Our present needs for specific volunteers are as follows:

Primary teachers (4-6): must speak Spanish and able to commit 1 year minimum.

Houseparents (3): preferably married couples who speak Spanish and able to commit 1 year minimum.

Mechanic (1): volunteer who has knowledge in auto mechanics and general repairs.

Electrician (1) : volunteer who has knowledge in setting up electrical systems.

Cook (2): volunteers with knowledge in vegetarian cooking

Agriculturists (2)

Nurse (1)

Constructors (4)

Nutritionist (1)

Contact: Christina Dawang at christinadawang {at} gmail(.)com
or Melissa Harding at musician822001 {at} yahoo(.)com

Dear Friends and Family,

I regret that it has been so long since I’ve been in touch. The last couple of newsletters were sent out by my mother when my parents and little sister visited here in May and June. My life has not been boring since then by any means. Actually, I’ve maintained that one of the things I like about Bolivia is the fact that I’m never bored.

One of the non-boring parts came with dreaded realization that I’d been scammed by my lawyer and judge in Rurrenabaque, and although, according to my knowledge, Graciana, my now almost two year old little girl was officially mine in July of last year, the adoption was actually invalid. With Charlie’s adoption ready to be processed, I realized I would have to do it in Santa Cruz. I’ve now been in Santa Cruz since mid June, working on what seems an ever lengthening process, but happy with the knowledge that it’s being done right this time.

In July, God opened the way, including an about to expire airlines voucher, for me to visit home for a few weeks. It was hard to leave my kids, but Sara did a 110% job of holding down the fort for me. It had been nearly two years since my last visit home, and landing at the small Grande Prairie airport, the sweet scent of hay fields hit me. I’d forgotten how good, clean, and fresh Canada smells! Meeting my newest sister in-law and my newest nephew was exciting, but not to be out weighed by renewing the bonds with my siblings and other sister in law, and of course, a lot of other extended family. My ticket for comong back got messed up, and I ended up being able to attend ASI in Florida. Continue reading ‘We need your prayers | Familia Feliz Educational Center’

Hi Friends and Family,

It`s time that you heard from me again, if for anything just to reassure you that I haven`t died in the middle of the deep South American jungle! So just so you know, I haven`t!

Things are going well. Since my last newsletter, we`ve had two volunteer groups bless us with their presence and help. In March, Miracle Meadows, headed by Aaron Weber, joined us for the third year in a row to help us in the development of our campus. Continue reading ‘Saludos and Greetings from Familia Feliz!’

Hi Everyone,


Time is moving so incredibly fast that once again I find myself looking for the last newsletter I sent and it`s dated for September. I`ve had several people asking me what`s been happening down here, so I`ll fill you in.


Obviously, my plans to take a year off have been delayed, as I`m still in Bolivia, but God is in control, and I can see that I still needed to be here. Plans are not canceled, just postponed. However, in the past few months, with the arrival of Laurie Dinges and her family, I`ve had more time to focus on my little family of children, and the results of have been good. We`ve recently moved out of the big building, so we are a little more separated and the kids have really been responding to the family atmosphere. Due to our time in Santa Cruz earlier on, the kids are a bit behind in school, so e`re working during this vacation to catch them up. This gives us more one on one time as well and all of us are really enjoying it. Continue reading ‘Familia Feliz | Believe it or not, it`s me again!’

Happy New Years Everyone!

It`s hard to believe that 2007 is now history, but it is. New Year`s Eve I was considering writing out some new years resolutions, but it all of a sudden occurred to me that I was taking the wrong angle. I needed to look back and count my blessings from the past year, so to build my faith for the year to come. One of the things that made the past year significant for me is that I didn`t leave Bolivia at all for the entire year. I have now been here over 16 months since the last and only time I visited home. Blessings included a campus that has sprung up VERY fast. Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, we paid the last payment to our contractor on the construction of our main building. Although our carpenter is not finished, so we still lack some doors and varnishing of some of the wood work, the main part of construction is FINISHED! We were very excited, and I`ve never had a more satisfied feeling of telling the contractor thank you very much for his work and have a good trip back home. God has blessed hugely. Continue reading ‘Familia Feliz | Happy New Year’

Hi Everyone,

As I was looking back to see where I left off last time, I realize that it`s been a couple of months, and it`s more than time to update everyone on how things are going. Some of you are probably already aware from newsletters from other missionaries here, but in case you aren`t, I`ll just briefly fill you in on a few details from July.

