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Adventures and misadventures in Bolivia

Two young women experience a trip of a lifetime

par Pierre Boulanger
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Article mis en ligne le 13 septembre 2007 à 11:44
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Julie Dubé.

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Adventures and misadventures in Bolivia

Two young women experience a trip of a lifetime

Courageous, determined, full of adventure… and misadventures, 21-year-old Julie Dubé and 22-year-old Lucie Bouchard Bellemare, are two young women who don't shy away from a challenge. They just returned from Bolivia and Peru, where they spent 10 weeks involved in a humanitarian project.

The two women, who are in their last year of ergotherapy studies at the Université de Montréal, acquired the kind of life experience that they won't soon forget. Volunteering in Sucre, Bolivia, the girls worked hard to improve the quality of life for the orphans and the intellectually handicapped in this corner of South America.

Twenty-one year old Julie Dubé resided in LaSalle for two years and now lives in Longueuil. She worked in an orphanage in Bolivia. Twenty-two year old Lucie Bouchard Bellemare has been residing in LaSalle for over 20 years and she volunteered at a psychiatric institution.

Ergotherapy consist of evaluation and treatment in order to improve a person's functional independence through the use of work activities. It also consists of aiding a patient to manage pain and stress and develop appropriate strategies to deal with both.

An ambitious project

Created in 2003, the project is aimed at 3rd year ergotherapy students. "We were eight girls. It's been a dream of mine to travel abroad and study or take part in an internship. This year proved to be ideal timing for me," explains Julie.

"I was always interested in travelling to South America and working in my field. We had to really explain and 'sell' our profession, since ergotherapy does not exist in Bolivia."

No one attempts such a trip without planning. "There were six months of preparation. We sold raffle tickets and organized events. The money enable us to defray parts of the costs of our trip, such as vaccinations, Spanish lessons, passport fees, travel insurance, etc. We received two grants and a government organization defrayed 70% of the cost of our plan tickets. There, we paid everything out of our own pockets."

They flew out of Dorval on June 1 and four planes later, they landed in Sucre, Bolivia.

Julie and Lucie's mission

In the case of Lucie Bouchard Bellemare and the psychiatric institution, it was a campus with eight residences for patients, with a bakery, a laundry room, doctors. I had a single room with a shower and a toilet. We taught the therapists on site about the benefits of ergotherapy for mental health. To reintegrate certain patients, they were given small jobs at the bakery or the laundry room, but there was no supervision. People with intellectual handicaps were with patients suffering from schizophrenia, epilepsy and I was surprised to see that they would give cigarettes to patients as a reward."

In the case of Julie Dubé and the orphanage, the goal was to make the environment safer and reduce developmental delays among the children. "We worked on muscle development and posture, as well as put some order in day to day tasks in the orphanage."

From one misadventure to another

Julie and Lucie had their share of hardships, but Julie was particularly affected. While in Bolivia the very first week, she received news that her father had passed away. Four plane rides and two days later she was in Montreal for the funeral. "My father's family offered to pay my plane ride to return to Bolivia. I acquired a bit less experience than the other students, but I did what I could," she says.

Julie's Odyssey did not come to an end. Upon her arrival in Bolivia, her strength of character was put to the test as she was the victim of a theft orchestrated by a fake taxi driver and fake police officers. "I got off a bus around 3 a.m. and a taxi driver asked if there were people going to Sucre. I got in the cab. A couple of people intercepted the taxi and claimed to be police officers. They asked me to empty my bag and stole my American money, my camera, my MP3 player, etc. All I was left with was a bit of Bolivian currency. They dumped me in the middle of the road at night. A real taxi driver drove me to a police station where I filed a police report. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I regret nothing."

Beautiful country

Despite some negative experiences, the two women fell in love with Bolivia. "It's such a beautiful country! There's jungle, there's desert, magnificent scenery, splendid mountains, etc."

Julie and Lucie took advantage of their last two weeks to visit Peru and discover Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city perched high in the Andes. Located at an altitude of 2,350 metres and in ruins, Machu Picchu is the most important archeological site in Peru and was recently designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

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