Friday, December 24, 2010

Navidad

Christmas is an experience in Carmen Pampa. Old and young come out for the mass (below, Father Eulogio, preaching)...




...with children dancing to carols...




...then hot chocolate for all. The children get presents (thanks, Kimberly, for making that happen!), and there are food baskets for the older community members. It's great to have all the community people together, chatting and sharing.

Merry Christmas to all! May the hope of the season lift us up and bring is all great strength and love.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Last Day of Work

The students left last week, and it was "just us staffpeople" since then. Today was the College's end-of-year staff party, marking the last day of work until the new year. It started with a mass, followed by five-on-five soccer (men) and basketball (women), then a huge BBQ for all. A small gift-exchange and the traditional panetón hand-out rounded out the day.

The bishop, official President of the College, reminded everyone that working with young people is sometimes difficult, but so necessary, and with huge rewards, for us as individuals, and for society at large. Our graduates are a sign of that: I feel proud when I see an alumni of the College in La Paz and learn of his of her successes.


Photo: People chat as the grill team puts the finishing touches on the BBQ (grilled plantains!)

Friday, December 17, 2010

Pigs eat racacha

A native Andean root crop called racacha produces a corm, a fibrous lump at the base of the plant from which the carrot-like roots grow. This corm is discarded by farmers, but it shouldn't be: it can be peeled, grated, dried and fed to hogs, replacing some of the expensive corn-based feed that hog farmers use around here.

Student Irma Villegas demonstrated this with her graduation project: using up to 30% of racacha corms in the diet doesn't affect hog weight gain, but does reduce feed costs significantly. "Hog feed is about 80% of the cost of production," she says. "By using racacha corms that were once discarded, farmers can make more money."

After receiving her final grade, Irma's mother stood and spoke. "I am so proud of my daughter. I grew up thinking that women were supposed to stay at home. Now my girl is a professional -- her dream was one that I never even considered."


Photo: Irma stands with her mother, brother and daughter after her successful defense.

The majority of students at the College are women, and even in the male-dominated vet department, over a third of the students are women. One returning vet student, Betty Flores, told me earlier in the semester that once you are out there working, things are hard for women. "Men don't think you can do the job," she said. "You lose a lot of opportunities. But we can stick together, and the more of us there are, the easier it will be."

Well, Irma is out there now. And we know she will succeed, whatever it takes.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Chris DeLorenzo, We will miss you!

I knew a guy who met some guy... How many stories start like this, chance occurences that shape the future in unpredictable ways?

Andy Engel was traveling in Peru after volunteering as an English teacher at the College, and just happened to meet Michael Schroeder, a history professor at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. They discovered that they were both natives of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and struck up a friendship of sorts.

Later that year, Chris DeLorenzo, history student at Lebanon Valley College, was telling his history professor that he was interested in teaching in South America, especially Bolivia. Dr. Schroeder just happened to know of a place that might be interested...

Serendipitious. That is what Chris calls it.

Chris was an exceptional volunteer, not because he was a responsible and organized English teacher, though this he was. What made Chris stand out was his incredible dedication to his students' development as people. He often shared meals with the students, spent time talking to and advising them, hiked for miles to visit them and their families*...


Photo: Chris receives a gift from his students, recognition of his dedication to them, in and out of the classroom.

One particularly memorable moment for him was a visit to San Pedro where his student Lidia Mamani lives. "The family just invited me in, and we made bread people for the Day of the Dead," he explained. "They took me in and I felt like part of their family at that moment."

Chris was an incredible part of our family here. The mission of the College is not just to impart technical skills to disadvantaged young women and men, but rather to build a sense of family, a space where the students can grow as people, where we can all grow in Christ's love and humanity. Chris's dedication to his students and their development reflected exactly this.


Photo: Chris is given a tau, the symbol of St. Francis, blessed by Fr. Freddy and witnessed by his students.

Chris plans to continue his studies, focusing on contemporary Bolivian political and social history, especially the fate of marginalized peoples. We know that he will stay involved in the College, supporting students with his knowledge and dedication to positive change through education.


Photo: Chris and Hugh prepare to dance the Morenada, a traditional Bolivian dance, for the College's anniversary activities in October.

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*Chris even cut up 40 whole chickens for a student BBQ -- chickens with their heads still attached! Now that is dedication.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

United Nations

Yesterday was an incredible day: we had a visit from the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Bolivia, Ms. Yoriko Yasukawa. She came to see the College and offer support from the many organizations that function under the umbrella of the UN, including the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF and many others.

