Bolivia

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Sponsors have helped Bolivian children since 1975, when Compassion teamed up with churches in Bolivia to fight poverty.

central South America

sports: soccer, basketball

foods: corn, potatoes, quinoa, beans

celebrations: Christmas, Anata (a celebration of potato farming), Oruro (an annual carnival with dancing and folk music)

world's highest capital city - La Paz, 11,975 feet above sea level

piranhas, sloths, jaguars, emperor tamarins

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Poverty Pitfalls


Many kids drop out of school after completing elementary grades.	Sponsored children get tutoring at their Compassion centers and stay in school.
Dirty conditions like sewage in the streets cause health problems.	Tutors teach children how to keep their homes tidy and how to avoid germs.
In tropical areas on the coast, mosquitoes make kids sick with diseases.	Kids at risk of sicknesses get bed nets to keep away mosquitoes.

Colorful tassels on llamas' ears show who their owners are.

money: boliviano

Rattles used in Andean music are sometimes made with llama toenails.

The giant Andes Mountains make up a lot of Bolivia's western half.

Dried llama meat is called "charqui," which is where we get the English word "jerky."

Some Bolivians raise guinea pigs for food.

Home to the world's highest:

capital city (La Paz)

forest (in Sajama National Park)

body of water deep enough for boats to sail on (Lake Titicaca)

salt flat (Salar de Uyuni - also the world's largest!)

Stats	Bolivia	United States 🇺🇸
Population	11,138,234	339,665,118
People Living in Poverty	38.6%	15.1%
Languages	Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani	English, Spanish, Chinese, other
Religions	Roman Catholic 76.8%, evangelical and Pentecostal 8.1%, Protestant 7.9%, none 5.5%, other 1.7%	Protestant 46.5%, none/other 26.1%, Roman Catholic 20.8%, Jewish 1.9%, Mormon 1.6%, Muslim 0.9%, Jehovah’s Witness 0.8%, Buddhist 0.7%, Hindu 0.7%
Typical Family Income	$7,200 per year	$63,700 per year