Do you want to become a Volunteer? Quieres venir como voluntario(a)? Vil Du komme som frivillig?  What is a volunteer? In order to become one, it is important to define what a volunteer is. For example: a volunteer is a person who goes somewhere and takes action in a given activity out of his/her own free will or ideological belief without getting paid back in any other way than feeling satisfaction for becoming a part of the change/impact that she/he is generating with these actions. We believe a volunteer is much more than that. A volunteer is a very sensible human being who no longer can stand watching a situation, in our case, a volunteer is a light warrior whos soul is still awake, not zombified by genetically manipulated food or junk media. A volunteer is someone so intact, the actual system has not yet killed his/hers imagination, spirit, willpower, creativity and freedom to decide what kind of world we would like to live in. Many would say, I am just one person incapable of changing the world... but look at all those sandcorns in a beach, take one in your hand, look at a drop of water, look at a snowflake, they are just as or even more insignificant than anyone of us, but still humans are made of very small cells, even smaller than drops of water or snowflakes. Even the whole planet earth is no more than a sandcorn in the vast universe, but the universe is an infinite place we can barely imagine and our planet is ONE very important of all the small particles the universe is made of. A lonely sandcorn probably means very little, but the sum of all corns of sand is what a beach is made of, a river so mighty like the Amazon starts as a drop of water up in the Andes mountains and a snowstorm made of many small flakes, can easily take our lives when unprepared... so little and insignificant, but still so powerful when many... Do you see what a volunteer is for us? A volunteer is our corn of sand, our snowflake, our drop of water, when we become together us one, there is nothing in this system that can stand unchanged, together we can create or change whatever existing structure, because there is absolute no one who said the planet had to live in such destruction and selfmade prisons... The oceans polluted with oil just about everywhere, many forms of life in danger of extinction, humans living their lives like machines being part of this senseless destruction just because of the foolish belief that "I, as an individual, cannot change anything..." We as individuals are a part of the whole and whatever we do, has an impact in the whole planet either we like it or not. The furniture I buy can be the reason why someone is cutting the trees in the Amazon, the clothes I wear maybe a product of slavery, the food I eat is maybe full of poisons and full of pollution. My actions definitely have an impact on the whole planet. Do not just let the system offer you coke or pepsi, Mcdonalds or burger king, packed food or canned food, there is plenty to choose from and a lot of it can be grown by ourselves... Do I have the personal choice of changing this development or should I just be one of the many whos souls are assleep? I can join other drops of water and do something so beautiful and loving, that many more will feel the need to join and become the river we want to become. I am not a hero because of this, I am just a survivor taking responsability for life in general. I am someone who cannot stand there and watch how lonely and loveless the people in our planet are living their lives, coming and going without a purpose, living in a meaningless state, dying in life accepting whatever rulers or the media tell them to believe... We are not just travelers who want to take pictures around running from one train to another, we are creative adventurers who seek other places to get inspiration so we can change our lives where we live... we are the future inspirers, we are the many who have decided to travel to heal ourselves and the planet, we are drops of water, full of love, we gather and build a new future... first here, then there, tomorrow somewhere else, it does not matter where because the earth is OUR planet, our home, the one containing all the beautiful beings like you and me, the garden that feeds you and me, the earth is still our mother and provider until we move to another planet, the earth is no more and no less than you and me. If the earth is sick and dying, so are you and me... that is why we need you as a volunteer. When you come to Bolivia, please bring oceans of water and sand beaches inside of you, bring love, an open mind and a couple of snowstorms, do not believe you know more or less than the people you are about to live with, try not to expect anything, just come with the desire to give your love to the planet. Together we can build whatever future we desire and that is called... FAITH. Welcome as a volunteer !!!!
Why do I have to pay when working as a volunteer? To charge or not to charge...that is the question. This is a tough question to answer and some of our volunteers ask about it, so the ILP will try to give the reasons why you pay for your own food and lodging while working as a volunteer at our ecovillage. It is a consensus institutional decision to charge the volunteers for food and lodging: As a tourist anywhere in the world you would have to pay to stay in any youth hostal, hotel, etc. Even if you are in a sunbathing vacation or wondering about from place to place and not having the oportunity to cooperate for the reconditioning of our pachamama (earth), wouldn't you?. The ILP charges you only $us 10.- daily (3 meals and lodging. Note: Sundays volunteers themselves prepare food and clean up after themselves).
Even being at the cheapest lodging possibility and having 2-3 meals a day that will not give you stomach problems, would cost you a minimum of 15 $us a day in just about any country in Latin America and much more in Europe and the U.S. The ILP gives you 3 meals at our ecocenter and you are helping us to create a job for a widow from the village.
