Greetings from Bolivia, where we’re grateful that the third-wave of COVID, which peaked mid-June, has now receded and good progress with the vaccination programme – 50% of the adult population have now had their first dose, 35% both doses.
In the southern hemisphere, it’s ‘business as usual’ in July and August. In fact, it’s been a busy, positive period for Novo. Here are the highlights:
- At the start of July we celebrated the graduations of Jose Luis and Huascar, streaming the event via Facebook live so that family members unable to be present in-person could attend. This worked well and we’re planning to broadcast our next graduation too. It’s this Friday (3rd September) at 19.30 local (Eastern) time. Join us if you can! All the details will be available on our Facebook page.
- We began August with a visit from Robin Shackell, the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in La Paz. This visit came about as a result of a chance meeting watching England’s Euro 2021 game vs Denmark a pub in La Paz! We were so encouraged by Robin’s insight, interest, and desire to connect with the team to explore ways of strengthening the work.
- The residents at the Quinta have been busy with a couple of property paintwork jobs. This side of the project has been slow throughout the pandemic, so we’re grateful for the opportunity to be at work outside the Quinta and for the additional income these projects bring.
- Oscar and Bruno, our therapeutic team, are now four weeks into a new project, training a team from a local church in how to deliver ‘Grupos Novo’. This is a brand new initiative we are piloting with Iglesia Internacional de la Familia. Grupos Novo are community-based recovery support groups, built around Novo’s groups programme and a holistic (bio-pscyho-social-spiritual) approach to addiction recovery. Our hope is that Grupos Novo will prove to be a valuable resource for local churches seeking to support people struggling with addictions of all kinds.
