It has felt almost like a prison here, all by myself, except I cook my own meals and sleep in my own bed. Nobody is working or going outside. Since March, we have been allowed out just once a week, for groceries, on our designated day. Because of the lockdown, we couldn’t access the bank at all. We were expected to do online banking, but access to the internet is limited. I haven’t visited the worksite. We, the project organizers and volunteers, haven’t even spoken. We have been in silence. There was no way to recharge the credit on our phones. No shops were open, and there was no money for phones or to access the internet during the lockdown. Before, I had internet access at home, briefly, and at the office. Now, with the office closed, I pay $2 for approximately 15 minutes of internet use.
I have made a bit of money teaching English classes online to a few students who can still afford it. I share this work with my fellow teacher, so she can earn something too. No one else in the project can afford to maintain an internet connection. How can they, when they can’t leave their homes to work because of the lockdown? They have been online maybe once or twice in the last three months. All students are supposed to go to school online, but many families can’t even find a way to upload their children’s homework. My parents said I need to go back to my hometown. “You’re very far away, we can’t take care of you”, they said. I have been by myself for so long.
Complete lockdown lasted until June, and even now, the hours for movement are restricted: only until 3p.m. No one goes outside on the weekends. We now have access to banks one to two times a week, but the queues are long. If you have limited time and transportation, it becomes very complicated. Most Bolivians don’t have private cars, and most of us live far from the center of the city. Movement for public transit workers have also been restricted to their designated day. It remains hard to move around and easy to get stranded far from home, risking fines and arrests by soldiers for breaking the government’s COVID decree.
It has been a very difficult struggle. We have an expression in Spanish: “problems don’t come in ones”. It’s scary, though sometimes it feels like an adventure. I think things will be a little bit better now and more flexible with work as they are letting us move around more freely. But I believe we won’t be able to start the project again in earnest until August. We still have some funds to continue our work and begin to meet the growing need for clean water.
Knowing friends are thinking of us gives me courage and fortitude. Also I see a lot of hope. Many Quakers, even some elders, have been more supportive during the lockdown as they recognize the value of our work with this biosand filter project, and with the youth. This pandemic is a great leveler: it makes us think about equality because it affects us all.
