Bolivia

Dona Irma Cuellar: Old Age and Guinea Pigs

Dona Irma with International Service Development Worker George Truckenbrod

The following case study takes a look at Dona Irma Cuellar’s work. She helps to support older people’s organisations in Bolivia, informing them of their rights and helping them to raise guinea pigs!

 

What is day-to-day life like for older people living in Bolivia?

A high proportion of older people in Bolivia will have built their own homes – small, mud brick houses - from mud bricks that have been dried in the sun. Many rural homes comprise of one or two rooms and have no electricity, no bathroom or access to a safe drinking water supply.

Bolivians tend to eat one or two meals a day. The first, eaten in the morning, usually consists of soup and the second, eaten at lunchtime, consists of potatoes, rice or noodles, sometimes vegetables and occasionally meat.

There is little or no economic security for older people in Bolivia, so they need to continue to work in order to support themselves and their families. Many continue to work in small-scale farming activities or in the informal market sector, selling vegetables for example. Furthermore, older people have poor coverage of the health insurance scheme that exists in Bolivia – a scheme that provides free medical attention and medicines.

A high proportion of older people also take care of their grandchildren. Parents often work in other parts of Bolivia during the day, quite far away from their homes, so grandparents help by providing care and support to the younger members of the family.

There is a clear need for more poverty reduction programmes for older people as there are few organisations in Bolivia tackling poverty and old age, nor addressing how older people can contribute to the country’s poverty reduction programme.

What is the project about and how does it help improve the lives of older people within the community?

The project focuses on guinea pigs raising and is supported by the Horizontes Foundation, the Food and Agricultural Organisation and a local non-government organisation in Bolivia.

In the Andean regions of Ecuador and Bolivia, guinea pigs are a culinary delight. The older people raising the guinea pigs can use them either for their own consumption, or for selling, hence contributing to the poverty reduction amongst older people through increased food security and income generation.

Dona Irma’s guinea pigs

On average, a full-grown guinea pig can be sold for about 30 Bs (£1 = 12 Bolivianos approx.) This is quite a lot of money in local context – the majority of older people in Bolivia earn less than 54p a day. A female guinea pig can produce approximately 50 baby guinea pigs a year.

Dona Irma visits and provides technical support to nine other older people on how to raise guinea pigs, the diets for the guinea pigs and disease prevention.

Dona Irma in the white hat working with rural older men and women in her organisation

Dona also attends meetings with health care authorities, works to collect information about the health insurance scheme for older people and shares this information with people she works with. It is a basic right to access information about the rights for older people in Bolivia.

 

How does an initiative like the MDG campaign help to improve the lives of older people in Bolivia?

The first goal of the Millennium Development Campaign is to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger in Bolivia. Older people are often excluded from support to improve their lives. This initiative provides guinea pigs for older people to consume, thus helping to eliminate hunger.

Furthermore, the project provides older people with an income source and the ability to access the older people health insurance scheme, thus contributing to the reduction of poverty in Bolivia.

The government and other institutions can use this project as an example to develop other poverty reduction projects in Bolivia to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal.

 

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Small Pan pipes; Silvia Barone

 

 

 

 

 

Pan pipes played in rural areas; Zoe Hopkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DW Adele Pander visiting IS partner CIPOAP in North (tropical) Bolivia; Cobija