KDurant7 blog adventures

LaPaz, Bolivia 1981

When Bolivia created a new democratic type constitution, the economy fell apart with the 4^th worst recorded inflation in all of recent history. We witnessed the dollar exchange go from roughly 20 pesos per dollar to 2,500,000 per dollar over a period of 2 years! We would carry 30 pounds of bills to the market to buy 30 pounds of groceries! This inflation created chaos with every profession as prices of all things doubled from week to week, yet salaries did not. There were daily off and on protests and strikes of teachers, drivers, doctors, and more. One sector that was affected the most was the mining industry. There were many mass layoffs, and the workers would travel to the capital, LaPaz, to protest. They would bring with them small dynamite charges and would set them off daily in the streets to get attention and in retaliation the police would shoot tear gas into the crowds to disperse them. I taught English as a second language there and I had to pass through the downtown “Prado” street daily and for several months the tear gas would randomly flow to break up the protests. It was a very hard situation for the indigenous workers as mining was all they knew and the price they would get per pound for tin or silver digging in the mines was suddenly not near enough for their salaries or equipment. I learned to walk fast and to cover my nose as tear gas is quite potent and very irritating! Eventually the protests faded away, but the despair of the people persisted. Since it was in part the World Bank and US policies that provoked the economic crisis, I was often targeted as a scapegoat and harsh words were frequently spoken to me just for being “North American”. How was the chaos somehow my fault!? I apologized 1,000s of times to people I met and explained that I was there to bring them the good news of the gospel and I had nothing to do with those in high places that implemented such policies provoking such extreme consequences. I did what I could to spread the gospel of Jesus, but times were hard for everyone to survive but the Lord did get us through it with many small miracles.