Maria Chipana

María Chipana is from a small town in the Alto Beni, the tropical part of our dioceses. When she started at the College, she began dreaming of becoming an agent of change in Bolivia. She has been doing just that, working for the German development agency GTZ for two years now, helping with initiatives like biogas, methane generation from farm waste for small farmers.

But she hadn't finished her degree. She did her research in 2003, then left the university to raise her daughter and work as she wrote up her research.

When I came back to the College in 2006, her research had been on the back burner for three years. We scooped her up into the Thesis Bootcamp, and got her back on track. She spent many nights writing and re-writing, and she got her degree today, after defending her research project about the best amount and kind of organic fertilizer to use to maximize stevia production in the Yungas.

María's daughter Nicole is my Goddaughter, baptised in 2007. That makes María my comadre, a co-parent of her daughter, the spiritual parent of her child. So I am glad for two reasons today: for my comadre María for her success as a professional, and for her daughter, who now has an incredible model for her life.

¡Felicidades, María!