Ms. Yasukawa offered to support the College with materials for our libraries, and send professionals from the different programs to speak at the College. She also agreed to help us contact other organizations that could support the College.

Thank you, United Nations!


Photo: Student body president Griselda Jaúregui showed Ms. Yasukawa around Campus Manning with her team of advisors and friend of the College Jorge Crespo (L to R: Griselda Jaúregui, David Mollinedo, Yoriko Yasukawa, Isabel Arauco, Lucio Severo and Jorge Crespo)

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Alumni reunion

The College had an alumni reunion this Saturday in La Paz -- and it was incredible! About 30 students who work in and around La Paz came and shared food and stories, and we were blessed with the presence of Tara Nolan, the niece of our foundress Sister Damon.

There is an Aymara indian tradition of getting together to share food, called an apthapi, a Bolivia potluck. This sharing is saying, "We are the same, we are family."


Photo: Graduates of the College sit and share food at the Parque Central Urbano in the city of La Paz.

While we ate, each student spoke of his or her struggles, accomplishments and dreams. The alumni remembered the incredible opportunity to study, and how Sister Damon inspired each one. Sister Damon also sent her words of greetings on a DVD that her niece brought along, and encouraged them to give back to the College, through the scholarship program.

Some grads are working at NGOs that help farmers, one for the Ministry of Health, some at hospitals, and some have their own businesses, every one successful in a different way. "We all came from humble families, and life was hard. But Sister Damon has faith in each one of us, even when we didn't believe in ourselves," said one student to the group. "She knew we could succeed, and now here we are." There they were, a testament to the power of education.


Update (Dec. 13, 2010): We had another alumni reunion in Coroico a week later -- read about it here on Sarah's blog.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Harina de yuca

Today Jimmy Lobaton, a student from the agronomy program, defended his graduation project. It was a business plan to produce and commercialize cassava, a root crop that is the world's third largest source of calories.

"Presently there are no commercial cassava flour producers in Bolivia -- everything that you find in the supermarket is imported from Brazil," he commented.

Jimmy's project has a strong extension component: he will find farmers to produce cassava, train them in good production practices, and buy their harvest to transform into flour in a small production unit in the Alto of La Paz. This kind of initiative has many strengths: it improves the lives of farmers while generating value in the Bolivian economy, and provides job to Bolivians.

Since the approval of his project for graduation, he will be looking for a loan -- and launching himself into the world, leaving his university nest. ¡Buena suerte, Jimmy!


Photo: New graduate Jimmy Lobaton poses with his father after his successful defense.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Honey

Rubén Ulo has a honey business. He has been working in a settlement near the town of Caranavi for the last two years, training community members how to raise honeybees. The community members bottle their honey in his house, and convince businesses in Caranavi to sell it.

It was time to "grow" the business. "The potential for honey in Bolivia is tremendous," he explains. "But we were way below our potential."

Rubén faced another challenge: he had not completed a research project, a graduation requirement. Last year, however, the College approved another way to graduate: write a business plan. So Rubén decided to write a business expansion plan, and kill two birds with one stone.

Yesterday, Rubén defended his business plan. It included training more farmers, making bi-monthly visits to producers to control quality, and do a marketing campaign. In five years, he plans to market over three tons of honey, and also to produce and sell royal jelly.

During the defense of his plan yesterday, a professor asked, "What if the farmers you train split off and start their own businesses? You are training the competition." True to our mission, Rubén responded, "The supply is far below demand, so there is plenty of room in the market for more production right now. But our job as graduates of the College is to pass our knowledge along so that more and more people have options, and can live with dignity. I would glad to know that my work could help more people."

Congratulations, then, to our latest graduate, already contributing to the development of the country. His success is all of our success.


Photo: Rubén signs his graduation documents -- our newest graduate!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Daniela Mamani

What do women in the rural, subtropical town of Caranavi think about birth control?

That was the question that our latest graduate Daniela Mamani answered with her research project, a project that she defended last week. And the answers were interesting.

Women with more children knew a lot more about birth control, as did younger women. Women in rural areas got their information from neighbors, whereas women in town learned from health centers. Most women used natural methods, but a high percentage of women in their 30s use IUDs.

This information will help health workers frame their questions and answers about women's health, based on what women know and do. And that is good for women's health.


