Our history

Friends of Bolivia is a registered charity founded in 1983 to relieve poverty, advance education and promote health in Bolivia, South America. Through our fund-raising events we try to promote the culture of the country. In February 1983, a group of Bolivian ladies and British sympathisers met when news reached us of the great distress caused by the drought on the Altiplano. We held our first fund-raising event, which was an instant success and we were able to send urgently needed funds. What appeared to be a one-off event is now a thriving venture that will hopefully continue for a long time.

Our mission is to help to improve the living conditions of Bolivia's poorest and neediest, particularly women, children and elderly people. Over the last few years we have supported dozens of initiatives and contributed over £134,000.00 (USD 193,400) in aid to Bolivia. Most of the projects we support are directed towards relieving poverty, advancing education and promoting the health of children, women, and the elderly living in the slums in main cities or in remote rural areas, including the Amazon.

The funds are sent to projects in different parts of the country. These funds are mainly sent to and are administered by established charitable organisations working in Bolivia. Friends of Bolivia has also representatives in Bolivia to monitor the use of the funds.

In June 1998 Friends of Bolivia was able to send USD 10,000 to reconstruct 15 homes in the peasant community of Montecillos, near Cochabamba. This area suffered a devastating earthquake in May 1998. After the powerful thunderstorm that raged in the Department of La Paz in February 2002, we have been able to send USD 9,655 to reconstruct the school of Jupapina in the district of Mallasa of La Paz. Not included in the above sum are several wheel chairs and parcels of children's clothes sent to different institutions.

Over the years Friends of Bolivia has received awards in recognition for our work in Bolivia, some of which include:

• "Kantuta de la Amistad" Award, 11 April 1999 given by the Confederacion Nacional de Instituciones Femeninas in La Paz, Bolivia. Friends of Bolivia was nominated for this award by the "Damas Voluntarias" of the Children's Hospital in La Paz, in recognition for the support given to the Hospital since 1983.
  
• An inscribed plated awarded by His Excellency The Bolivian Ambassador to Great Britain, Sr. Marcelo Pérez Monasterio and his wife Sra. Elba de Pérez on 13 March 2002 in recognition of the work of Friends of Bolivia.
  

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