News

Dear Friends,

It is a long time since I sent you any news about BQEF. When I see the glitzy material that solicit funds in the mail each day, and the two-page "personal" letters (two or three times a year) from organizations to which I have made past contributions, I realize that a note like this is pretty primitive by today's standards. But funds are needed—and they still go a long way in an impoverished country like Bolivia. Right now we have only enough funds to last until June, so I hope you can consider a contribution at this time.

Last month I spent two weeks in Bolivia, following a week in Peru to study Spanish and get acclimated to medium (8,200 feet) altitude. Things were tense when I arrived in Bolivia on Saturday 10/11; on Sunday 34 people were killed in El Alto when the government told the army to convoy fuel trucks through the campesino blockade, and on Monday another 20 were killed in clashes in central La Paz. For the rest of the week both cities (as well as three others) were shut down—no shops or restaurants, no transport, no street vendors.

The last weeks have been busy. At the end of June there were the joint sessions of the Friends Association for Higher Education (FAHE) and the Friends Council on Education (FCE), and the end of July there were the annual sessions of New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM), and the first week in August the session of New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM). At all three of these gatherings I laid out a display of literature about BQEF, principally the newsletter and the leaflet, and I spoke with many Friends about our work. In speaking about BQEF I mention that it is both incorporated and under the care of Buffalo Meeting.

Dear Friends,

There is much news about Bolivian Quaker education and BQEF. Next week BQEF will take two big steps forward—putting out our first newsletter, and filing IRS Form 1023, the application for 501(c)(3) status. You will get a copy of the newsletter if you are on our skimpy mailing list, and copies will be available at several Friends gatherings this summer, beginning with FAHE/FCE at Swarthmore and Pendle Hill this month.

BOLIVIAN QUAKER EDUCATION FUND—BQEF

11253 Boston Road
East Concord NY 14055
BolEdFund@aol.com

May 16, 2003

15 young Bolivian Quakers (8 men, 7 women—from both INELA and Santidad) are pursuing post-secondary studies with scholarships from BQEF.

At the end of March the first scholarship payments ($50/mo) were distributed at the BQE-Bo office at 747 Calle Illampu in La Paz, inaugurating the office.

Dear Friends,

I believe that I wrote you fourteen months ago about possible follow-up from the visit of Loida Cutipa and Cecilia Paco. There have been further developments - exciting ones. Please excuse my long delay in keeping you informed. I have been distracted, among other things by the climate of fear that surrounds us. BQEF does not address those fears but nurtures hopes, and I trust that you will agree that nurturing hope is one of the things we must continue to do in times of fear.

Dear Friends,

Most of you know that two young Bolivian teachers, Cecilia Paco and Loida Cutipa, visited US Friends for more than seven weeks this summer. They spoke to more than half a dozen groups, as well as numerous individuals, about Friends and Friends schools in Bolivia. Their trip was financed through a number of sources, the largest bulk channeled through the Bolivian Fund at Pendle Hill. Each of them has written a report of her trip (in Spanish), which they delivered to me in person when I saw them in Bolivia in November. I will be glad to send you a copy.