My pledge...

I recently pledged to raise $2,000 for Carmen Pampa Fund, the actual cost of a student to attend the college. Students pay about $500 per year to study at the College (tuition, room and food expense), but the actual cost to educate a student is $2,000 per year. Each scholarship recipient must perform 120 hours of community service per semester. In addition to teaching students the value of hard work, the services they perform vest them in the value of their own education and give them pride of ownership towards their school and each other.

Over the course of two months, I fell in love with all of the UAC- students, the staff, the community, and the environment. This summer I started at the University of Minnesota in the Master of Social Work program. I feel very privileged to be able to continue my learning and attend graduate school. I can't help but think of the students at Carmen Pampa who may be struggling to continue their education and the young people in Bolivia who have the dream of going to college but don't know how they would be able to do it. I have never felt so strongly about an organization and its impact in the world.

The easiest way to contribute to my pledge is to go to the Carmen Pampa Fund website's donating page http://www.carmenpampafund.org/donate.htmand and click on the "Click here to DONATE NOW using Justgive" button. You will be directed to a secure page to donate using a credit card. On this page, include the following information: Enter description of how you would like your donation to be used: SCHOLARSHIP. Dedicate my donation as a gift in someone’s name: JESSICA B (in order to track the amount raised for this pledge).

One exciting update: Two UAC students, Mari and Fabiana, are here in Minnesota as a type of internship in an immersion school. It's amazing to see this world through their eyes. I will never look at an escalator the same again. They are going to be such an asset to the students they are working with and they will bring back many valuable skills to their communities and classmates in Bolivia. I am excited to support these girls during their time here.

For now I say goodbye

I guess it's time to write a closing post to my "Jessie in Bolivia" adventures since I am sitting in my parent's house in Minnesota. I was reluctant to write, thinking maybe I would wake up and it would be a dream and I would actually still be in Carmen Pampa with a month left. There's no way to sum up all that I experienced and fell in love with. I can't do it any justice when I try to respond to the question "So, how was your trip?" There isn't even a word to describe what it was... a trip, an adventure, a journey, a vacation, an early retirement, a sabbatical. I have so many pictures to remind me that it wasn't a dream. So, I will use my favorite, over-used but ever so useful word... it was amazing. To really understand that, read that word and stretch it out, open your eyes big and smile, and maybe move your arms around.... Aaa-mAaaaz---ing.

Goodbyes are hard, as I wrote about in my last entry, but we had the perfect closing to our time in Carmen Pampa. Meals are always great at the volunteer house because it's good food and good company. Kirsten and I cooked dinner on Wednesday, which we thought was the last time we would all be together because most of the group was leaving the next morning to hike an Inca Trail, the Choro Trek. Turns out we would be able to eat with them all again-- during Hugh's dinner of traditional Bolivian foods on Saturday after mass, the "world-famous" breakfast Sunday morning featuring Sarah's quiche, lunch that same day at Sister Jean's featuring Carmen's Peruvian cooking with Andy's bread and Prisca's cookies, and dinner that night of all the great leftovers. I definitely felt like we were able to say the proper goodbyes. I even got a CD of fun music from Hugh which I can play when I am missing them all. The next morning, we woke up to Marilyn cleaning our house and I got to share an emotional goodbye with her. I praised her for how much effort she has put into her English and you could tell by the smile on her face that she knew she had accomplished a lot. As we drove away in the mobi (big van) from Carmen Pampa, Marilyn got in and I was able to have one last English class with her as she reviewed flash cards that she had made.

After we left Carmen Pampa, we traveled around Bolivia for a short time to Potosi, Sucre, and Santa Cruz. Those who doubted I could travel with a cast would be amazed. When we got to Potosi, the highest city in the world, we went to go schedule a mine tour. I planned on reading a book in the plaza when Kirsten toured the mine, but I ended up joining the tour. Even though I didn't get to do it all, it was an unforgettable experience. If you don't get a chance to do the tour, or even if you do, I would recommend the documentary "The Devil's Miner." It's the incredible story of a 14 year old boy that works in the mines of Cerro Rico. Millions of indigenous people and African slaves died in the mines during the Spanish rule. Now, the mines are cooperatives but the ways of working haven't changed very much and most miners still die of silicosis or other illnesses caused by working in the mines. They have to work in the mines because there are few other options for supporting your family. His father died when he was young and now he works to support his family and earn enough money in order for his two siblings and him to go to school and change their lives. He knows that education is the way out of the mines for himself, his siblings, and his future family. I couldn't help but think of the students in Carmen Pampa who are getting a higher education and will have such an impact in their communities.