Photo: Daniela receives a pin that identifies her as a graduate from the College.

Daniela is working at the Carmen Pampa health center for a few months while her husband Rubén finishes his classes in the agronomy department. She and Rubén have two young daughters, and plan to move to Caranavi when Rubén finishes his studies.


Photo: Daniela stands with Vice Director Hugh Smeltekop, Director General Father Freddy, Head of Nursing Lidia Cuevas, her father, and her two project advisors Martha Aliaga and Amanda Loma.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Science Fair 2010

"A university without research is not a university."


Father Freddy spoke these words as he opened the College's bi-annual student Science Fair last Friday night.

The event opened with a talk by the new Director of the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura in Bolivia, Dr. Juan Risi. He talked about the importance of innovation because today, creativity and new ways of thinking are the key to good development in agriculture. Dr. Risi should know: he was most recently the Director Agricultural Innovation at the Ministry of Agriculture in Peru.

Dr. Ramiro Medina, researcher at the State University's Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas, and Dr. Mario Baudoin, the Director of the Natural History Museum, were also recognized by the College for their contributions to science in Bolivia.


Photo: IICA Director Dr. Risi talks to student body, with guests seated nearby: IICA's value chain specialist Silvia Alemán, Director General Fr. Freddy del Villar, Dr. Ramiro Medina from the IIQ and Dr. Mario Baudoin, Director of Bolivia's Natural History Museum.

The next morning, four groups of students from each major presented the best research projects, in beginner and advanced categories, both descriptive and experimental projects.


Photo: Ecotourism student Geovana Loza describes how guarapo, from cane sugar, is made in rural communities.

The students presented their research in poster format, often using visual aids to showcase their discoveries.


Photo: Drs. Medina and Risa listen as education students report their research about Aymara language instruction in local schools.

The invited judges graded the projects, and students were awarded stacks of books as prizes, donated by the Natural History Muesum and IICA.

One of the best results of the competition is the experience of doing and presenting their results. The students bring these skills into their professional lives, developing a crtitcal mind and understanding how to explain themselves effectively. These small projects often turn into senior research projects, a requirement for graduation.

The day ended in a rainstorm, the first drops peppering the crowd gathered to see who won. And like that rain, the event touched everyone present, the culture of research soaked up at the College.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Give To The Max Day

The College where I work is an amazing place. The students' dreams for a better quality of life for poor families is palpable, real. That is why I am here: I can't imagine a more incredible way to dedicate a life, my life.

But we can't do it alone. Many people contribute to the dream for a better life for empoverished Bolivians, in many, many ways. And we are grateful, always.

One way to contribute is to donate on Give To The Max Day through GiveMN, this Tuesday, November 16th. We want to raise $15,000 through the Carmen Pampa Fund, the foundation that raises funds for the College in the U.S. Please take time to make a donation this Tuesday -- it helps make these idealistic dreams come true.




Click on the picture above, or go to http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Carmen-Pampa-Fund, to donate. ¡Gracias!

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Tara, Kimberly, Jorge, Oh My!

Last week the niece of the College's foundress, Tara Nolan, was here for a visit as a representative of the Carmen Pampa Fund Board of Directors. She came with our friend Kimberly Lane, and Jorge Crespo, a member of our local board, joined us, too.


(Click photo for a larger view. Photo courtesy of Carlos Vaughn.)

Fr. Freddy dedicated the mass to Jorge's mother who passed away a few weeks ago. After mass, we all joined Fr. Freddy at the altar for a picture, the visitors at center. We were sad to see them go back home this week, but we feel renewed purpose after sharing our challenges and joys as we serve the rural poor through education.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Kermes!

This week was the College's first kermés, a local food festival done to raise funds and share the cooking talents of our students.

Students from each major put together their food money and prepared a dish, school faculty/staff and community members bought tickets, and everyone ate together out on the soccer field.


Photo: Students line up for their favorite dish.

I had pique a lo macho, a pile of french fries topped with spicy beef and gravy, and a hard boiled egg. I love this dish!


Photo: Pre-University students dish out charquecán.

There was also trout, pork fricasé, charquecán (llama jerky), sajta (chicken in a spicy sauce), and chicarrón (fried pork meat with corn).

The money raised from the kermés will go for fixing up some aspect of the College -- probably a roof on one of the original buildings. But the fundraising aside, it was a great day for just spending some time together in a relaxing environment. A new one is already in the works for 2011!


