Train Young People to Become Youth Leaders in Bolivia
Thursday, December 17, 2009

Project Code: 211-20-49

Father William Ugarte of Uncía faces no easy task when he sets out to visit his parishioners. His Parish of San Miguel, set at close to 14,500 feet high in the Andes, comprises 208 small villages, scattered through the mountains and accessible only by rough tracks and unmade roads. But despite his exertions, he rejoices every time he arrives in one of these villages, for the people have been awaiting their priest with great fervor and celebrate their faith with heartfelt joy – often with singing and dancing and colorful processions.

Yet Father Ugarte also knows that many things will have to change if the people here are to have a future, for the Indian peoples here live in extreme poverty. Once tin mining flourished in this region, but the mines are now closed and there is no work. The whole region is economically ruined. Even through agriculture it is hard to earn much. The people do not really know how to farm the land properly and the shallow soil in any case yields very little. The harsh climate does the rest. 

Above all there is a lack of educational opportunities. Nowhere else in Bolivia, which is already among the poorest countries of Latin America, are there so many people unable to read or write, and this lack of education also means that most people – and above all the young – cannot escape from their poverty. The region is completely neglected by the government, Father Ugarte complains. This combination of frustration and boredom often leads to violence, and the inhabitants of the various villages sometimes engage in bloody conflicts with one another.

There is much here that the Church can do, such as persuading young people to alter their behavior and discover a purpose in their lives. But this is something that cannot be achieved by the priest alone, especially in a parish covering such a vast area, since he obviously cannot be everywhere at once. As a result, Father Ugarte wants to train up a group of young people, aged between 16 and 23, who can become leaders of their contemporaries and of the other, younger people, and show them how to live their lives according to the Gospel.

Father Ugarte knows well that the situation is little different in the other parishes of the high Andes, and so he also wants to offer this program to young people from nine other parishes. The aim is to train up to 30 young people to become youth leaders and assume responsibility for the youth apostolate in the parishes of the high Andes. But this is not all the program is intended to accomplish, since the idea is also to equip these young people with a variety of valuable practical skills, so that the rest of the population can also benefit from this knowledge. In this way these young men and women would also be able to help the people in their villages to improve their living conditions and their economic development.

We have already promised Father Ugarte $2,500. It is amazing to think that such a relatively small amount can help to transform the lives of so many people high in the Andes uplands. Will you join in supporting Father Ugarte as he works to train young people to become leaders Bolivia?

Progress: 24% Raised: $ 600     Goal: $ 2500

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