Brussels, Belgium 2019

​
This first gathering was organised by Atamhi and Vicente and took place in Brussels, Belgium. As several people arrived on Friday, we organised a dinner in a pizza restaurant. Afterwards we went to an event to celebrate Alasitas. This was the first time going to an event organised by the Bolivian community for several participants. Afterwards we went for some drinks and dancing for those who wanted to continue the evening.

 

On Saturday we officially started with the international gathering. We explained a bit about the background of Network of Bolivian Adoptees and how we decided to organise the gathering. Then we switched to some meet-and-greet-games to get to know each other. In the afternoon we had four presentations by Bolivian adoptees, sharing their experiences, followed by a small salteña break. We ended the afternoon with a Q&A round with a Bolivian expert on adoption, and a group session processing impressions of the day. As for some it was their first meeting with fellow Bolivian adoptees, or talk actively about adoption and/or Bolivia, so there was a lot to process and share with each other.

The next day was already the last day of the international gathering. We started by showing some videoclips about Bolivian culture, dance, while giving some background information. Then we did a last round of feedback to hear what participants liked, what could be improved, and then we said goodbye to each other. The first international gathering was a success, and little did we know it would be the first of many to come.