Impact

For two decades, we have led Quaker Study Tours to Bolivia, giving participants from Europe and the Americas the opportunity to visit this amazing country.  For many, both the travelers and the indigenous Friends we visited, it was a life-changing experience. Now you can travel to Bolivia and meet Bolivians without leaving home. 

The WALJOK Foundation is excited in 2026 to premiere our documentary series Seeds of Hope. Produced by filmmaker Michael Candelori, Earlham School of Religion Professor Ben Brazil, and AVP Bolivia leader Magaly Quispe, it will share this fascinating country of diversity and inspiration to see how Quaker values are expressed through the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) to improve lives for thousands who cope with poverty.

Eva, Student Residence

“Before coming here, it was very difficult for me to continue studying. Where I lived, there wasn’t a high school nearby, and my parents didn’t have the resources for me to live somewhere else. When I arrived at the study home in Sorata, everything changed. Here we support each other. We study together, we help each other, and we learn how to live together with respect.”

Eva describes the study home not as a replacement for her family, but as a space that made education possible. She speaks about learning responsibility, cooperation, and confidence — skills that extended beyond the classroom.

“Living here taught me how to organize my time, how to speak up, and how to believe in myself. I learned that I could continue, that I didn’t have to give up.”

Today, Eva is continuing her studies at the university level, something she once thought was out of reach.

“Now I am studying at the university. If I hadn’t come to Sorata, I don’t think I would be here today. What I learned here didn’t just help me finish school — it helped me imagine a future.”

Marco, Inmate at Palmasola Prison and AVP Facilitator

At Palmasola prison, Marco encountered PAV while navigating daily conflict inside the facility and later became involved in helping lead workshops.

“You go to the PAV and at the PAV you really discover a world — a transformative world, a world that brings about change in you. In the dynamics of the PAV, there was a lot of talk about forgiveness, about power, and when those concepts are planted, a person enters a new dimension of consciousness. The change is collective. We all express it, we all feel it, we all cry, and we all rejoice. You feel it inside yourself — you say, ‘I feel that I have changed.’”

“Before, I was a violent person. I reacted hormonally to situations. Now I am part of the culture of nonviolence. I seek dialogue. I am ready to dialogue. I see that it’s not just with colleagues — it’s also with family, with partners, with children. They see the change in their father, and they change too.”

Jimena, High School Principal, La Paz

Jimena Rosario Paz Mújica is a math teacher and principal of an educational unit on the outskirts of La Paz, working with students ages 12–18 from largely working-class and informal-economy families.

“When we were presented with the idea, ‘we want to do some work with kids and young people,’ we were coming out of a pandemic, we were dealing with general problems of kids who don’t have a solid family structure, who come from dysfunctional families. It came at just the right time. We were seeing difficult cases to deal with, perhaps as teachers, and we were looking for that — a response to see how we could help our kids.”

She describes how the PAV workshops stood apart from traditional classroom interventions:

“They were different workshops. I would call them unstructured. They used new strategies — talking in a circle, telling stories, taking on roles, small plays. When the kids came out, they said, ‘We’ve been in a circle, we’ve talked, we’ve thrown wool balls, we’ve written letters.’ They opened up more. They expressed things they had inside. Many came out and said, ‘I have problems.’ And that helped us relate to them more.”

Jimena also saw changes extend beyond the workshops themselves:

“Some mothers came afterwards and said, ‘My daughter has changed. She is no longer so rebellious. She talks to me now.’ The kids became more aware of what it means not to be violent — not with hitting, not with words. They think before they act.”

Reflecting on the long-term impact, she connects the work directly to the future of the country:

“Working with our kids is not only hope. They have to be the reality of our country. The idea is to train young men and women who have a vision — not just to graduate and stop there, but to take a step further: ‘I want more than this.’ To dream big.”