Background Information:

The people who live in the village of Sivincani are Aymaran Indians who have lived in South America for thousands of years - pre-dating the Incas. However, their way of life is under threat. People are dying through malnutrition and acute diarrhoea.

The NGO Quaker Bolivia Link has been working with villages like Sivincani for a number of years to support the Bolivian people as they tackle such problems. They are particularly careful not to impose their own solutions to these problems but to work with the indigenous population, helping them to improve life for themselves.

QBL has already worked on several projects that help villages improve people's health by introducing fresh and clean water supplies. They work with Bolivian engineers to dig wells, fitted with easy-to-use pumps. Several families share these pumps instead of walking long distances to contaminated ponds. In addition they have worked with local people to build greenhouses from the traditional Adobe mud bricks, and fitted with polythene roofs. Up in the Andes - 4,000 metres above sea level - it can be hot in the day, but it freezes 200 nights a year. It makes it hard to grow many vegetables without these greenhouses. And this lack of variety in the diet causes health problems.

The people of Sivincani heard about other villages that had benefited from wells, water pumps and greenhouses and decided that a similar project would improve life for them too. They worked with a local organisation called Pradera to plan their project, working out where to place the pumps and greenhouses. Quaker Bolivia Link provided extra help and resources to carry out the work with the £10,000 from World of Difference.

Some of the money has also paid for training in cultivation and nutrition. Florentina, head of the women's group in the village, has been trained in these techniques, and has been working with other women so that they can make the most of the new vegetables they can now grow.

Florentina's sister Celia highlights another threat facing Sivincani, though. Celia is young, she and her friends travel around - they hitch rides on the buses that pass by on the highway several kilometres from the village. They have seen the bustle and bright lights of La Paz which is at the heart of much of Bolivian politics, commerce and culture. Compared with Sivincani, La Paz is exciting and perhaps offers new opportunities. So Celia and her friends are keen to move there when they are old enough.

This is a problem if villages like Sivincani are to survive. It's also often a problem for the people who make the move from countryside to city. Jobs there are often temporary, accommodation is too expensive, and there aren't the social support networks that exist in the countryside.

Many people end up living in El Alto, on the outskirts of La Paz. It's a place that has grown up without any planning, and without some of the amenities of the main city. It's been growing at a more rapid rate than La Paz itself.

The Gregorias Textile Co-operative is another QBL initiative. The co-op was set up by a group of women who had struggled to make a living on their own in El Alto. But by working together they can help out with food, childcare and, more importantly, they can pool their resources to buy equipment and help each other out.

The issue of rural-urban migration isn't clear-cut. It's a problem if villages like Sivincani are to survive. But there are some people in Bolivia who argue that it is easier to improve healthcare, education and sanitation by providing these services in urban areas. Trying to take them out to remote rural areas just isn't cost-effective.

Florentina, head of the women's group in Sivincani, wants life in the village to continue. She's had an education in the village itself - education is compulsory in Bolivia. She's seen the city, but prefers rural life. She would like to get more training so that she can help improve life in Sivincani. Florentina exemplifies how important it is to work with the indigenous population, helping them to find solutions to their problems.