Photo: Students enjoy the work of their own hands.

Friday, September 03, 2010

Nurse capping ceremony

Yesterday was the imposición de cofias, the capping ceremony, at the College. After a mass celebrated by our Director General Father Freddy, the fourth semester nursing students were given their caps, a recognition that they are ready for more responsibility in rural clinics and hospitals.


Photo: Second year students watch in anticipation for their turn next year.

The ceremony is touching: the student comes forth to kneel, and the professors, who accompany her in class and on prácticas, pin the cap to her head. She then stands to the applause of the entire department, the students and professors of all semesters.


Photo: Student Juana Villca gets her nursing cap.

Mid-October the students will all go to try out their new skills at different rural clinics and hospital in the provinces and in La Paz -- and learn from doing what they have been practicing in the classroom.


Photo: The fourth semester class with Director General Father Freddy del Villar.

We are so proud of these young women (and a sprinkling of young men) who dedicate themselves to learning to care for their own people -- and their families are proud, too. Many mothers, fathers and other family members came to see the students celebrate this step in the long process of becoming a full-fledged nurse -- a big accomplishment considering most of our students parents didn't finish high school.


Photo: Student Biquet Velásquez and her sister pose proudly after the ceremony.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Environmental Education

Yesterday student Freddy Villca became our latest graduate, defending his project working with elementary school children in his home community, Charazani (I visited his home in 2008 -- the story is here). He discovered that the school needed more orientation regarding waste management, and worked with school teachers and administrators to develop an education and infrastructure plan to deal with it.

Freddy is the second from his family to graduate from the College, and will be followed soon by his two brothers, one working toward a degree in agronomy, and the other in vet/animal science. He just accepted a job in Charazani as assistant mayor, with plans to write and execute projects to benefit his community. He is truely a bridge between old and new: many of the people in Charazani speak only Quechua, and most do not have a college education.

We are all very proud of him, and wish him much success.


Photo: Freddy waits outside of the salón de defensas for the results of his defense -- and he got a 86%, considered distinguished! Photo by Charles Vaughn.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

On the radio!




Last March, radio producer Susan Cahill, from a program called "Different Voices" in Ireland, spent a week in Bolivia to create a show about food security and coca in Bolivia. Ms. Cahill was guided by our visiting scholar Kyle Piispanen, who appears on the show, as well as our very own Sister Jean Morrissey and a student at the College!

The show highlights the College's efforts to reduce poverty through education.

The show was posted July 20th as "More Than They Can Chew" here:
http://media.newstalk.ie/podcast/20272/

...and can be downloaded as a podcast here:
http://media.newstalk.ie/podcast_xml.php?id=8647

(Mention of the College, with Sister Jean and our student, starts at minute 12:45, and Kyle Piispanen at minute 37:50.)

Give it a listen!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

In the news

The College was highlighted in the on-line newspaper GlobalPost today, as part of a year-long series on global education. The author, John Enders, visited the College last December, on recommendation of long-time supporter Jorge Crespo, a former Bolivian Ambassador to the U.S., and good friend of the College.

The reporter John Enders has been reporting in the Americas for over 30 years, and we were happy to host him for a day. Here he is with young men from the pre-university program last year.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Uchi birds

There are some incredible birds around Carmen Pampa, called crested oropendulas. They are related to oriels, and they make fascinating hanging nests.




Here they are called uchis, and our student Maritza Yanarico studied them for her graduation project. She followed their life cycle and eating habits in Carmen Pampa, examining ten groups of nests.




They are highly social birds, working as a team to find food and protect their nests. Unfortunately, their food source sometimes happens to be a farmer's crop, so understanding more about them helps farmers know how to keep them out of their fields. (Maritza suggests reflective tape and scarecrows.)

Maritza defended her project yesterday, and became our most recent graduate.

Maritza said that her first order of business was to visit her grandmother in Sorata, north of La Paz, and share the good news with her -- she hasn't seen her in 5 years! She wants to develop a conservation project for the Yungas, helping farmers work in concert with the environment, to promote species conservation and make farming more sustainable. She will use traditional knowledge that is getting lost as the last generation dies, and combine it with modern knowledge.

Here stands Maritza proudly (center) with her sister Sonia, mother-in-law Goya, son Daniel, brother Richard, Mother Julia and husband Julio, holding their daughter Dana.