For my tour of the mines of Cerro Rico, I was able to enter the mines in one of the current carts that they use. The tour guides, who were all also miners at one time in their life, wanted to make sure that I was able to get to the museum that they have set up inside. It was just like a child's dream from the scenes featured in movies. I felt a little guilty by the excitement I felt because life in the mines is anything but exciting, but the miners all appeared very happy to help me out. After the museum, Kirsten and the tour continued until the fourth level underground. The assistant for the tour walked with me back out of the tour, which may have taken me about 20 minutes. He kept making sure I was okay and telling me to stay calm. After we pushed ourselves against the wall to let a cart go by, he left me alone to intercept the one coming from the other direction. For 5-10 minutes I hopped along, thinking about the miners lives and the power of the mine. My fear of the dark didn't even set in as I was guided by the lamp on my head and managed to look up from the ground every time I was about to run into a low hanging rock, board, or wire. When I left the mines, I talked for a short time with Renaldo before he entered the mines again. Both of his parents were dead and he told me over and over that his mom had taught him how to provide good service. Afterwards, I talked with Wilber, the watchman of the mine, and then Maricelo, our mobi driver who had worked in the mines for seven years. His dad had worked in the mine for 32 years and had died at the age of 45, never having had "luck" in the mine. I had an unforgettable experience talking with him, learning about Potosi, some Quechua words, and the lives of the miners.

At the end of my time in Bolivia, I was able to meet up with my 79 year old great-grand-uncle Father Ed and stay with him at his parish. It was great to see the life of a man I had met only a few times in my life but had heard so much about since he went to Bolivia on his birthday in 1963. My first night in Santa Cruz, I went with him to a chapel in another neighborhood where he performed mass. It was so inspiring and beautiful to watch him in action and to see how much his parishioners care for him. When he introduced me at the beginning and end of mass, they all waved excitedly to me and afterwards came up to me to ask me questions and praise him. The chapel was filled for a Monday night mass. The next morning we were excited to be taken out of the city and back to the countryside by my uncle and Father Bob, the lead priest in the parish, to the Jesuit Mission towns of Concepción and San Xavier. It was great to see all the green of Bolivia, although it was very different from the parts of Bolivia that I had fallen in love with. The churches were the most intriguing I have ever seen. The architecture is very different and they have done a great job restoring them. They are on the list of must-sees in Bolivia, and even though they didn't match up to the Salar de Uyuni that I missed because of my fractured foot, they were wonderful to visit.

I don't know when it will happen but I will make it back to Bolivia some day. I have to see all that I wasn't able to see because of my injury and I have to see Carmen Pampa again. As a whole, my experience at the college was by far my favorite part of South America, although I had so many awesome and unforgettable experiences throughout my volunteering and travels.

I can't help but reflect on how truly life changing my experience at Carmen Pampa was. The students and the staff are an inspiration to me. There were times when it been hard to see the poverty and the situations that seem so hopeless, and even as I volunteered, I at times felt powerless to create real change. I saw kids working in the street in Ecuador and knew that that was the next area I wanted to work in. I knew that I was affecting the lives of the children I was working with but at the same time I wanted to be involved in something on a larger scale. Through it all, education was a theme in my volunteering... further education for the women running an artisan cooperative, English education for the children living in the jungles of Ecuador who many said would never finish high school, homework help for the kids living in neighborhoods on the edge of the city without running water, homework help for the kids that work in the streets as a way to provide more income to their family in order to survive. When I was teaching English, it wasn't about "spreading the language" as I was critical of at first. It was about showing these children and these women that they were capable of learning and that there were people out there who cared about them and valued them. It was about showing them the other side of the foreigner/tourist and teaching them about the world. It's been about listening to their stories and empowering them. It's been about helping them take steps toward their future in countries where knowing English means you can make more money and support your family.

