MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Fall 2024
Joe Loney & Filo Siles, Bolivia
August 26th is the National Day of the Older Adult in Bolivia. This year, the older adults in Tacopaya formed an association so they can help themselves by combining their talents and energies to advocate for their rights.
TACOPAYA, BOLIVIA—“Dignity and Health for People over 60.” It might sound like a political slogan, especially in these weeks before elections, but it is simply a critical statement of right and necessity for older adults to thrive anywhere—and Tacopaya, Bolivia is no exception.
Tacopaya is located 136 kilometers from the City of Cochabamba, with a geography marked by numerous mountains as high as 13,000 feet and a few high valleys. While the young are immensely important, we focus on the older adults in Tacopaya so that they are not forgotten or left to face discrimination alone.
Throughout the year, we help older adults access medical prevention and rehabilitation services, gain knowledge about their rights, improve their nutrition and income with activities such as raising sheep and growing their own vegetables in greenhouses, and make their homes a little friendlier by installing running water and solar electricity or fixing a leaky roof. Equally important, we help them to be at peace with themselves and experience solidarity through activities such as initiating self-help groups.
Hundreds of rural, indigenous, subsistence-farming older adults had a day where their hearts, minds, and stomachs were filled. They left knowing that their health is important, that they are not alone, and that they too are worthy of the human dignity bestowed by our Creator.
Once a year, we concentrate our efforts on August 26th. This is the National Day of the Older Adult in Bolivia. This year, the older adults in Tacopaya were in the process of making a reality of our idea that they form an association so they can help themselves by combining their talents and energies to advocate for their rights. In order to accommodate the large number of participants, the event was held in the municipal coliseum. We provided transportation.
While we had projected 350 older adults would attend on August 26th, we were surprised to see so many more.
At one point, we prayed for Jesus to appear and perform the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Instead, the Holy Spirit inspired us to cut up the hot lunch portions of chicken in two and to persuade another local cook at the last minute to prepare 30 more lunches, and to run from one small store to another to purchase 100 small bottles of cooking oil that could be distributed to those for whom we did not have nutritional supplements.
A hearty, homemade meal was served, and supplements and cooking oil were distributed. The newly formed group of almost 450 older adults chose their first board of directors and then celebrated with games and local folk dances. Doctors, nurses, and a physical therapist provided them with healthcare.
Although tired at the end of the day, we were satisfied by such abundance. Hundreds of rural, indigenous, subsistence-farming older adults had a day where their hearts, minds, and stomachs were filled. They left knowing that their health is important, that they are not alone, and that they too are worthy of the human dignity bestowed by our Creator.
Your helping hand makes a difference. Your generosity can make it possible for us to provide everything from nutritional care to physical therapy sessions to greenhouses. We have a long way to go. Funding limits us to work intensely with only 65 older adults. With your help, we can multiply our efforts with many more of the over 1,500 older adults in Tacopaya. Each one is worthy of the knowledge that you care about their human dignity.
Please consider supporting our mission work with older adults with a donation through the link below.
We also invite you to walk with us as our “COMPANIONS IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!
A Maryknoll lay missioner since 1995, Joe Loney oversees a social-inclusion project for persons with disabilities (Avancemos Juntos para la Inclusion Social de las Personas con Discapacidades) in Tacopaya, Entre Rios and Cochabamba, Bolivia.
