Christmas in Carmen Pampa

Christmas in Carmen Pampa is always an event. It starts with buying Christmas gifts. Last week, Sister Jean and Sarah and I went to La Paz to find suitable gifts for 300 children for about a dollar a kid – and we found them! Toy cars were 25 cents each, plastic farm animals the same, little purses with spangles 30 cents, colorful barrettes 20 cents each, little stuffed animals a dollar a piece, and notebooks for school rounded out our purchases. We loaded up two huge bags into a taxi to the bus station, glad to have the shopping out of the way. A big Gracias! to Kimberly Lane for the donation of gifts.

On the 23th, Sister Carmen taught the children in the community a traditional dance to do during mass to celebrate the baby Jesus arriving at the church, and Sister Jean had the gifts bagged up.

Father Alejandro came to celebrate mass on the eve of the 24th, and it was beautiful: the children dancing, the presentation of the Christ Child, and two baptisms.






Here community people are lined up to have their infant Jesus figures blessed to take home for adoration.


After mass, students from the college handed out the gifts and everyone shared hot chocolate and bread to celebrate together.




On the 25th, we had a nice lunch with the college students who stayed here to work (many students can’t afford their tuition, so the school gives them work over vacation, and they spend Christmas with us).




Photos from Sister Jean and Mary.

Science Fair

I wrote this a while back and finally got some photos to post with it (thanks, Mary).
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The college had its Jornada Científica last night, the school science fair where students from the different departments do small science projects to share with their fellow students. Professionals from the Escuela Militar de Ingenería and the Instituto Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud came from La Paz to judge the event.

The most dynamic student was a young man named José Luis Chipana, who grew corn and barley forages in germination boxes with different kinds of fertilizers. He won first place in the junior division.




Three groups from our pre-university studies program also participated. One group grew hydroponic lettuce, using plastic-lined boxes with the plants poking out of styrofoam floating on nutrient-enriched water. Very clever use of local materials. They won second place, junior division.



The education department had a group of students who administered a test to 260 of our students to identify grammar abilities. Their results showed that most students have trouble with grammar, and they recommended more emphasis on writing in all classes (duly noted!). They were third in the junior division.


The senior level project that garnered the most attention was a study that looked at using a natural fungus, Beauveria bassiana, to control insect pests.



A shout out to our undergraduate researchers! Well done, all.

Last graduate of the year

Esteban Ojeda is our last graduate this year -- he defended his research project on Friday morning, a project about whether growing beans and corn together was better than growing them as monocrops in this region.


Photo: Esteban prepares for his presentation.

Corn and beans are friends, growing better together than apart in most cases. And this was true for our region, too: Esteban calculated that it would take almost twice as much land to grow beans and corn apart than when grown together. His calcualtions also showed that for a modest investment of $85 on a half acre of land, a farmer can earn $825 in the four months it takes these crops to grow -- that's almost 10 as much as the original investment. This is the kind of research that makes a difference for farmers in the area.


Photo: Esteban poses with (L to R) his advisor Felix Choque, the ag department head José Luis Beltrán, the Research Institute's Vice Director Rubén Darío Gómez, the department's botanist Desiderio Flores, yours truely, his father and his brother.

Esteban's father and brother came to the defense. The brother expressed his gratitude for the college taking his little brother in and helping him become a professional; his father expressed siminar sentiments -- in his own indigenous language, Quechua. It is something that the child of a man who didn't finish even elementary school has a child with a university degree. Who says that progress is always slow?

End of year mass

At the end of every school year, Catholic University of Bolivia has a mass for the teachers of its rural schools. This year, our director Father Freddy and the Bishop of the Alto of La Paz celebrated the mass together.


Photo: Father Freddy and Bishop Jesús Suarez consecreate the Host.

Monsignor Suarez spoke in his homily about President Evo Morales' call to the Church to help the poor, and how Catholic University took him up on it, founding its first rural school twenty-two years ago, and with the college in its fifteenth year.

Sister Jean organized students from our pre-university program -- they were in charge of the music, playing traditional tunes with pan flutes and Andean recorders accompanied by charrango and guitar. They were excellent.


Photo: Pre-university students playing for mass.