Unidad Académica Campesina de Carmen Pampa is about making higher education available to people from rural areas. Through my travels, I have learned that that the people living in the countryside (and the people who have moved to the cities in search of jobs) are the people that do not have the opportunities for higher education and better jobs, and therefore the cycle of poverty continues. The Carmen Pampa Fund website shares that the college is "transforming the lives of Bolivians through education." In 2003 the United Nations Subcommittee designated the UAC-CP as one of the seven most effective initiatives worldwide for the Eradication of Poverty. The students study in the five areas of Agronomy, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Education, and Ecotourism- all of which are important for improving lives.

One of the many things that amaze me is that the student body is made up of 49% women, which has been unheard of a Bolivian university. Through this college, men and women are receiving a higher education in order to protect natural resources, improve health and education in their communities, and implement new techniques with animals and agriculture. This is just a quick overview of the college. I encourage you to check out their website at http://www.carmenpampafund.org/ or visit one of the current staff and volunteer's blogs on the side of my page. If you feel inspired, share this info with more people, donate money, or volunteer, and you can feel confident that you are changing the life of a person and doing your part to change the world.

My time in South America has come to an end for now as I start grad school, but I don't think it will be too long before I do something like this again. I'm addicted.

Goodbye Celebration

Fifth Semester Tourism Students in English Class

One of the things that I like most about the countries we have been to is the formal closure that they do. Sometimes the formal introductions can get repetitive but I have loved the way they say thank you and goodbye. For me, saying goodbye is very hard, but the celebrations make it easier. Every place we have volunteered has done a great job with this and it's such a great way to tie everything up. Prisca told me a saying they have in Germany: to leave with one eye crying and one eye laughing. I love how that sums it up. I am very sad to say goodbye but very happy with all the experiences I have had here and the people I have met.

Today we had our last English class with the tourism students and at the end they threw a party, complete with food, music, speeches, and dancing. Every single person signed my cast and they even signed it for the students who had already left for home for Holy Week. I will be able to remember them every time I look down for the next three weeks. Throughout the fiesta there was music playing. They started with some songs from the 80s and then Joanna told us they had played that to make us feel comfortable but they were wondering if we wanted to listen to Bolivian music. Of course we said yes, and then the dancing began, and later they gave us a CD of the Bolivian music. One of the best parts was when they had us hold a wild pig. At first I said no way, but then it kind of cuddled up to me as I held it. Kirsten didn't manage to hold it because it wiggled too much and freaked her out. The students loved the whole scene.

At the end, each student came up and said a formal goodbye and thank you and gave us a hug and a kiss. I got a lot of "take care of yourself" and"good luck with your leg." Everyone asked when we are coming back. When we have left the other experiences, it's been especially hard because I knew I wouldn't be coming back, but here at Carmen Pampa I will leave with the idea that I will return someday.

Teaching English

When I first started planning my trip to South America and looking for volunteer opportunities, I knew that the one thing I didn’t want to do was teach English. I wanted to do something closer to social work. The closest experience I had had to teaching was giving presentations to classrooms and organizations on domestic violence and healthy relationships. As it turns out, my favorite part of volunteering has been teaching English. It’s a great way to connect with people. The extra bonus is improving my Spanish. In the mountains in Ecuador, it was a time of laughter while we taught the six women basic English phrases and were able to incorporate “social work” themes like feelings, health, family, and dreams. In the jungle in Ecuador, my favorite moments were the ones that were spent with the elementary children, teaching them songs and doing activities. It made them think in a way that was different from the repetitive drill style they were taught their other subjects. Many of them told us it was their favorite time of day.

