Recently I realized that while I might know bits and pieces about the countries on my World Race itinerary (which could always change of course 🙂 ), I didn’t know much about them overall. So to remedy this “problem” I’ve decided to do country profiles, so here we go, without further ado…..
Name Origin: Bolivia was named after Simon Bolivar
Population: 10 million
Location: South America; landlocked and bordered by Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay
History – Bolivia was originally settled by the Aymara people 2,000 years ago and later become part of the extensive Incan empire until it was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century. At this point the land area that is currently Bolivia was considered part of Peru.
In 1809 Bolivia declared it’s independence and since then it has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic troubles. Bolivia’s current presidents, Evo Morales is the first Bolivian President of indigenous (Amerindian) descent.
Geography – Bolivia is the world 28th largest country and plays host to many ecological zones, from the Andes Mountains and Antiplano in the west to the lowlands and Amazonian rainforests of the east.
The Andes in Bolivia contain 6 of the world largest mountains (20,000 ft +) and shares the world highest commercial lake, Lake Titicaca (12,500 ft), with Peru.
Seasons – Because Bolivia is south of the equator June-September are the winter months where it can get lower than 30 degrees in La Paz. (We will be there in August).
Economy – Bolivia is the poorest and least developed country in South America, but even though the Bolivians struggle they have a tremendous amount of pride.
People – Bolivia is tremendously multi-ethnic. More than half the population has a native heritage, while 30% are Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) and the remaining population is white.
Language – The main spoken language is Spanish, but there are more than 30 official languages including the native languages Aymara and Quechua.
Religion – About half of Bolivia’s population considers itself to be Catholic, with the other half split between Baha’i (which has a surprisingly high percentage), protestant, traditional ethnic and other religions.
Ways to pray for Bolivia
1. Many of the nations Catholics have held onto traditional pagan practices. Pray that they will come to find living faith in Christ.
2. The number of churches is growing! but there are many challenges for these new churches to face including illiteracy, lack of understanding, apathy and social evils such as violence and alcohol abuse.
3. Many of the Quechua, Aymara and lowland peoples live in hard-to-reach regions. Pray that they will soon receive the gospel.
4. The more than 100,000 college students who have become disillusioned with religion and have instead turned to social evils.
Ways that we could serve in Bolivia – Camps for teenagers, prayer walks, relationship building through home visits, church ministries, VBS hosting, playing with children, working with orphans, constructions (churches, houses, wherever needed)…