Instituto Benson

The college has a collaborator in Bolivia, Instituto Benson, who has supported research here since 2000, starting with a Family Production project that looked at how a farm family can live on only 2 acres of land; then a Forage Seed Production project; and most recently the Insect Diversity project that recent graduates Eddy Alarcón and Oscar Claros manage here on campus.

Professor collaborators from Brigham Young University, Dr. Val Anderson and Shawn Clark were here last week, and took the entomology team out to dinner.


Photo: Juan Pedro Salas, a friend from BYU, Oscar Claros, Dr. Val Anderson, Miguel Manrique, Benson Institute Vice Director Gustavo Troche, Eddy Alarcón, Vetzabé Ajllahuanca, Dr. Shawn Clark, Benson Institute Director Elizabeth García, Edwin Zapata, Hugh Smeltekop.

One of our students, Juan Pedro Salas, is working with the Instituto to help farmers on the Altiplano grow vegetables in underground greenhouses called waliaptaphiñas (this means "good harvest" in Aymara). Sarah and I went with him Tuesday to help a farm family finish a greenhouse.


Photo: Juan Pedro helps the family put the plastic roof on the greenhouse, as Sarah Mechtenberg looks on.

Juan Pedro showed us a finished greenhouse back at the Instituto Benson research station. It was a steam bath inside, a big change from the cool, dry air of the Altiplano! The research station in managed by a graduate from the college, Zenón Maquera.


Photo: Inside the greenhouse. You can see how humid it is.

The Instituto Benson also has a small goat herd, managed by our student Magda Colque. Magda will defend her research project early next year.


Photo: Magda and her goats.

We are thankful for Instituto Benson and the opportunities that it has provided us, both for meaningful research and for hiring our students to fulfill the mission of the college, empowering the poor to end poverty, one family at a time.

First tourism class getting closer

Last Saturday, the first class of ecotourism students successfully defended their research and small business proposals, the OK for them to actually do their research. Each one is studying how resources from her local community can be used to develop tourism activities. Two, Juan Mamani and Mónica Quispe, already have business plans, ready to start small hostals for tourists to see the sites around our mountain Uchumachi. We hope that our first crop of ecotourism students will graduate by early next year.


Photo: Karem Chura, Celia Mamani, Gabriel Chura, Fátima Villca, Department Director José Luis Pinto, Rosa Mamani, Juan Mamani, Mónica Quispe, Yuri Castro, Nelson Mamani, Proposal Writing Professor Rubén Darío Gómez, Luis Ángel Cruz, Professor Ximena Mendoza, Professor Constancio Calsina, Professor Ximena Villa.

One for the coffee

Last Friday, Victor Hugo Flor defended his research project about adding accelerators to coffee in the fermentation process to speed up processing time -- a good thing during the peak harvest when farmers want to get their coffee processed and dried as fast as possible. He discovered that by adding baker's yeast to the recently peeled coffee reduces the fermentation process by half, and doesn't change the taste.

Hugo's mother, who works at our diocese NGO Cáritas, was at the defense. She was so proud, as were we all.


Photo: Hugo and his mom.

High School Graduation

Yesterday was the high school graduation at the San Francisco Xavier High School in Carmen Pampa. The mayor of Coroico was the guest of honor, who oversaw the handing out of diplomas. Here is Father Freddy, invited to hand out a diploma, flanked my the mayor and his wife.




The president of the PTA Norberta Tintaya, older sister of our recent graduate Saida, and mother of graduate Juan Carlos, spoke about the struggles of raising a child in the countryside, but the great joy of seeing her son, and the other graduates, getting one step closer to their dreams. Many of the graduates will join us at the college next year.




When families don't have much money, they often name padrinos -- literally "godparents" -- for different things. I was asked to be the padrino of the graduation cake. I made 3 small pumpkin cakes, frosted in whipped cream, and Leo Lechtenberg made an incredible arch to connect the cakes on the table.



The graduate, Naty Pajsi, stands with confetti in her hair, put there by the people who came to wish her well. Her guests also pin money to her coat, a small contribution to her future. Naty will join us at the college to study agronomy in 2009.

