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.