encountered people who looked like her. “Back in Santa Cruz, we were the only Afro,” said Torres, now 25. “But, when I saw others like me, I told myself: This is where I want to be. Here, I feel comfortable and understood.” Her sense of belonging echoes the experience of many Afro-Bolivians. Although officially recognised in the constitution since 2009, they remain one of Bolivia’s least visible groups, struggling to feel at home in their own land. “Many think that we are foreigners and we don’t have any rights,” said Carmen Angola, executive director of the Afro-Bolivian National Council (CONAFRO). “But we were born here.” More than 11.3 million people live in Bolivia. Around 23,000 identified as Afro in a 2012 census, the first and only time they appeared as a distinct category. Most live in Yungas, a region where roads and communications are scarce but coca leaf plantations abound. “Our Afro communities depend on coca harvesting or honey production,” said Torres, who runs a beekeeping business with her husband. “We are people used to walking trails instead of paved roads,” she added. “People who learn from the land.” (Jamaica Gleaner)