Reciclaje

The Rotary Club A.M. in Des Moines, Iowa, has been helping the college since their visit in 2006. (I took them to eat guinea pig on that visit and they are still with us, so there is no doubt that they are dedicated.) Their latest project with us is a recycling center -- Centro de Reciclaje -- on the lower campus. Here is a picture of foreman Honorato and his asistente Enrique working on the foundation of the entrance to the Centro.

The Grinch

A small group of us went to La Paz to see The Grinch, a musical based on the Dr. Seuss book. A thesis student's husband was the mayor of Whoville -- how could we pass that up?

It was a fun show, with original music, a good script (lots of inside jokes about Bolivian politics) and charismatic actors.


Photo: Whoville!

At the end, we were invited backstage -- it was a really good time.


Photo: Sister Carmen, Sarah, the Grinch, the mayor of Whoville (Carlos), Yoval and Hugh.

Pedro Mamani

The college was built, brick by brick, with the help of members of the communities nearby. One of these communities is Chovacollo, nestled in the folds of the hill across our valley. One man in particular, Luis Choque, used to regale me with stories about how the whole community, machetes in hand, would cross the valley and make a fiesta of building a better future for their children. Their sweat is literally in the mortar of the college, their contribution to the promise of that better future.

One of Chovacollo's children, Pedro Mamani, defended his research project this Thursday, making good on that promise. He examined whether increasing the temperature of the hog barn by covering some of its windows with burlap would increase weight gain, and it did.

Our newest graduate ran the school's family hog production project, helping local families raise hogs to sell at a better price to the college meat processing plant. I'm not sure what is in store for Pedro now, but I do know that he has a lot to live up to. And I expect him to shine.

On the radio -- again!

On Thanksgiving Day, Radio Journalist Jack Rice from WCCO in the Twin Cities interviewed Carmen Pampa Fund Interim Executive Director Sue Wheeler and Interim Program Director Joel Mugge about the college.


Photo: Joel Mugge and Sue Wheeler.

Give it a listen here:
http://www.830wcco.com, and click on the 11/27 Jack Rice Show that says, "The United Nations has rated this school in Bolivia as one of the top seven schools combatting poverty."


Or download the podcast here:
http://www.830WCCO.com/epsiode_download.php?contentType=36&contentID=3131220


Photo: Jack Rice on WCCO.

Thanksgiving

Sarah Mechtemberg, Sister Carmen, the volunteers and I had an excellent Thanksgiving Day meal yesterday. Everyone remembered the people that we are thankful for: family, mentors, leaders who help us imagine a better future. And we are all thankful for the opportunities that life offers us, and want to extend these opportunities to other who do not have them. That is a big reason that we are all here.


Photo: Hugh Smeltekop, Andy Engel, Sam Clair, Mary Murphy, Sarah Mechtenberg and Carmen Minga.

(We were also thankful for such a full table: Roasted chicken with stuffing, organic cauliflower and broccoli, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry dressing -- thanks, Tanya! -- and pumpkin pie! Enough for a real Thanksgiving Food Coma!)

Something fishy

Don José Tintaya is the man who remembers his father leaving the hacienda in Carmen Pampa after being beaten bloody for disobediance. He was one of the community members who supported Sister Damon as she founded the college. He believed that education could transform our world.

Saida Tintaya successfully defended her research project today, Don José's daughter, the dream made flesh, just one generation later.


Photo: Saida Tintaya awaits the grade on her research project.

Saida studied the effect of water temperature on the production of an amazonian fish, tambaquí, to see whether it would adapt to this climate. She discovered that it will grow under local conditions, but will grow significantly faster in the warmer months.

Saida asked me to thank Sister Damon for inspiring her, and Dr. Michael Brown at South Dakota State University for helping with advice and materials to measure the fish as they grew.

Saida has a small clinic in the Alto of La Paz, where she works with her husband Guido, another student soon to defend at the college. Guido was not there today because he was helping farmers in a far-off community Charazani with a chicken project. We are proud of Saida for her success and her work that benefits people in the campo, fulfilling the college's mission. One person at a time. There has never been any other way.