Maritza received help from a lot of different people, including Dr. Kent Jenson at SDSU, and lots of moral support from our Board President Ann Leahy, and our Foundress Sister Damon. Her thank you speech lasted five minutes! Her gratitude reminded me of an old saying: What you are is God's gift to you; what you become is your gift to God. Well, Maritza's graduation is a great gift to this work of God, and we are very proud of her.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

David Flannery

Smith College professor and friend of the College Mary Murphy wrote about one of our star visiting professionals, David Flannery.

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After a career in education spanning nearly half a century, visiting professional David Flannery has reached that stage of life in which many of his peers spend their days playing golf, relaxing with family, or schmoozing with other retired friends. He’s earned the right to kick back and take it easy. David, however, has already “retired” three times, and has chosen, in his words, not “to stop working, but to work differently.” This semester at the College, he is donating his time as an instructor of English.

David serves as the primary instructor for nine English students in the Agronomy and Education departments, and he collaborates with Bolivian instructors to provide additional hours of English for three levels of English in the Tourism department.

David brings to his volunteer semester at the College an impressive body of knowledge and experience. This first career spanned 40 years in public education, interrupted only by a stint at the University of Wisconsin to earn his doctorate in educational administration. He held a variety of positions, starting as a teacher of secondary English and Social Studies, then a high-school principal in the Minneapolis area, a director of secondary education for a rural school district in Oregon, and back to Minnesota where he served as superintendent of the Elk River School District for 14 years.

After his initial retirement, he worked as a consultant for the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Minneapolis, eventually becoming interim executive director for the Center – for three and a half years! David loved the job and hated to leave, but knew that the Center needed someone with vision who could commit to serving as director for a decade, so he decided in 2005 to retire for the second time.

This led to a third career, one in international education with the Nacel Schools. The Nacel organization benefited from David’s expertise in educational administration as it established American schools in the East Asia. David helped to get three schools started, two in Korea and one in China. He made some 10 trips to Asia in three years, once living for six months in Beijing, where he hired staff, established curriculum, and served both as school principal and as an English teacher. Tired, eventually, of all the traveling, he retired from Nacel in the summer of 2009. But not, of course, to stop working.

David is clear about his motives in volunteering at the College. Laughing, he says that he wanted to escape winter in Minnesota. More seriously, he explains that he retired to have the time and freedom to work at an institution whose mission he believes in and to engage in the sort of work that that he loves, especially teaching. He came to Bolivia aiming, also, to improve his Spanish, and he meets regularly with two Education students for Spanish conversation. Expressing frustration in his inability to express his ideas as an adult, he expects to continue studying Spanish after he returns home in June.

In spite of his rich and varied career in public and international education, David admits that his experience teaching at the College has been much more difficult than he would have imagined. Learning Spanish while trying to teach students who didn’t yet know any English is a tough assignment. When asked about any disappointments, he mentions only one: classes that fall apart despite his careful preparations.

Overall, David’s volunteer semester has been a positive experience. He likes being part of the volunteer community, a multi-age group with whom he shares meals, chores, and conversation. He appreciates living among students and other teachers at the College. He values all that he has learned of language, food, Bolivian culture, rural culture, and Aymara culture. He rejoices in breakthroughs he has made as he mastered a new area of teaching.

But he misses his family: wife Mary Grace, three adult children and seven grandchildren, all living in the Minneapolis area and all supportive of his volunteer semester in Carmen Pampa. He talks with Mary Grace via Internet three times a week, and she came here for a visit in March, but he misses home and is eager to be part of the daily lives of his children and grandchildren again.

And so, David Flannery is about to retire for the fourth time. We here in Carmen Pampa will miss him greatly, while we speculate about his next career.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Lucia Cuno

Lucía Cuno grew up in the tiny community of Mangopata, where undulating hills melt into tropical forest. The community, recently settled, didn't have good roads or a health post, or even a high school. When Lucía finished 6th grade, her father said, "We can't afford to send Lucía to high school -- it is too far away, and she will just end up a housewife anyway." But Lucía had her mind set, and with the support of her mother, she moved to Guanay, and paid her way through school making rellenos, fried plantain dumplings filled with meat and vegetables.

When she finished high school, she wanted to continue her studies, but she had no money. Father Remigio, the parish priest in Guanay, talked to Sister Damon and arranged a scholarship for her at the College through the Christian Foundation for Children and the Aging, a U.S.-based foundation that helps the most vulnerable in society.