At the beginning of the year, we ended up accepting more students than was planned, as the need seemed to be there, and we didn`t have a good system in place for screening kids. The load was just too much, and as some volunteers had to leave, and we didn`t have good long term replacements for them, we decided to do some house cleaning. It was agonizing, but everyone worked together and it really came out for the better. We went and reviewed each and every child`s case again. Some had come on false stories, others situations had changed. Overall, we cut our numbers down to 37 children. We also closed down the day school, then re-accepted the students from the immediate community and have integrated them with our boarding students. It`s working much better, and everyone is handling life a lot easier (I didn`t say easy, just easier!) Continue reading ‘Update from Familia Feliz Educational Center | Bolivia Orphanage Project’

By Melissa Harding


June is here, actually quite a while ago and we’re looking forward to the end already! I have several reasons for this but we’ll get into that later.



Again, staff are changing and we had to say goodbye to our special education teacher, Genis Suarez, from Colombia. She has severe rheumatoid arthritis and the rough conditions here, including both extremes of hot and cold weather, were just too much. We appreciate the help she was able to lend us while she was here and wish her the best as she returns to her home in Colombia.



Three weeks ago we had the exciting opportunity of welcoming a new baby into the world! A neighbor of ours, who does a lot of our chainsaw work, came to advise Wendy Hall, our campus nurse, that his oldest daughter was in labor with her second child. Wendy went with him and did a check-up and told him to call her again when she was farther advanced. I volunteered to go along, and at 5 am Sabbath morning, he came to call us. We quickly dressed and Wendy grabbed her delivery kit and we drove the pickup up the couple of kilometers to their place. I got the pickup royally stuck in the mud, but we were close enough that we just walked the rest of the way.



Continue reading ‘June Newsletter from Familia Feliz’

MISSION PROJECT: “FAMILIA FELIZ” Children’s Home
Melissa Harding - Director
LOCATION: Rurrenabaque, Bolivia


DESCRIPTION: “Familia Feliz” is a fairly new project which was begun in August of 2005 with 5 children. The property consists of 250 acres in the jungle and is located about 10 miles out of the town of Rurrenabaque, which is at the edge of the Madidi National Park. Construction was begun on the property in June of 2006, and is still in progress. We currently have running water, some solar power, and several buildings that are almost finished. We have a beautiful view of the jungle and mountains. Our goal at Familia Feliz is to provide a Christ-centered, safe, and loving home environment, a Christian education, and medical/dental care for children who are orphaned, abandoned, abused, neglected, unwanted, or impoverished. Children are placed in family groups of 6-8 children with one or two house parents to care for them. We currently have 56 children.

11 JOB OPENINGS AVAILABLE NOW!

Familia Feliz Educational Center | BOLIVIA


The Familia Feliz Educational Center has come along way since it starting expanding for the growing numbers of children.


Have a look at the progress of the construction work taken in May 2007!



View album here Familia Feliz Educational Center | Building progression May 2007

Burgdorffs in Bolivia

Dear Family and Friends,

If you would like to read this Newsletter in a PDF format please click on this link

Friday, May 11, was a sad day for us as two of our volunteers, Brienna and Daniele, left to go back home. Many of the kids and staff were crying as we said goodbye to them. Arisai took over as “mom” to Brienna’s 8 little boys which has worked pretty well since Arisai was living in that house anyway and the boys were used to her. Daniele’s 12 teenage girls were left without a “mom.” There is a Bolivian lady, Soraida, who is planning to come in July who we plan to put in with the big girls, but in the meantime we didn’t know what to do. My parents were willing to move in with them for the weekend, but by the time we arrived home that Friday evening from town it was too late to get anything set up. We also quickly realized that this job was going to be too much for my parents to handle,

Continue reading ‘Familia Feliz Orphanage Bolivia - Fire in the Girls’ Dorm!’