Photo: Saida stands with (L to R) vet department director Martín Morales, her mother Gertrudis, her statistics advisor Ramiro Ochoa, her father José, Vice Director Hugh Smeltekop and her research advisor Constancio Calsina.

A little bit proud

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa, and when I returned to the U.S., I was convinced that I would return to Africa and work there. When Dr. Doug Malo at South Dakota State University said to me, "Hugh, when you finish your studies, we could really use your help in Bolivia," I thought, Why not? I can always go back to Africa next year...

The rest is history, as they say. I fell in love with this place full of young people with dreams way beyond their possibilities, and somehow they reach them -- being a part of that process is an incredible honor. I hope that people who contribute feel that way, too.

My work is different here than it was in my village in Benin. In Africa, I was one man working alongside farmers in a tiny village. Here, I am part of a team, and all of my efforts and multiplied by the efforts of everyone around me. With the support of very few "people on the ground," our students graduate, ready to take on the world.

Though I was promoted recently, I am still involved in the college's Research Institute, our Instituto de Investigación. At a meeting last week, we took a group picture, and every time I look at it, I feel so proud to be part of this. Everyone on our team works really hard, taking on much more than their job descriptions would let on, and working more hours than most jobs would require. Here is the picture:


Photo: (front, L to R) Daniel Choquetarqui, head of labs on Campus Leahy; Daniela Chambilla, head of labs on Campus Manning; Cristina Yujra, library manager on Campus Manning; Olga Jemio, head of libraries; (back) Manuel Loza, research collaborator; Hugh Smeltekop, director of the Research Institute; Rúben Darío Gómez, acting director of the Research Institute

Food Sovereignty

This semester we have a scholar from UC-Berkeley here researching food sovereignty in and around Carmen Pampa. She is Tanya Kerssen, once a grant writer at the Carmen Pampa Fund. We are so lucky to have her, because of her contributions to the college (giving talks, teaching about and leading survey research) and because she has been such an interesting and creative and stimulating person in the volunteer house.

Yesterday Tanya led a survey team in a community across the valley. Here is a photo of Tanya (in blue) walking with her team of student to the community.

Todos Santos

These days are All Saint's and All Soul's Days, and it is a big thing where we live. At noon on November 1st, souls come back to their homes on Earth and visit with their families. To prepare for their visits, families prepare the favorite foods of their departed loved ones.

Here is a table prepared in the community of San Pablo just up the road. Families bake bread people (t'antawawas), bread ladders and bread horses, and put out plates of favorite foods, and fruit and coca. The picture above the table is of a nursing student from the college, Bautista, who died in 2007.




Here are some kids and a community leader praying at the table prepared for the souls visiting my Godson's house. People come all morning on November 2nd and pray in front of the table for the souls visiting the house. The family then gives them bread and fruit.




After praying, the adults sit and reminisce about the past. I heard some incredible stories about "the old days." One man's father, practically a slave in the old hacienda system, had his wife chosen by the hacienda owner; a woman teared up and she remembered losing her first three babies to early deaths; another remembered running away to La Paz and working at a restaurant until her mother found her a week later and dragged her home. (Most of what was said was in Aymara, and went right over my head.)

There was also a group of men who played the drum and traditional flutes called pinkillas to accompany the souls as they visit each house. They said that some of these traditions are being lost as the new generations lose interest in their parent's "backward" traditions.




Tomorrow the families will go to the cemetery and give out more bread and fruit to the people that come to pray over their graves.

An exciting week

Last week was a doozie! Sue Wheeler and Joel Mugge were here from the Carmen Pampa Fund, along with Ann Leahy from the Carmen Pampa Fund board, we had a new graduate, and a UAC grad came back to help our students start businesses.


Last week was a series of meetings about how to better coordinate fundraising at the college. The Carmen Pampd Fund, representatives from the college and some other college supporters met to talk about where we want to be and how to get there. It was an intense week, developing strategies about how to make our work known so that people will support our work.



Photo: (front) Obispo of Coroico Msgr. Juan Vargas, Vice Director Hugh Smeltekop, Former Bolivian Ambassador to the U.S. Jorge Crespo, college Director Father Freddy del Villar, CPF Grant Coordinator Joel Mugge; (back) Sister Jean Morrissey m.f.i.c., CPF Exec. Director Sue Wheeler, CPF Board President Ann Leahy, college representative and Education Department Director Andrés Pardo, CPF Liaison Sarah Mechtenberg.