Lucía started in the pre-university program in 2002, and in 2003 entered into the College's Primary Education program. For her graduation project, she decided to return to Guanay and work with 3rd graders and reading ability. She discovered that most students were not reading at grade level, and helped design a program for the school to support reading outside of classroom, one of the most effective ways of improving reading skills.


Photo: Lucía signs bound copies of her work after her defense.

She defended this project last week, and became the seventh graduate of the Education program. And she has not stopped there: while preparing her research project, she has earned a diplomado (post graduate) degree in Higher Education, and is enrolled in the College's diplomado course in Educational Research. She currently supports us in the College's main office.

When asked what she liked most about her time at the College, she replied, "Living and working together with my classmates was a huge learning opportunity for me. I really grew as a person, learning to share of myself and grow in the mutual support that we nourished."

Lucía plans to earn a Master's degree in Special Education to work with the young people of Bolivia who are often marginalized. We are proud to call her one of our own.


Photo: Lucia stands with her parents, her newly defended graduation document in hand.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Geronimo Huanca

Becky, former volunteer and great friend, agreed to share her thoughts about her visit on the blog.

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It has been seven years since I lived in Carmen Pampa and worked at the UAC-CP and three years since I visited. I attended the Ayni Festival that the Carmen Pampa Fund and St. Catherine University hosted last week in St. Paul, MN. After seeing the video I was prepared for big changes when my husband and I arrived last Sunday.

Arriving at the UAC, the changes were soon apparent: there are new buildings on campus, and the biggest change is the 765 new students studying today. The only familiar faces are the graduates that now work and teach there. A few students that had just started seven years ago are now finishing their thesis (one has her pre-defense today!).

Despite these changes, there is something that hasn’t changed. The energy. The energy of students excited and anxious to begin a new life, to change their future, to change the future of others. You can feel the energy they have to make these changes, changes beyond the superficial changes of new buildings. Changes that are more subtle and much more important. To see those changes, one has to travel outside the school.

Yesterday, we went to a nearby village, Santa Gertrudis, near the town of Coripata on the other side of the mountain. Santa Gertrudis is the hometown of Geronimo Huanca, an agriculture student now preparing to do his senior project. When I met Geronimo eight years ago, he was an extremely timid (I think he actually shook when he talked to me the first time) but conscientious young man. Geronimo grew up in Santa Gertrudis, raised by an older couple, who he calls his parents. He never knew his biological father and his mother passed away when he was very young. His parents, an older couple never able to have children of their own, adopted him and raised him.


Photo: Becky, her husband Chad and Geronimo visit in his house in the community of St. Gertrudis.

Geronimo is incredibly dedicated to his parents and they to him. Throughout his time at the UAC, because of their age, Geronimo traveled back and forth from school on the weekends to help them take care of their land and crops. His father grew sick a couple of years ago and Geronimo had to take time off school to take care of him and the land. His father passed away last year but his dream was to see Geronimo graduate. His mother, wife, and son (six years old) have all supported Geronimo in his push to continue to study.



Photo: Geronimo and his mother in their small garden plot.

Now, Geronimo is working on his final senior project, his last requirement for graduation. The Sud Yungas, where Geronimo lives, has had much more of its land cleared and planted with crops, especially coca, which can leave the soil depleted. The communities on this side of the mountain are starting to realize that the lack of trees and the hard use of the soil are beginning to turn the country-side into a desert. Water is scarce and food crops have a hard time growing. Food crops that used to be plentiful in the area now have to be brought in from elsewhere.

Geronimo’s senior project will work with the municipal government in establishing small tree nurseries in each community on the mountainside. These nurseries will help communities re-establish the cover to maintain moisture and nutrition the soil needs in order to be productive. This change may take a long time to see. However, the change in Geronimo is already clear. He is well-known and respected in his community. He is confident in sharing his knowledge with not only his community but also with the decision-makers in the government. He is also confident in living a life that is different, planting diverse crops instead of just one, maintaining the forest on some of his family’s land and using his knowledge to better not only his life but that of his community. That is the type of change that is seen by not only me. His community sees this change and commitment as well and one can hope that the inspiration of one life changed will be enough to change others as well.


Photo: The community of St. Gertrudis from across the valley.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Just how much do you want to be here?

Yesterday afternoon I made the 15-minute walk between our two campuses. Half way down the path, I met an agronomy student, a young woman named Fanny Mamani. ¿Cómo estás? I asked.

