Donation from the United Nations

In December, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Bolivia, Ms. Yoriko Yasukawa, came to visit the College. Impressed by what she saw, she organized a donation to the College: furniture, computers and box after box of books and journals.

Monday we were invited to the U.N. office in La Paz, where there was a short ceremony. "The mission of the United Nations and this university created for the rural poor is the same: justice, equity, freedom," said Ms. Yasukawa. "We are proud to support Carmen Pampa."

Our Director General Father Freddy gave the Resident Coordinator a tau, the symbol of Saint Francis.




The students present also spoke. Raymundo Semo is a student from the Trinitario tribe in the Bolivian rain forest, and scholarship recipient from the Thibodeau Dream Fund. "Thank you, United Nations. Your gifts help to make our studies a reality."




At the end of the ceremony, we loaded up the donation -- in two trucks!




A special gracias to Isabel Arauco, the incredible woman who coordinated the donation, and great friend of the College.

Coffee time

December through March make up the "rainy season" in our cloud forest region and throughout the country. Around here, this basically means that it rains every day instead of every other day. This results in small annoyances like clothes that never dry on the line and mudmudmud all over everything. In the worst years, like this year, it also means massive flooding in the lowlands, and landslides that destroy whole neighborhoods.

Months ago, the College started growing coffee seedlings to plant out in February and March. Here are two of our students, Graciela Huanca and Eulogio Cama, in the municipal tree nursery, preparing coffee plants and shade trees for outplanting. I will write more soon about the College's coffee program.