Mid-week, Danitza Ramos, an agronomy student, defended her research project about pollinators of cacao flowers, discovering a relationship between the presence of 2 tiny flies and cacao pod development. The more of these two species of flies present, the more developed pod on the tree -- and the higher the yield of chocolate beans for the farmer. She is recommending to farmers that they keep decaying banana trunks in their fields, where the flies spend part of their life cycle.

Photo: Danitza stands with Ann Leahy and Sue Wheeler after her successful defense (she got a 96%, the second student to graduate with high honors this year!)


Later the same week, Dr. Miguel Quisbert came to talk to students about starting businesses. Miguel graduated last year, and now works for a company called Nueva Economía that helps people develop business plans. The company works mostly with small farmers who become the generators of economic development in the countryside, and help end poverty that way. He is now helping students at the college to develop business plans and be part of this movement; at the same time, students in the agronomy, veterinary science and tourism departments can use their business plans to graduate as an alternative to the research project requirement.



Photo: Miguel speaks to a group of students at the college interested in starting a business.


Another great week at the college. Thank you to all who make our work possible.

On the radio

When I was home recently, Carmen Pampa Fund Executive Director Sue Wheeler and I were interviewed on a radio show called It Takes A Village, hosted my Carla Kjellberg. And the interview is on line! If you go to http://www.villagetalkradio.com/archived_shows.htm and scroll down to 10/11/08, there we are. Have a listen!

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P.S. I was home for a few days in September for the wedding of Matt Thibodeau, a good friend, a volunteer at the college in 1999, and founder of the Dream Fund that gives bolivian orphans college scholarships (one is here at the college). Pix of that and other adventures like the cross-country trip with mom, a visit to grandma's, and a trip to the Twin Cities here.



Photo: Matt and new wife Mia kiss in the open field where they were married in northern Minnesota.

Fifteenth Year Anniversary

This weekend marks 15 years since the college was founded by the Franciscan Sister Damon Nolan and Dick Leahy. It is also the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi and the college interdepartmental games called the Intercarreras. There is a lot to share, but I will highlight some of the best moments (imho).

During the day on Thursday and Friday were sports -- basketball, soccer, mini-soccer, races, volleyball -- from 7:00 a.m. until sunset. Here are some photos of the basketball excitement:






Sadly, Friday afternoon we learned of the accidental death of a recent graduate of the agronomy program, Nelva Guzmán. Her life was honored with moments of silence throughout the weekend, and at mass on Saturday.

Nelva got her degree in April, and went through the graduation ceremony in August (photo of Nelva receiving diploma from Father Freddy).

Friday evening was the tránsito, the celebration of the migration of St. Francis's soul to Heaven. In honor, Sister Jean Morrissey helped students in the pre-university program to do a reenactment of the life of Francis.



Saturday morning was a first communion and confirmation mass for over fifty students.










Saturday afternoon was a BBQ, prepared by the university administrators, for all.






This was followed by the clásico, a soccer game between agronomy and vet science graduates, many who were from the first class of students at the college (vet won, 4 to 2).



Sister Christine Cullen, who was with Sister Damon when the college was young, arrived, to the great surprise and joy of many.

Here she is with Federico Carrizales, Juan Paucara and Gerónimo Álvarez.

The evenings were talent nights, with each department competing in events like dance, theater, and poetry recitation. Here vet students dance in surgery costume.



The last night, we remembered Sister Damon and many others that were instrumental in making the college a success over the years.


Sunday (today) were the traditional dances. It rained on and off, but it didn't dampen the spirit of the dancers.









Tonight is a fiesta where students will dance and some trophies will be given out. The spirit shown over the weekend has definately demonstrated that all of our students are winners. And as is often said (to the losing team): Pero sí, has ganado -- ¡has ganado experiencia! (But you did win -- you won experience!).

There are lots more photos in my October 2008 Google photo album if you are interested. And more photos of the dance from Sr. Jean Morrissey here.