Alex and Ine of Rodando Cine posted an entry on their blog today about a projection they did on Thursday, March 27, at an elementary school in the remote Bolivian village of Chuqui Chuqui. (map) The earth nearly moved under my feet when I read this story and saw the amazing photos.
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We talked afterwards because Alex was helping me set up a meeting in La Paz with Armando Urioste, the Director of Bolivia's National Cinema Commission (Consejo de Cine). More than 294 children showed up this day in Chuqui Chuqui to see the first movie of their lives. Alex and Ine had to do three projections. Not only does Chuqui Chuqui not have cinema, they are also without television. These were the first moving images the children of the village, and the surrounding countryside, had ever seen.
What is America? It is 294 children seeing the first movie of their lives at the end of the first decade of the 21st century in Chuqui Chuqui, Bolivia.
Alex and Ine were very emotional about this experience, and the children were in a state of animated amazement. They thought it was some kind of magic trick, a magician's illusion.
It is worth noting that in 2005, the last year for which reasonably accurate figures are available, the World Bank estimated the incidence of poverty in Bolivia at nearly 60% (59.6%) and the incidence of extreme poverty at almost 40% (36.7%). Nearly 65% of the population has no geographic access to healthcare, and rural family incomes are in the $100 to $300 U.S. range.
Statistics, of course, cannot account for the richness of a people's culture, their spiritual wealth nor the value and beauty of simpler, more traditional ways of life far removed from urban stresses and neuroses.
Extreme poverty, lack of potable water and absence of healthcare are not issues to be glossed over or romanticized, but most Bolivians do not think of themselves as victims, nor should we. These are highly intelligent, resilient and resourceful people who simply need a more level playing field. As Alex and Ine demonstrated today, this is sometimes as simple as showing a movie.
