by Jim Bratt
19 May 2005
"Julia" is an abandoned wife caring for three children. She earns a few pesos by washing clothes in the irrigation canal down the street. "Rosa" is a young mother of four who keeps her family alive with income from shining shoes (a job usually done by young boys). An illness in the family consumed all her shoe-shine money, and now she's begging in order to fill a medical prescription. Women in Bolivian must juggle child raising responsibilities, cooking and washing clothes with their efforts to earn income, whether or not there's a man in the house. When trouble strikes, they have no savings or insurance. Life is hard for most Bolivian women.

God has given us an opportunity to try and help a number of women like Julia and Rosa. Thanks to an outlet in the United States for knitted products, and contact with a local sweater company, we have been able to help provide work for a number of women in El Alto of La Paz, both in the church and outside. The Qompi Project was set up as a knitting cooperative to give training and opportunities to earn an income for these women and their families. Our goal is to increase their skill levels, help generate income, promote working together in groups, and create a vision for Christian outreach to other needy women. We feel that as the Lord blesses this effort, the lives of some of them will be eternally changed.