BQEF's Infrastructure Development programs have begun to help with equipment, books, and administrative support. Our programs include workshops in teaching Quaker practice and its use in the classroom. Two teachers from Abington Friends School (AFS) traveled to La Paz in August 2005 to deliver workshops designed in collaboration with Bolivian Friends. Future workshops may include: Quaker process and the use of, and preparation for, "Meeting for Worship;" the relationship between academic education and values (i.e., the way we teach is as important as what we teach); the orientation of teachers new to Quaker schools; and Quaker history and testimonies/doctrines.

Other infrastructure needs range from recreational space to whole new classroom buildings. Emphasis is on securing funding for completing the purchase and installation of computer equipment and Internet access in the three Bolivian Friends' secondary schools and the scholarship students' study room, as well as funding the continued increase in computer instruction time. Bolivian Quaker educators feel strongly that this project is vital for cost-effective student resource access and contemporary skills training. Funding for some of the project has been received, with more applications in the works. Shown above are pictures of the computers recently installed at Colegio Emanuel in El Alto, a suburb of La Paz.

BQEF Computers Committee members Juan Yujra and Willy Cutipa, shown here, did extensive research prior to writing the budget for this project. Juan Yujra has been primarily responsible for installing the computers in the three Friends schools.

The English Language Labs project, based on a proposal prepared by the Bolivian Friends English Committee, is currently in the funding stages.