Carnaval and Ash Wednesday

This week was a special week for Bolivia. A mix of indigenous Andean and Catholic traditions make the days leading up to Ash Wednesday -- know here are Carnavales -- a time of giving thanks to God and God's many manifestations. In and around Carmen Pampa, people decorate their houses with streamers and confetti, set off fire crackers and sprinkle alcohol in thanks to the Virgin (conceived as Pachamama, the Mother Earth), the saints (manifest in spirit guides called Achachilas) and God on High, known in Inti, the sun.

Sister Helena invited us to Cochuna where the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception run a boarding house for rural students. With the help of the boarders, Sister Helena runs a farm that feeds the students and generates income to pay for other housing costs. The Bishop of Coroico, Monseignor Juan Vargas, blessed the school and the farm.


Photo: Bishop Vargas sprinkles holy water on the farm's new tractor as Father Freddy looks on.

Later, with the help of the students, we blessed the College's dormitories and classrooms.

Wednesday Father Freddy lead the Ash Wednesday mass on Campus Leahy, and later Father Eulogio on Campus Manning. Both reminded the students that Lent is a time of reflection on forgiveness. There is a saying around here: Pueblo chico, infierno grande ("Small town, big hell"). "We need to live together as brothers and sisters, with peace and understanding," Father Freddy reminded us. "It is not easy: we come from all different places, with distinct viewpoints and customs. But there is no other option. If you do not learn this now, you will have difficulties your whole life long."


Photo: Father Freddy places ashes on the forehead of agronomy student Janet Ramírez.


Photo: Father Eulogio places ashes on a high school student.

Meetings with students

This week, Father Freddy and I met with the students from each of the 5 majors, and with the students in the Pre-University program. We wanted to greet the new students in each major, and talk about the mission of the College, and our wishes for them.

It was also an opportunity for the students to share their concerns, from a light that is not working in the dorm, to concerns about how the student body is elected.


Father Freddy speaks to the nursing students.

Another nurse, another agronomist...

The family of graduates grew by two last Wednesday, two students from old times.

The first was María Rey, wife of 2008 graduate Martín Alejo. She did a survey examining what people know about leishmaniasis, a parasite that destroys human tissue, leading to disfiguration and worse. Maria discovered that the groups that knew the littlest about this disease were older women and people that spoke only Aymara. Her research will lead to more effective information campaigns, most likely educational radio programs in Aymara.

Photo: María receives her nursing cap.

María's father was at the defense, and said, "I made a promise to support my daughter until she finished school, and she had a debt with me -- until today. Maria has made this family proud." María herself recognized her family, her husband, and Sister Damon as the people who most influenced her path to her profession.*

Photo: María looks on as her father speaks of his satisfaction.

That same afternoon, Victor Hugo Belmont successfully defended his research project. He looked at how to dry coffee beans, and found that for a small added cost, plastic tents set over the coffee drying racks speeds coffee drying times, and makes better use of space; it also protects the beans from the frequent rains, and helps ensure that mold won't grow on the otherwise slow-drying coffee. The College can use this data to convince farmers who want to produce high-quality coffee to use this technology: with a higher price for better-tasting coffee, the tents become economically feasible.

Photo: Three generations: Victor Hugo with his father and son. The US-Bolivian NGO conBolivia contributed the drying tents for the coffee.

We are very proud of these graduates, students who started their studies ten years ago. Maria took time out to raise her two sons and help her husband through school, and Victor Hugo went to Spain to work for a few years and gain some international experience. And both finished and now plan to work here in Bolivia, and live the mission of the College. Congratulations to both of them.

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* Diane Rickerl at South Dakota State University is directing a cross-cultural "Ethics is Science" project with universities in the U.S. and South America, including the College. While reading for this project, I stumbled upon this: Traditional, indigenous ethics in this region are conceived communally: responsibility for ones actions is shared. Culture studies professor Alison Spedding writes: "The idea that a person does not act alone is extended to activities that are not done in a group. It is frequently said that someone's parents, or other family members, 'made' their child study. Of course, studying is something that an individual does: the student goes to classes, reads, writes. Family members can cover costs, encourage and even help with an assignment, but they cannot pay attention in class or take a test for the child. However, people don't say, 'paid for her studies,' they say 'made her study.' The success of graduation is not the achievement of the child alone; instead, the success is shared by all of the people that surrounded and helped that child while she studied" (Religión en los Andes, 2008).

In the Aymara Indian tradition, everyone who contributes to educating these young people at the College, be it by donation or volunteering or through prayer, has a direct spiritual bond to them -- and that is you. May their appreciation reach you where you are, right now.