My Journey to Bolivia [PART VII] The goodbyes :( Unfortunately, my last day at Machua had arrived. I had to come back to London for my studies and work at Footy Addicts. I have been in contact with Danny and Jonathan who were worried more about my safety because the riots in La Paz. Nearby to the airport, there were some explosions with bottle bomb, but luckily the situation was coming to an end. The police were able to prevent riots in the city and surroundings. Before taking the taxi to Apolo where I had to get a bus to La Paz, some children had come to my place to say bye. Heartbreaking moments that I will never forget, and cherish forever. I promised them to come back the next year or 2021. Playing football from my childhood has always been a “treatment” for me. To forget problems and enjoy a simpler life, but helping those children to have moments of happiness in a place where being happy is not common, it makes me feel special. I feel so proud to be part of Footy Addicts as they have the same value as me in terms of helping people through football. I will always be in favor of the idea that to change a generation, countries and their politics should invest in education and sports, no matter if it is football, hockey or volleyball. Any of those sports have something in common which is to play as a team, the discipline and the friendship you get playing with your teammates is the key. [Thank you for reading until the end, really appreciate your time and effort, I'll probably come back to Bolivia December of this year, after coronavirus ends, if you'd like to know more about the children, more than welcome to send me private message here or Instagram @louis_fdez ]

My Journey to Bolivia [PART VI] I have spent time with them playing football, talking about the importance of keeping family close to you and being safe. Also, I shared some advice on doing school-work, as most of them have to walk during the night with no lights and the roads are dangerous because of wild animals. Unfortunately, the Machua community has not got a pharmacy around, not even a hospital, the nearest pharmacy is 3 hours-walking and not everyone in the village has an automobile, only 3 or 4 have a car, otherwise, you have to wait in the middle of the road and hitch hike hoping someone picks you up. Especially health centres because most of the population died of unattended sickness, contagious diseases, snakes bites, etc. The football level at Machua was incredible. The kids played so well and a decent competitive level. The children were so brave kicking the ball with no shoes, (slightly disappointing from my part as I didn’t think some of them wouldn't have shoes to play in) but after speaking with some of them, they told me they feel more comfortable not wearing them. They asked me to play, and hell yes, I played a game. I wish I could play more, however I had spent 5 min running and stopping because of the high pressure hehe so, I have decided to play as a referee from the bench. I couldn’t handle any more!

My Journey to Bolivia [PART V] As part of the event, we created some special Christmas baskets for those families who needed it most and couldn’t attend due to working in the farms and were there with their kids. For the special event, we went to the forest to cut a small tree to pretend Santa Claus will come during the night with the Christmas tree included. I’d say it was the best Christmas tree I had in my life. This experience we created was the first part of the event, and now for the second part. The football tournaments! For many, this was more exciting for all those boys and girls. We set up the groups in categories, boys and girls with subcategories kids and youth, a total of 15 teams of futsal (5-aside) and we played at the school grounds. We gave them all the equipment that Footy Addicts provided us such as t-shirts, water, fruits juices, snacks and other refreshments. I have met and heard many stories from some parents and children that now I consider them warriors. These children have to work in rural areas where there is no transport at all to get there and then go to school. Some of them even have to leave in the middle of the class as their homes are around 1.5 hours walking away, and they need to get home before night falls. Many kids study in the afternoon and work in the morning (Saturdays and Sundays included!) and this was their daily routine.

My Journey to Bolivia [PART IV] The Event :) After a few days working hard preparing stuff, gathering equipment, finding people who can help us cook and serve all the kids, the day had arrived. We had to go to the school (the only one at Machua) to ask the director to help us promote the event. As there is no internet there, the only way to make children aware of our event was by word-of-mouth. The event was expected to have around 150 young children, from ages 2 to 16 years old. Boys and girls came from different parts of the community and even from some villages with a 2 hour walk away. It was incredible for us to see how parents, brothers and sisters helped bring their kids. We had a total of 200 children and it made us really happy to see every child's smile. They enjoyed it so much when they received the food and gifts, and for us seeing the groups of kids to play with each other was truly special. Parents helped me to prepare the food and keep an eyev to the children, as they were many and need supervision when they are playing around, despite all, the people opened up the church’s door us, the church, where normally every Sunday they go with their families. In the morning, We had breakfast with hot chocolate, and in the afternoon pasta with soup. continue .....