Un poco cansada -- A little tired, she responded -- I came from Caranavi yesterday.

How did you get here? I asked. Isn't there a blockade? Since Monday, farmers in Caranavi have been protesting a decision by the government to change the location of a planned citrus processing plant from their town to another town further down the road. All roads to Caranavi -- and the whole northeast of the region -- are blocked.

Fanny replied, Well, I went home to Caranavi to see my mother, and got trapped by the blockade. So I walked 8 hours to El Choro -- where the last road blockade is located -- and got a bus from there.

The blockades are sometimes violent: farmers throw rocks from above the road, or physically stop people from crossing. That a student would brave this amazes me -- and drives home how important this opportunity to study is for our students.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Fiesta del Ayni



Our work at the College is possible only through the efforts of many, many people, contributions made according to each person's gifts and means. We celebrate these many contributions with the Fiesta del Ayni, the Carmen Pampa Fund's annual fund-raising get-together.

This year, the event is on May 6th from 6-9 p.m. at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The inspiring Sister Damon Nolan, foundress of the College, will be there, as well as our current Director General, Father Freddy del Villar.

Two students from the College will also be there -- and like Gonzalo last year, will do some traditional Bolivian dances.

For more information or to RSVP, please call Carmen Pampa Fund's office at 651.641.1588 or e-mail at info@carmenpampafund.org.

Another first

Two weeks ago, we had another first at the College: the first student to graduate with the new graduation option, a business plan.

Most students at the College do a research project for their graduation requirement, but we found that students who wanted to start a business were at a disadvantage. Two years ago we asked Catholic University of Bolivia (our academic home) for permission to graduate students who write and defend a business plan. And our request was granted.

Fernando Salazar is the first of these students. He wrote a business plan for a butterfly farm focused on producing chrysalis and mounted specimens for sale in Bolivia, and internationally on the Internet.

Graduates that become motors for local economies, and graduates that create jobs instead of looking for jobs, is one of the reasons we are here. Congratulations to Fernando, and may many more students with these goals pass through our doors.



Photo: Proposed design for new graduate Fernando's laboratory and butterfly house. Though the main goal is producing butterflies for sale, the business will also be open to tourists.

Friday, April 23, 2010

First grad

Bolivia used to have a shortage of teachers in rural areas, so gifted high school graduates were invited to teach in rural schools. As more students graduated from Bolivia's teaching colleges, these maestros interinos were asked to get their teaching certificates or leave the profession.

In 2003, the College in Carmen Pampa started offering an elementary school teaching degree to these maestros interinos, holding classes on weekends in the town of Caranavi, about 3 hours from the College. Last weekend, the first of these students completed her research project, the last requirement of the program.

This student was Sandra Barreto. She wanted her degree to be able to keep teaching while her husband drives a taxi, and they raise their daughter together. She studied how deaf students are handled in Caranavi's public elementary schools -- and found that school principals and teachers there were generally unfamiliar with idea of mainstreaming deaf students in classrooms with their peers, and also unequipped to make these accommodations.

"Deaf students -- and students with disabilities in general -- are marginalized in our rural schools. Teachers do not know how to integrate them into their classrooms," she notes. "There is also a great prejudice in society, based on the surprisingly common belief that God punishes parents by giving them children with special needs. And since parents are the main advocates in these situations, their children are often kept out of sight at home, or sent to a special program sponsored by the mayor's office."

This is not enough, she explains. According to Bolivian law, and experiences here and in other countries, mainstreaming children with special needs is beneficial in many cases. Sandra is sharing her results with the school system in Caranavi, raising awareness of this issue, and making practical suggestions about how to change the current system, like more teacher training, and working with parents with children with special needs. She is well placed to do this at her current job with an local organization that teaches parenting skills to mothers and fathers in Caranavi.

Meanwhile, we will celebrate her success, a trail-blazer for her classmates as the first graduate from this special program at the College. Congratulations, Sandra!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Carmen Pampa

A student named Carmen Pampa, from our community of the same name, defended her senior project today, the fifth in the Education department. She studied how elementary students understand their environment.

Carmen's father was a librarian at the College, and died in 2003 of tuberculosis. Her mother, who turned to raising chickens with her sons who study vet/animal science at the College, served up a delicious chicken dinner to commemorate her success.

