Big Heart for Cochabambinas

I’ve been in Peru and Bolivia for almost 3 weeks now, and I’ve eaten llama and guinea pig, been horseback riding in the Andean mountains, stayed in 9 different hostels and spent a total of 43 hours on long-distance buses! And today didn’t fail to bring yet another new experience…

This afternoon I stood in front of a lovely red brick house, built at the bottom of a deep green valley surrounded by awesome mountains and framed against a clear blue sky. The handwritten sign above the door of the house read ‘Corazon Grande’ (big heart) and it was one of the most tranquil and beautiful places I’ve seen on this trip. Yet the stories of the girls who currently live in the house are almost the complete opposite.

A member of Viva’s Cochabamba network, Corazon Grande cares for 14 girls between the ages of 6 months and 15 years. Some of the girls are orphans, others were simply abandoned by their families, and a sadly high number ran away after suffering sexual or physical abuse in their own homes. Corazon Grande offers the girls a safe place to live, nutritious meals, healthcare, basic education and regular counselling to try and help them work through their difficult experiences.


A few months ago about 8 of the girls took part in a national Viva campaign - Cero Tolerancia al Sexual Abuso Infantil (no tolerance of child sexual abuse) - joining with thousands of other children across Bolivia. Carla, the director of the home, said she noticed a difference in the girls even while the campaign was still going on, telling me that they were “so confident and happy, and more strong - just being part of this big thing that says ‘you matter, you are important, and there are people who will fight to protect you’.” Yet she would never have predicted what the end of the campaign would bring out.


Two of the girls staying at Corazon Grande, girls that had so far been very quiet and unresponsive in the counselling sessions, came to Carla and told her that the director of the school they were at had been sexually abusing them. They told Carla that it had been happening for a while, but they were too scared to say anything. But after the campaign they realised that other adults were saying that it was not ok, and that there were people who would stick up for them and help them if they told someone.

Now Corazon Grande is working with both the network and the local government to make sure the girls are helped and kept safe and that the head of the school is properly dealt with. The government departments for Education and for the Protection of Children are both involved, and the network members have been supporting and praying for the Corazon Grande staff as they help the girls deal with the trauma of what they experienced. Carla also told me that Viva and the network were a great help when she needed to find another school for the girls, as obviously they had to be moved immediately, and the contacts of the network made it easy to place the girls in a new class.


Although much of what I saw and heard today provided a new experience, albeit quite a sad and challenging one, there was one part of it that was reassuringly familiar. I saw, as I always see when I travel with my job, how real people’s lives are being changed by the power of working together. Those two girls’ lives are already showing changes, and I have faith that they will continue to heal and grow, and it took the combined efforts of many different people to bring that about. So yes I really enjoyed the taste of alpaca, yes the many hostels have been entertaining and yes I’ve got some incredible photos of the scenery. But really what I’m bringing back with me is yet more exciting, humbling and inspiring proof that together we really can do more for the struggling children of this world.


~ B from Viva International Office