Volunteering at UnACh

Date: March 16 - 23

We just spent the last 7 days at the Adventist University in Chillán (http://www.unach.cl/) . This was our first volunteer effort and I think we learned some things from it if we’re going to do any volunteer on the fly for Adventist Institutions. Its better to prearrange it a week or more in advance, otherwise the paperwork and planning for it on the Institution side will not have the needed time. In our case, we only gave the 3 days notice before we showed up. So even though the IT department knew we were coming through Llew’s Mom’s friend Hugo, they didn't have projects for us to work on. So we spent a few days doing personal business before helping out. When we did work with Rene in IT, it was knowledge transfer and a discovery that he has a lot of things that could be done. Maybe I can return later in the year as I will be wandering around Latin America.  We met an American named Ryan who is teaching English. He invited us to come to his class so his students could practice their English by asking us questions. That was quite a lot of fun and could be another area of volunteer that we can offer.

Hugo took us to the best open market I've been to here in S. America.  Chillán is well known for this market.  It reminded me of the market in India when I was living there as a kid. :)

Hugo and his wife Paula were really good to us. They invited us over to their house a couple times to share good food and conversation. :)

They took us to a ladies home in the country that makes “Tortillas de Rescoldo”. This is a very traditional bread that is made in the ashes of the fire. It was neat to see the process of the bread being made while we were there. We learned the story of the woman that makes the bread from Hugo and Paula. This mother used to make and sell wine. However she saw the effects that it had on the people that consumed it and she prayed to God that he would give her another way of providing for her family. She remembered how her Mother taught her how to make Tortilla’s, and so she started making them. God has really blessed her as she makes more money than before, and she only has to make the bread a couple times a week. The bread is very good with a crisp crust and a soft inside.

Eating Completos with Diego and Nieces.  This is a Chilean hotdog which includes meat, chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut, avocado, mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup.  Mine had soy meat and Llew's had Turkey meat.  I thought it was pretty tasty and much better than American vege hot dogs.

Eating some helado with Rene's family.  They're a wonderful family with 2 cute girls.  The smallest one is already a comedian.  She called me keke because my brown skin is like cake.  haha!

Llew likes chocolate helado.  I have proof. ;)

We did a small hike with Rene up in the mountains in a place called Shangrila. The hike was on a Mt. bike trail and went through a volcanic field. We ate lunch beside an dilapidated refugio. In the distance were some volcano’s. If it had been a sunny day the views would have been more spectacular. Its definitely fall as the trees are turning color.  It was really nice to do some hiking as our legs were missing the up/down terrain. haha!

Up Next

We're headed to north to Santiago (capital of Chile) for a couple days.