My Journey to Bolivia [PART III] So the day had arrived, I had researched where to buy the food & gifts but logistically it was very difficult.. My cousin and friends helped me a lot because they were near to Machua and it wouldn’t have been possible without them. To get Machua from La Paz, there is no regular transport such as buses, taxis or airport close by. However, there was a coach to go from the capital la Paz to Apolo (Machua) once a week with around roughly 20 passengers. This journey took 15 hours! We took a flight from London to Madrid on 25/11, then Madrid to Santa Cruz, after that we had to take another flight from Santa Cruz to La Paz. We stayed in a hotel in La Paz (to rest after 2 days in a row travelling) and find out how to get to Apolo. However, our first challenge was already in front of us; the location has an altitude between 4,200m and 5,400m, which gives great difficulties for breathing! We went to the bus terminal and we have been told with the crisis situation in the country, it was really difficult to find a bus to get Apolo. Apart from the duration (15 hours), there were more difficulties; the road was damaged and dangerous to get through. However, after 2 days we finally got tickets to do the last journey to Apolo. Travelling through La Paz, I saw beautiful and extraordinary views, for hours I thought I was living in a painting. So many different animals llamas, alpacas and foxes are among many more I spotted along the way to Machua. It’s hard to imagine how people live and keep their animals alive in such extreme living conditions.

My journey to Bolivia [PART II] | Reasons why I organize this event | One of the main reasons we have been working and prepare this journey is the belief on happiness that every child deserve in the world when they are kids, the love of a father’s hug or a decent present in Christmas. My mum and I felt that and we thought, it would be perfect to do this in our journey to Bolivia. A year ago, I had organised something similar in another city, but never shared with anyone and preparing in detail like this. We find out that still, children are living in a hard and bad condition there, and fathers are struggling to put kids at school, many of them at Machua have not primary education and is hard to get to a pharmacy or even hospital in case of emergency. And we believed that the perfect place to do this was the community where my mum found grandma, after a long trip. The second reason was the situation in La Paz in Oct 2019, most communities around la Paz have been affected by political issues, so after that, it has been increasing the poorness in the rest of the small villages nearby including Machua. This was caused and damaged the city with many protesters setting fire to electoral offices across the country, and many injure and deaths.

My journey to Bolivia [PART I] My name is Luis I was born in Bolivia and I moved to Spain when I was a teenager. My childhood has some bad memories as my father abandoned us when I was a child. In those years (80’s) my mum had to take the role of dad, mother, brother and sister (hero). In 2013, when I was 23 years old, I have moved to London, to earn some money, learn English and back to Spain with mum. Luckily, things get better once I learnt English, so I decided to bring my mum here. Currently doing my internship at Footy Addicts, as operations manager, organising some games and doing what I love most, football. They have helped me so much with this journey in terms of marketing, investment and share the same values as me, education and youth are the future, and I was 100% confident they would like to collaborate with this project. Well, as I mentioned, I got a better job and I started to think to make this big adventure to Bolivia with my mum. My mum, R born in La Paz, in a small village called Machua, those years were harder than it is nowadays, people used to have their own domestic servants in a bad condition and not well treated (1980’s) unfortunately my mum has passed all those situations, it is a sadness part from our background. She had been separated from her mum when she was around 15 years old, she, as many other children had to work to get some money and back from the city to the village Machua (2 hours-walking). She had me with 22-years old and see the opportunity to travel to Europe to get a new life because Bolivia was in a big crisis. She never forgot his mother and promise to herself that one day she would back to find her. and that happened in 2018, what an amazing and emotional moments [ Thank you for taking your time :) ]

advising a friend about holiday, friend wants to spend a two-week holiday in your region. Dear Franz I just got your letter and I think I can help you. Let me tell that I felt so happy when I received your letter about your holiday to my hometown. I’m completely sure you’re going to enjoy this holidays because I’ll send you some information, which will be useful for you. There are some places and hotels, you could stay for days. And also they are nearly from museums and emblematic buildings. As I said there are a lot of places you can visit but I wonder to tell you some things you could do in your journey. One of my favourite places is go to mountains outside town. There is a lot of ways you also can climbing but I’m telling you that it’s going to be worth it. I wish you not being injured by those risk sports. I recommend to you bring thick clothes because the weather here is warm and hottest than other countries. So that’s all I have to say, without further ado. Hope to see you soon ASAP Your friend, Luis

Inviting a friend, planning a surprise birthday party for a friend who has been feeling sad. Dear Katherine I’m writing to invite you to the party, it’s for one of our classmate who has been sad these days. We’re organising a party and would love it if you could come and, if is possible could bring some fruits and drinks. The lovely meeting will be at wendover house, thurlow street on 29 of June. I wonder if you could bring as I said some fruits, because we are thinking to make a different types of salads fruits. We also are making a big cake so we’ll need help, it would be grateful if you guys come early to my flat for making the big cake before the guests are arriving. Looking forward to seeing you then, here are a few directions so you don’t get lost: Elephant and castle station / Bus Stop (A) Alsace Road / Thurlow Street. In case you don’t know the way you can call me any time. 07587631...