Bolivia > Puerto Camacho > Team
Puerto Camacho Project Manager: Rene Calderon
Rene Calderon was born in an urban area on the outskirts of Potosi, Bolivia. He is the youngest of nine siblings. His father, Victor Calderon, was a miner but sadly passed away from tuberculosis when Rene was just five, leaving his mother, Victoria Cruz, to bring up all there nine children alone. Growing up in rural Bolivia, Rene’s mother, was not educated. Not being able to read or write herself, her dream was to give all her children the opportunity to have an education and overcome their situation to become all that they could be.
She worked hard and sacrificed greatly to make this happen. To use the little resources she had most effectively she invested more in the education of the eldest two children. They learned all they could and taught their younger their siblings, therefore only having to pay the minimum school fees for the younger children.
The family worked hard to make ends meet. Three forms of income provided enough for basics such as a roof over their heads, basic food to eat and school fees. At home the older children produced confectionary such as sweets, crisps and angels made from corn which the younger children bagged up and took to sell to local shops or directly to people on the street. They also had a small neighbourhood shop in which each of the children took turns working. Even without being able to read or write, Rene’s mother also created an informal business whereby she would travel to Bolivia’s borders with Peru and Argentina to purchase goods to transport back to Potosi and sell to local stores. They also received a small pension after the death of their father.
Rene began working in the shop and selling the home-made confectionary from the age of 6. His day consisted of school in the mornings, working and homework in the afternoons, and free time to play with children in the neighbourhood from around 7pm.
The family of ten lived in three rooms and had a kitchen area. Three to four slept in each room, with two or three to a bed. Rene finally had his own room at age 25 when his older siblings had married and moved out. At 9 years old, Rene responded to the invitation by the local church to join the choir group. The affect of joining the group changed the direction of his life. His mother saw the positive effect it was having on him, so allowed him to attend the group activities instead of working in the family businesses.
As well as practicing singing and performing in front of the church, the children and their parents were taught about other areas such as the word of God, values such as loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself, good values for living, and practical themes such as first aid etc. The leaders encouraged the group to dream and try new, for example, drama. The group prepared a drama about the life of Jesus which they performed in the neighbourhood and were consequently asked to perform at the main theatre which was shown on tv. They were famous! Every two months they prepared and performed something for the community such as a comedy sketch, or songs. They group also went on camps to the mountains and the countryside, and organised sports tournaments. These kind of activities and experiences were not common for children in poor areas like Rene.
Another aspect of the group was social outreach. Through the entrance fees to the dramas, sports tournaments etc, along with selling food and ice-cream on the weekends, the group raised money in order to buy clothes and supplies to deliver to the poorest families in the area. As well as the leader of this group, Juan Romero, another big influence in Rene’s life at that time was Father Roberto. Father Roberto was a Frenchman who, after serving in the war, remained in Bolivia and was part of the Catholic Church. He received property as inheritance which he sold and used the money to build infrastructure such as a sports field, a church and a health clinic in Rene’s neighbourhood. This gave Rene an example of someone working for others in a place which wasn’t his home, an example which Rene later followed as he left Potosi to serve others in different areas of Bolivia.
In a life where nothing much is expected or hoped for, and where material poverty leads to a cycle of social problems, children often succumb to gangs, alcohol, stealing or other such activities for stimulation, escapism and identity. This group gave Rene and others a productive alternative and the opportunity experiment and learn about the positive things they can do. It developed their skills and values, and taught them to think outside the box and dream. Rene was part of the group until age 17. Rene then progressed to university where he studied Agronomy. University was the first time Rene was exposed to influences other than the church group. During that time he experimented with the University lifestyle but at age 21, after weighing up his experiences and beliefs, Rene decided he wanted to follow Christ and became a Christian.
After university Rene worked for his eldest brother, Mario, in his construction business. For around three years he worked on the construction of everything from schools, to irrigation systems, to bridges, gaining more valuable skills. In 1996, aged 26, a member of Rene’s church was working as the FH secretary and suggested Rene apply for the vacant messenger position. He discovered they had already filled the position but was asked to leave his CV. Oscar Montes, who was then the agriculture supervisor, called Rene for an interview to work in another city in Bolivia as a Greenhouse technician, constructing and teaching communities about greenhouses. And so Rene’s career with FH began.
Since then Rene has had various roles within FH in different areas of Bolivia including VOC (Vision of a Community) coordinator in Cochabamba and Sucre, working in Church Strengthening, Coordinator of Community Institutional Strengthening, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Environmental work. During these various roles in different rural towns, Rene also helped out with the Child Development Program children’s groups to invest in and encourage children as he had been by his group growing up. In April 2007 Rene moved to La Paz to assume the role of Community Institutional Strengthening specialist. This role involved teaching people at a community level how to create and execute a strategic plan for their community. With the conclusion of the USAID funding for FH-Bolivia, Rene’s position came to an end in December 2008.
Rene’s experience of the reality of growing up in a poor urban setting and successfully overcoming the circumstances and limitations into which he was born, as well as his experience in various areas on the field and in creating strategic plans with the community, and his passion to see change in El Alto makes him the ideal person to head up the planning and execution of the El Alto project. Rene’s desire for the children of El Alto is that they too have the opportunity to achieve their dreams and become all that they can be as God intended.