Casa Cuna

Amizade Bolivia has been involved with Millennium, which is an orphanage in Cochabamba, for several years now. Bolivians call orphanages Casa Cuna, which means cradle house. Millennium is a non-profit organization. It was founded by doctors and psychologist, who hoped to improve the health and mental care in orphanages. With this idea, they created Millennium, which is an orphanage that understands children’s growth needs.

Throughout the years of relationship between Millennium and Amizade, volunteers have been traveling to Bolivia in order to help with this important process of child development. By nurturing these children, volunteers improve the lives of these orphans. Without the involvement of volunteers this important process of care would be harder and possibly even lost.

This summer, I had the opportunity to visit Millennium several times and take care of the children along with other Amizade volunteers. I helped explain the ropes of the orphanage to the Amizade volunteers and helped them get around such as showing them where things were, translating some, and telling them stories about the children, who I have become very close to and actually miss them when I’m away. Everyone who comes grows close with the children who range from a couple of months old to about five years old. After the age of five or a little older, the children, who were not adopted, are sent to another orphanage due to room and space in the orphanage.

Unfortunately, this year the main funding stopped! As a result, Millennium is struggling to survive. With over thirty children, diapers, workers, and physical attention decreased. Due to the economic crisis in the United States, which is where Millennium’s main source of funding came from, the company who was funding them had to completely stop. This is devastating for the children! Now, only two workers work there daily both day and night making it extremely difficult for nurturing over thirty children. Amizade volunteers have helped immensely! All of the volunteers I’ve had the opportunity working with this summer have cared deeply for theses children and want to continue helping after hearing the news about the funding.

Last year, I had the chance to visit the orphanage for a day. When I visited, there were several workers on duty. The orphanage was cleaner and the atmosphere, in general, was happier. Also, as soon as a child wet his/her diaper, we were to change his/her right away. Due to the economic crisis and the cutoff of funding, we are no longer changing them. Each child a day only gets two diapers. Only the babies get more than three a day. The nurses regulate the changing. Also, some who wet themselves so badly are given towels for diapers. These diapers are the cheapest ones on the market meaning that they barely hold anything and cause baby rashes. It is very sad to me to see how much the orphanage has gone down within one year.

However, there is a way in which one can help! On the Amizade website, one can go to the donation section and donate directly to Millennium. This will certainly help the orphanage and the children. Also, if one is interested, he/she can go directly to Bolivia and help by engaging in social work, which is a wonderful experience!