Here is our latest success with her two children. ¡Felicidades, Carmen!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Carmen Pampa Fund

This week, two members of the Carmen Pampa Fund Board of Directors, Ann Leahy and Tara Nolan, were at the College to do collaborative planning for the next six months, and share our respective successes and challenges. With Ann and Tara's energy and good will, and the spirit present at the College, I think that there is no challenge to great.

And here we are: (L to R) your truly, Director of Education Andrés Pardo, Academic Secretary Manuela Urbina, CPF Board President Ann Leahy, Ex Bolivian Ambassador Jorge Crespo, the Bishop of Coroico Juan Vargas, CPF liaison Sarah Mechtenberg, Religious Education Director Jean Morrissey, College Director General Father Freddy del Villar and CPF Board member Tara Nolan.

Veronica Calles

Coca is a plant with a long and complex history. Considered the mother of all plants, it has many traditional uses among indigenous people of the Andes. It wasn't until cocaine was isolated from the leaves in the mid 1800s that it developed its current reputation as a narcotic -- and when used traditionally, it is not considered a vice. It still has an important place in Andean society.

To grow coca, the soil is inverted, turning the rich topsoil under, and forming hard terraces with the clay subsoil. The coca is planted into these terraces, and produces harvestable leaves for about 30 years. Then the land is abandoned: this process leaves the soil unfertile, even for forrage grasses.

Veronica Calles, an agronomy student at the College, planted an abandoned coca field with a mix of ground covers, crops and local tree species to see whether the land could be recovered for use -- and found that leguminous cover crops and local tree species adapted successfully -- and the crops, well, not so much.

The project was supported by a USDA-funded collaboration with South Dakota State University, Sisseton Wapheton College and Nebraska Indian Community College, directed by Dr. Diane Rickerl, one of the College's ambassadors.

Her graduation project was well received, and Veronica last Thursday became the latest graduate at the College. Congratulations, Veronica!

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Sarah Purcell joined us in Carmen Pampa as a recent graduate in international political economy from the University of California at Berkeley. She is currently collaborating with the student-run food cooperatives at the College*, intending to improve campus-wide nutrition through various approaches. She explains
A long-term yet attainable goal would be the integration of the campus's organic vegetable garden into the food cooperative, making it the primary source of fresh food for the students. A similar approach, the farm to table or local food movement, is gaining force in the United States at this time, but is unfortunately largely restricted to a privileged class. The College, on the other hand, created for underprivileged students, has the potential to accomplish this full circle of food production on its very own campus. As it is, every student must contribute four hours per week to community service, so much of their time is already spent in the garden. Furthermore, most of the students on campus are from farm families themselves, so this connection to the earth and know-how already exists.


While this increase in production and increase in collaboration is in the works, Sarah aims to organize the purchase of dry staples such as rice and sugar in La Paz which would save money -- and this money could then be spent on supplementing student diets with otherwise limited foods. She notes, though, that "change takes a considerable amount of work, and most importantly, time, even when attempted on a small scale."

Sarah hopes to use her experience at the UAC-Carmen Pampa to strengthen the unintegrated local food systems in the United States that are now bounded by class constraints. Her approach to these food systems would be through city planning, where she finds special interest in policy that could help with the integration of community gardens into cities and grocery stores into low income neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, she will be moving on in the next few weeks. Thank you, Sarah, for your work here at the College -- and we wish you much success in the future!




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* The students pay about $20 a month to participate in the cooperatives, and that is subsidized by a generous donation from the Carmen Pampa Fund, and additional support from Cross International.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Easter 2010

Here are some pictures from our Easter here in Carmen Pampa.

Here is Father Freddy blessing palms on Palm Sunday.



The students did the passion play -- and a student named Jesús played Jesus.



A crowd of people from the congregation -- kids, mostly -- stood and followed Jesus as he carried the cross around the church. They were laughing and whispering and taking pictures and carrying on, which I thought was a little rude. Then Fr. Freddy said during his homily that the real crucifixion was like that, too: a spectacle, with people crowding around and talking and the like. It gave the story a new meaning for me.



At the Thursday night mass, Fr. Israel washed the feet of some church members, in remembrance of the Last Supper.



Friday we did the Way of the Cross.



Last night was the Easter Vigil mass. It starts out outside at the fire.

(This picture is from Joel Vaughn. He and his wife, Lynn Myrick, are here contemplating the College as a possible home for the next 3 years as Franciscan Mission Service missioners.)

Happy Easter to all! You are in our prayers here in Carmen Pampa.