over just like all the times before.¨

Typical bloqueo outside of Tarija.

Bolivia has a way of getting dangerously close to the edge of disaster then at the last moment, as if suddenly realizing just how bad things are, backing slowly away from the edge. I was never really worried until a little over two weeks ago. It was a gray day. So overcast the sun was totally blocked out of the sky. I was walking through the usually loud and bustling streets of Bermejo, but that day they were almost completely empty. Shops were shut up, mini bloqueos of rocks cutting off everyother street corner. There was a paro civico that day so almost everything was shut down and little traffic other than the occasional moto was on the street. I found the one internet place open in town and checked out the local news.

Just the night before I was watching on the news violent riot scenes in Tarija. They were actually throwing dynamite at one another and one man managed to blow his hand off. Ofcourse a camera was right there to flim the grizzly aftermath. This guy stumbling down the street, dilirious from blood loss, looking down and grabing what was left of his mangled hand with his one good remaining hand. The film crew following him along recording every second, but never actually offering to help. The next day the man was on the news again. This time weeping saying that he made his living laying bricks and looking back on it, the 300 bolivianos he was given to participate in the riot was not worth it. Yes, Bolivians from all political spectrums are regularly given money to participate, or fined for not participating, in political demonstrations. My friend´s family had to pay 300 bolivianos (a lot of Bs for the average family!) for not participating in their town´s bloqueo. And University students can actually have their grades lowered for not participating in marches, protests or other demonstrations. Yeah, to say it politely...it´s really screwed up.

Anyways... back to the point. Things were getting pretty hairy, even in Tarija. Usually, while the rest of the country is going up in flames, Tarija is pretty tranquilo. I saw the unrest as a bad sign of things to come. Over the next few days things only seemed to get worse. Protests and riots continued in many cities. A few people were killed in Sucre and the worst in Pando with over 30 dead. And among the riots the US ambassdor Philip Goldberg was declared a persona non grata and demanded to leave Bolivia. He was accused of citing the violence. A totally rediculous claim, but thats the way politics works down here. It was really just an opportune time to kick him out. So with no ambassador what was going to happen to us?

When I heard that all the Tarija volunteers were coming down to Bermejo I thought ¨This is it. I´m packing my bags.¨ The next few days were a frusterating mystery. Peace Corps seemed to tell us as little information as possible. We were all speculating what was going to happen to us. Were we going to wait in Bermejo while things cooled down? Be flown to Cochabamba where all the other volunteers had been consolidated? Or evacuate the country? I tried to explain to my host family and friends as best I could the situation. That I didn´t really know what was going on, but there was a chance I wouldn´t be back. My Dona insisted on everyone getting together for coffee and bread. She said a prayer for me and we all ended up crying. It was very touching. And before leaving, I was fortunate to run into a group of teachers I worked with that had heard about the situation and they thanked me for everything I had done for them. There´s a lot of times in Peace Corps when you wonder if what your doing really matters. But I knew talking to those teachers that day that they really did appreciate the work I did for them and that really feels good.

Anywho... we headed to the Bermejo airport, a small paved strip in a never ending field of cana. Told we were to board a plane, but didn´t know where. Then the big bellied C130 rolled in. It was a very surreal moment. A crazy mixture of emotions. ¨This is crazy! This is so cool! Oh no, we might not be coming back!¨ When everyone had boarded and the plane was in the air we were told we were leaving the country. But again the ambiguity! We weren´t told which country! It was becoming obvious that PC was telling us as little as possible so that people wouldn´t freak out and refuse to board at the last second, which some people may have done.

Touchdown at Bermejo International Airport

The dreaded evac! It was really happening! We didn´t learn our destination until someone asked one of the military guys on board (insterestingly enough the plane was US owned, but run by Bolivian military personel). First we were stoping in Cochabamba to pick up more volunteers than continuing on to Lima. We were greeted by Peruvian and American soldiers at a small military airport outside of Lima. As well as the US ambassador to Peru and a hand full of other embassy people. We were given a brief meeting and sent outside the city to a bizarre centro vacacional outside of the city. The running joke was that it was a rehab center for those that had previously had tragic experiences while on vacation. We spent the next week figuring out what to do next with our lives- COS, transfer, reinlist. I knew I was COSing so my decision was easy, but a lot of people had to decide it they wanted to transfer to another country and where in a matter of a few days! Talk about having your world turned upside down!

Trying our best to make light of the situation by making a Bolivian stlye bloqueo for the next arriving group of volunteers.

My plan is to travel South America for a few months before returning to the states. I´ll keep you updated!

Thanks for Reading!

I've become recently aware that quite a few people actually read this thing. So I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone. It really is nice to know that people are genuinly interested in what I'm doing over here. So for you I will try to keep this thing more up to date. And don't be afraid to leave a comment. I really do love to read them. I've just updated my previous blog about the teacher's taller below. So check it out.

Your pal,
Al

Some more random pics

This is my English conversation class on their last day of class. They were the most advanced students at the Language Institute I teach at. I was really impressed with a few of them. I think at least one of the students English could rival my Spanish! (which is not saying much for me!) All of them passed their final exams, although there were a few that really should´t have. There´s a lot of pressure to pass students (especially when they are paying for the classes!), but I was proud of them all the same. Though sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass, they really are a great group of kids. I miss them already!

This is Pepino (aka Pepi) and the new puppy Pirata (pirate). Turns out Pepi is a boy after all. I swear I have the worst record sexing kittens. I already have a boy named Ginger and a girl named Hobbes. It´s hard to tell sometimes! Luckily Pepina could be easily changed to Pepino. Pepino means cucumber in español by the way. When he´s not tearing apart my room, attacking my face in my sleep and pooping out worms, he can be a real delight.

More to come...