“On the lower level, the factory operated, and it had to be that way because of the repeated complaints for the loud bothersome noises at all hours of the night. Upstairs lived the workers, separated by wood and fabric, there were more than 15 families and single individuals. They shared one bathroom between everyone, one kitchen where Flora Villca Quispe (Juana’s sister) cooked each day, there were poor electrical connections, and a storage area where rolls of fabric were stored in order to be cut and sewed.”

According to one of the workshop supervisors, there were never any safety inspections, which was refuted by some of the workers, who said that they were ordered to hide when police and inspectors arrived. Because of the poor electrical connections, a fire started and lit some of the flammable materials like fabric and cloth.

“It didn’t take long for (the fire) to grow and start to devour one by one the rolls (of fabric) and other objects that could be found in its path. The children who were there screamed as loud as they could, but nothing, they could not be heard. On the first floor all that could be felt was the smell of resignation and the radio that served to lull and help the workers withstand, not only the long hours, but also the conditions in which they had to live.

They could not leave, only scream, because a lock impeded their freedom and at that moment, to be able to save their lives. They were enclosed in a mortal trap, which can be found in practically all of the places where children are located in those factories.

After a short time, the cook came down and started to yell “help! they are burning upstairs!” and then the nightmare started.”

The nightmare continued when 6 people were found dead, including 5 children. Even though the local government started to crack down on some of these illegal factories, which totaled 650 and had totaled more than 1500 infractions, it left thousands of people out of work.

The cultural group Symbiosis Cultural [es], comprised of Bolivian immigrants living in Buenos Aires, and some of which have experienced firsthand some of these factories, wants to honor those victims of that fire. They also want to raise awareness of the working conditions of many of their fellow Bolivians.

On March 30, 2010, they are holding an act of remembrance at the factory, where a book and documentary will be presented, as well as statements from survivors. The event is being promoted by the website No Olvidamos! (Let’s Not Forget!) and the group will be blogging about the event, uploading photos and sharing information on social networking sites like Facebook.

Voces Bolivianas is supporting the event as part of our activities with the Bolivian community in Argentina, and has been helping Symbiosis Cultural with the blog and assisting them with posting material and information on their site.

BarCamps have been taking place all across the world, and this was Bolivia’s 3rd such event. The first was organized by Voces Bolivianas in the city of El Alto in August 2008. According to the main BarCamp website:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.

In this spirit, several members of the Voces Bolivianas community across the country played key roles in the event, including the two principle organizers, Anne Arrázola and Jessica Olivares, both of whom have coordinated workshops in Santa Cruz.

Hugo Miranda, VB’s technical coordinator, gave one of the keynote addresses where he shared his life experiences in the world of web 2.0. He shared the history of Voces Bolivianas with the audience from its early beginnings in 1997.

Mario Durán also gave a presentation via Skype from his home in El Alto about the project WiFi El Alto.

A new sister project called Jaqi Aru was formally launched at BarCamp and was represented by Ruben Hilari, one of the first VB participants in El Alto, joined by Edwin Quispe.

Computer Lab at Santa Maria Church

Another place where one can find a growing community of Bolivians, as well as other Latin American nationalities is Santa Maria Church in Falls Church (located 13 km from the nation’s capital). Thanks to help of the parish priest, as well as other congregation members, the doors were opened for Voces Bolivianas to provide a series of workshops to their community in July 2009, which was held in their computer lab with internet access.

Workshop at Santa Maria Church

Hace una semana nuestros amigos de Hiper Barrio, el proyecto de Nuevas Tecnologias en Medellín, Colombia ganaron el NICA GOLDEN 2008, de ARS Electronica, en la categoria de Comunidades Digitales aca les pasamos la nota de Prensa:

DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

HiperBarrio

http://hiperbarrio.org

“HiperBarrio” is a community of young bloggers that developed out of what were initially two independent initiatives in Medellín, Colombia: Álvaro Ramírez’ video blogging workshops and the media workshops of Juliana Rincón and Jorge Montoya. They then joined forces to form four groups whose activities included blogging, workshops and events. The ConVerGentes group has succeeded in establishing itself locally as well as getting integrated into international networks. Thanks to a very active lineup of offerings, “HiperBarrio” is in the process of expanding its activities both on site and far beyond. In going about this, the proprietors formed a partnership with the Universidad Católica del Norte. “HiperBario” has been singled out for recognition with the Golden Nica in the DIGITAL COMMUNITIES category.

Y tambien pueden revisar los festejos que hicieron los muchachos de Hiper Barrio en este otro link:

¡Hiperbarrio Gana el Prix Ars Electrónica en la categoría Digital Communities!

Desde Voces Bolivianas los Felicitamos por el gran trabajo que vienen haciendo en Medellin y en Colombia.

Y como no Voces Bolivianas obtuvo mencion honorifica, en la misma categoria tambien.

Hola amigos:

Les saluda Juan Arellano, soy Editor para el Sitio Global Voices en Español, que es la versión castellana de Global Voices on line. Este sitio se dedica a publicar noticias de todo el mundo pero basadas en lo que los blogguers dicen y opinan sobre ellas, no en lo que dicen los medios tradicionales. Para esto contamos con una red de escritores que recopilan lo posteado por los blogguers de cada país y lo publican en inglés en nuestro sitio principal. Luego van saliendo las diversas versiones a otros idiomas, entre ellos el castellano, italiano, francés, portugués, macedonio, chino, japonés, indonesio, persa, árabe, swahili y algunos más que no recuerdo ahorita. Todo esto con la colaboración de un gran grupo de traductores voluntarios repartidos alrededor del mundo. (Leer más sobre esto acá)

Ah y claro, la contraparte que también les puede interesar: Los autores que escribimos artículos para Global Voices incluyendo las opiniones (y posts) de varios de ustedes, por lo general luego de publicar nos damos con la sorpresa que siempre se nos pasaron varios blogs con puntos de vista y opiniones muy interesantes que nos hubiera gustado incluir. Así que si consideran que algún post suyo (original, nada de copy and paste de un periódico) vale la pena ser incluido en nuestros artículos (normalmente sobre sucesos de actualidad) pues envíennoslos a este correo: eduardo@vocesbolivianas.org y quizás lo vean luego traducido al malgache o al danés. También nos interesan posts sobre viajes, con fotos y/o videos, o alguna experiencia personal interesante.

Bueno, gracias de antemano y espero sus respuestas.

Saludos

Juan Arellano Valdivia