Marquina Rising: Support a Beacon of Hope and Opportunity

Hi! My name is Connie DeJong and I am fundraising for children, youth, and families in Marquina, Bolivia, people that are very near to my heart. For twenty years Fundación Ayllu has empowered indigenous Bolivian women and children to recover their economic, physical, and psychological strength, while maintaining a connection to traditional cultural values.

Located in the town of Marquina, international and local volunteers have built a communal home and school to house, nurture, and educate the community. This amazing work is directed by Bolivian people and supported by volunteers worldwide.

Today, we have an opportunity to deepen and expand life-changing skills for the people of this community. A neighborhood house has become available to us. With your help, we will purchase this facility and implement programming with $150,000. Time is of the essence as the house was offered at a special rate for a limited time. We need to raise this money by July of this year!

This residence will provide a new focus for the foundation that will include more members of the Marquina community. The residence will become a center for hands-on educational experiences that will:

We Cannot Do This Alone. We are asking three things of you:

1. Contribute as much as you possibly can to deepen the work to lift our neighbors out of poverty.

2. Invite your neighbors and friends to participate in this life-affirming work.

3. Visit Marquina and get to know people with hope and vision for their families.

The Path from Dreams to Deeds

Fundación Ayllu has had various priorities over the years, starting with after-school programming for children who have surpassed their parents' level of education at the primary school level and need additional homework and life skills help. The next program was to design an orphanage, which transformed into transitional housing for single mothers and their children when in crisis, which helped keep mothers and their children together. Programs were added for small enterprise development, including handcrafts, breadmaking and gardening. In recent years, we have formed partnerships with other organizations to support dental care (Smile Forever), food rescue and distribution (Banco de Alimentos/Food Bank), self-esteem building with Imillaskate indigenous skateboarding women’s group, microlending programs, internship programs with local universities, and local municipalities for health care and social work support.

Fundación Ayllu consistently adapts to the changing needs of the community and is now committed to creating stronger hands-on educational opportunities to support community members of all ages to achieve their income and life goals. All over the world, the gap between the preparation provided through public education and economic opportunities is wide. This is particularly true for the expanding indigenous population in Marquina as education in Quechua, their indigenous language, was not even available to many of the community members when they were growing up.

If you have been one of the lucky ones to connect with this community in person in the past or have served as a volunteer in any capacity in the world, you know how amazing it is that this project is thriving today. Walking up the road to the project site and being greeted with hugs and stories of growth by adults who have benefitted from programming with us when they were children is one of the most rewarding feelings. I will never forget the day Ernesto Inochea, the original Director of the project and its inspirational heart, sat the first group of volunteers under a tree and told the stories of the children whose parents died or found themselves isolated or debilitated by disease, discord or distress. I knew then that walking with him in showing our care would benefit us all. I invite you now to walk with us together as we help Marquina rise.

To be able to make a difference in just one life would be a gift, but to transform a community is to shine a light that cannot be extinguished. Each of our gifts can be expanded by sharing! Thank you for giving, caring and sharing.