Some may think that their work is worth meals and lodging, and we apreciate the work of our volunteers, but we never know what kind of volunteers we are going to get, some are wonderful others may just be taking a vacation, but all of us need to eat and need a place to sleep. We do not want for our volunteers to be superhuman, we want for them to feel welcome, alive and mostly free.
That is what the ILP consideres volunteering, coming and giving what you want to give while you help us to create a job for one villager for a month. Work is therefore, not compulsory at the ecocenter, but it keeps you healthy, strong, useful and gives you the feeling that you are doing something for the planet, yourself and all of us involved in this venture... If we would give you food and lodging, you would not be a volunteer anymore, you would be doing consultancy work for a payment and worst of all; you would be taking a job from a local villager and the food from his/her table. You are helping our life project to survive, because we do not have any funding from anyone at all. We are doing it ourselves and that is the way we want to do it too. Independence and freedom, no conditioning from any government or entity.
For us it is important that volunteers get awareness about how the world functions
Money rich countries (industrialized, developed) live parasiting on resource rich countries (Developing countries, poor countries), they have done it in America for the last 500 years. Their high standards of living have to do with all the bananas, minerals, forests, plant oils, avocados, guabas, ananas, etc, etc ,etc.that are taken from developing countries almost for free. The result of all exports in countries like Bolivia are: devastated forests, slavelike working conditions. Do we want to continue being a part of it? or do you think Industrialized countries should start paying a little for all these natural resources that are taken from the mouths of the ones who are producing them? Lets say that we are giving our volunteers the oportunity to pay back a little of the ecological debt industrialized countries owe developing countries like Bolivia!!! The ILP is taking action and you have the possibility of becoming an active part of bringing justice to the planet by coming to stay with us and sharing the goods. For example: The capitalistic system we live in today, has made it possible for a European or for North Americans, to buy a ticket from Europe or the US towards Bolivia for 1/3 the price the absolute same ticket costs from Bolivia to Europe or the US...All we are trying to do is create consciousness that experiencing and becoming a part of the work we are doing has to be a shared expense. The money you leave in our projects helps us to create jobs for local people, helps us to give free courses (because they do not have the possibility to pay for one), plant gardens and therefore; become more natural while taking care of the beautiful environment you are visiting and being a part of when staying with us. By working 3-6 months in their countries, volunteers get enough money to travel for months or even a year. For you it is an adventure, you can always go back, study, have material benefits, etc... For most bolivians the adventure turns into a surviving one...Our villagers live from day to day, hoping their jobs are going to be there for them, they do not have retirements or anything. The ILP is trying to create hope for the villagers who have decided to work and become ecovillagers. We want for them to see that ecology pays back, leaves food on the table and helps them to really develop their country by not destroying it.
There is a deep reason why we charge our volunteers, We have experienced that the road from idealism to frustration is very short and that it is important to be able to regenerate the energy that is going out of the ecosystem and from the culture in general when people visit the place and get experience, inspiration,etc. This means that we give and take resources into the system and use them inside the system... This is selfsustainability...
How to get to Marquina It is best to arrive to the Cochabamba Airport. If not possible, it is ok to arrive to La Paz or to Sta. Cruz, but it gives you a 6 and 8 hour bus ride if you arrive to these other cities. When in Cochabamba, you take a cab to Quillacollo which is 13 km away from Cochabamba. The cab costs about 4 $us. 20-25 bolivianos. When in Quillacollo, it is best to call a radio taxi called "Integración" tel Number 4263030 or 4260603...you ask for movil número 20 and he is a nice guy who will take you to: "LA Iglesia de Guadalupe en Marquina". If cab number 20 is not available, anyone of them will take you there. The operator knows us well, so you just can say that you want to go to "La familia Hidalgo en Marquina" and she will send a cab who knows the place. The cab from Quillacollo - Marquina costs 15-20 bolivianos 2,5-3 $us and the ride is only 5,5 km but on a not so good road like the one from Cochabamba to Quillacollo. When in Marquina, knock on the black door beside the Guadalupe church which is the center of the village. Ask for Reynaldo de la Fuente and please wait for him. The black door beside the church is my house, you can wait there if you like and see the place. That is a perfect example of a permaculture garden. My parents home is in the same land 30 meters away from my house. The ecocenter lies 350 meters away from the church. When you meet any of us, you just sign your contract, it is best to do it at your arrival so we can keep record of the dates and make the food lodging arrangements, it is also adviceable pay for the month(s) you will stay. We will give you your cabin key and if there are not too many volunteers at the ecocenter when you come you may even get a cabin of your own, if not you will have to share it with another volunteer. Welcome as a volunteer!!!
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