Updates from Bolivia

Administrator, counselor, and educator, BQEF graduate Alicia Lucasi Callizaya has served as the scholarship program coordinator for BQEF’s sister organization, “Quaker Foundation for Education in Bolivia,” since 2011.  She also supports visiting volunteers and holds workshops for Quaker school administrators and educators. Alicia teaches Neuropedagogy, Didactics, and Curriculum Development at UPEA, the Public University of El Alto, where she has taught for the past seven years.  She is the former director of the Student Residence in Sorata, Bolivia; safe, supportive housing where high school students from remote hamlets could reside during the week. Alicia has visited the U.S. several times and is committed to creating positive cross-cultural connections.

Linguist, activist, and educator, BQEF graduate Ruben Hilari Quispe is the founder and volunteer Coordinator of Jaqi Aru, an organization of bilingual Aymara youth. Ruben and his team of dedicated volunteers work on Aymara language, technology, education, and socio-cultural issues. Their projects include “Wikipidiya” (the Aymara Wikipedia), translating portions of Facebook into Aymara, establishing Duolingo Aymara, and developing the Tupak Katari Aymara University (UNIBOL-A-TK). Ruben has taught English and Aymara since 2002, most recently at UPEA and UNIBOL-A-TK. He is the winner of the 2018 Guaman Poma de Ayala Literature Award. Ruben is convinced that Aymara and other native languages can be developed through and applied to technology.

In her capacity as US Coordinator for the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund, Vickey Kaiser has worked to develop and support cross-cultural education experiences since 2004. She has visited Bolivia twice.