Overview of the Project for the Home for the Elders”

Few people actually make it to an advanced age in Bolivia. The life expectancy in the US is 76; in Bolivia it is 65, in rural Bolivia it is 55. Children expect to take care of their parents in their home when they take over the fields. 

 However, the Need:  

Click photo for a short video on women pleading for a home

•  There are an alarming number of Senior adults whose children have all died
• Tremendous numbers of children migrate to Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile looking for subsistence work. Often they do not have the resources to ‘send money back’ to support their parents.
• There was no formal “Social Security System” in Bolivia until 2008, when President Morales installed one. It currently gives indigent elderly 200bs a month ($28.55 -  less than $1/day – the definition of extreme poverty in Boliva)
• There are a couple of private, very expensive nursing homes in Bolivia for the wealthy.
• The Bolivian government has 2 for the poor: Overcrowded hell-holes.
  

  Leaders of the Fellowship of Senior Adults explaining the project

The Plan 

• Build a 30-room Nursing Home for Methodist Elders near La Paz.
• Include: kitchen, dining hall, public gathering area, and gardening area.
• Include in-door toilets, probably the first time many of these folks will have every had their own private indoor toilet!
• Cost  of the ‘shell’ of the building is approximately $55,000
• Moody UMC in Galveston Texas provided $27,500.
• The IEMB has already spent $12,000 of their funds on the land.
• The Oklahoma Annual Conference provided $20,000 through the Petree Foundation.
• Construction of the shell began in August 2011 

Click Here for an Update on Construction

Click Here for how you can help us complete this project

Click Here for How We Plan on Paying for Operations

Donate Now: 

 The easiest and simplest way to donate is to click on the Donate logo and it will take you directly to the GBGM webpage set up for the Bolivian Ministry for the Elderly. You can donate by PayPal/Credit Card. 

Or you can donate through your local church treasurer. Have them forward it to the Conference Treasurer for Advance Special #3020535 “Bolivian Home for the Elderly” on the notation line