Ethical Dining in Bolivia

 

Stuart Henderson

 

Most of us, myself included, travel largely for ´selfish´purposes; to see things we´ve always wanted to see, experience new places and cultures, to meet people from all over the world and generally to have a good time.

Not so Linda de Jong. Hailing from a small town near Amsterdam, Linda wanted to travel the world, so set out for Asia with plans to head onto Argentina, and onwards throughout South America. Aregentina didn´t materialise so Linda headed to Bolivia where her plans changed and travelling was put on the back burner in favour of nearly six months volunteering at an orphanage in Sucre, as well as helping charities that support street children in Bolivia´s capital city. Linda returned to Holland to work but her heart remained in Sucre and with the underprivileged children that she had helped.

So, in 2007, Linda bought a one-way ticket back to Bolivia with plans not just to continue her work but to open a hostel. With experience in catering and hospitality, Linda decided to open a cafe, and in 2008 Cafe Amsterdam opened its doors. Much more than another place for travellers to eat, drink and be merry, Linda ensures that the cafe and it´s patrons give something back to the local community of Sucre. During the Brazil World Cup, 20% of takings on food goes to charity. Monthly quizzes and weekly games nights raise money, as do regular movie nights. The movies aren´t Hollywood blockbusters but eye opening documentaries about Bolivian cultural, social and economic issues.

The charities in question help provide food and clothing for street children and dental programs for the poor. Just last year supplies were provided for over five hundred school children with special needs, and since then a number of disabled children that Linda and others have helped through their charity work have been accepted into university and are studying subjects ranging from IT and accounting to psychology.
The main charity that benefits is called Centro Inicial Cirulitos, an organisation that provides education for children aged up to eight.

 

The Bolivian Government funds the building of facilites and the teachers needed, but only enough for the centres to function from late March to early December. This means that for a quarter of the year the children have nowhere to study, in addition to frequently going hungry. The charity helps with food, Cafe Amsterdam in particular, but it also tries to fund the wages of the teachers needed for the months in which the Government do not help. The monthly wage per teacher is no more than a relatively meagre B$900 ($130), but the government will not pay it, meaning that the charity has its work cut out raising enough money. But this does not deter them.

Meeting Linda was not only a pleasure, it was also inspiring. Her cafe employs locals rather than travellers in search of a cash boost, including former ´shoe-shine boys´ who in the past had been helped out by Linda. I hope that for years to come she is able to continue helping others. She also cooks the tastiest baked beans I´ve ever tasted. Mmmmm.