My whole point is that I have loved teaching English. Here at Carmen Pampa, I love being with the fifth semester Ecotourism students. Last night it was clear to me how much they had learned in our short time here working with them four nights a week and during the weekly four hour class that we assist with. We have been working with them for about a week now on forming questions. Last night’s activity was to write two questions and then in small groups ask each other the questions. One girl, who at the beginning of our time here didn’t know the word “he” and many other basic elements, was writing her questions and getting them almost correct and then took the time to write extra questions to get my input. When the time came for the class to end, neither my group or Kirsten’s group got up to leave. Kirsten’s group asked her if they could do one more round. My group was asking me questions in English about myself and then asking questions about different things they wanted to know about.

Last Thursday evening, we went to watch our students play Futsal (a popular game here similar to soccer but played on a basketball court) and Kirsten and I sat by some of our students and talked with them. We talked with them in a mixture of English and Spanish and it was fun to see them using their English outside of class. A couple of them have commented recently about how something clicked recently and they really want to learn English. At one point, I asked Lourdes why she chose to study Ecotourism. She told me (in Spanish) that she loves the conservation part of tourism. She said that it’s important to conserve nature for the future of the people and that this is the biggest challenge that Bolivia is facing right now. Her answer was long and beautiful and unlike some of the “I need a job” responses I have gotten. Lourdes is one of the students who seems to have learned the most while we have been here. Last night she stayed after class and she asked me questions about words and phrases she wanted to know and then practiced it with me.

Reyna, Lourdes, Me, and Marilyn after the Futsal game

Also that evening we shared an emotional goodbye with Marilyn, who was leaving early for Holy Week because her family lives far away. Marilyn is the student who cleans our volunteer house. The students here make the average wage of 30 Bolivianos (about $4.35) a day with an on-campus job. Every Monday, one of the volunteers makes lunch for her and whoever is in the house eats with her. During this time we have gotten to know her more and help her with her English. She is a shy and quiet girl but over time she has really started to experiment with her English. During class last week, she handed me a sentence she had been working on in her notebook: “Can you give me your email address?” Later she wrote another sentence: “We be the homesick.” I helped her look in the dictionary for the word “extrañar” which means “to miss” or “to be homesick” and somehow the less commonly used translation was listed first.

I’ve also enjoyed my other English teaching experience with the Pre-university students. I only had a couple classes with them but it was fun. The purpose of the class is to help them develop some English so when they start at the university next year they will be at the same level as other students. I was amazed at how at the end of five classes we were still working on the verb “to be,” but to give them credit there are a lot of uses of this verb and we worked on sentence structure and vocab with it. We have noticed with both classes is that the students are at very different levels. Some of the students here know the basic things and others don’t even know “hello” or “I.” It’s hard when some of them don’t know grammar rules in their own language, such as what an adjective and a noun is. I can’t help but think of the kids that we taught English to in Ecuador as they were learning to speak Spanish as a second language and the school system wasn’t very good.

My favorite moments with the Pre were when we were playing a game where I would tell them something in Spanish and they had to write the equivalent in English on the board. The students here love competition and it helps to make learning more fun. I kept messing up and telling it to them in English and they got a good laugh out of it. It was also fun when we practiced sentences like “I am thirsty,” “I am sick,” and “I am in love.” Between the funny feeling on the tongue, the funny sound it made, and the meanings of it, the class couldn’t stop giggling.

Clumsiness leads to Casts

Waiting for the minibus in La Paz with my brand new cast

I can not begin to count the number of times I have tripped, stumbled, or collapsed on this trip. I always manage to laugh at my self afterwards and the falls can make for a good laugh for years to come. This Sunday was not a good day. Fall number three left me with two ankles twisted... and one foot fractured. I didn't find that out for almost a full 23 hours, even though I knew it wasn't going to be good. I managed to keep a smile on my face up until I was told I would have a cast on my foot for one month, and all of the remainder of my time in Bolivia.

At 5 am when I woke up in a lot of pain 12 hours after the fall, I started to realize it might be more serious than a pulled muscle. At 9:30 we were dropped of at the clinic that had been recommended by our hotel and a tourist office... Assistencia Publica. It turned out to be a very interesting experience. We had to figure out who was the last person in line and then wait. The other patients watched out for us to make sure we got seen. I got the doctor who was 1 minute from the end of his shift. After pushing into every part of my foot and making me want to cry, he told me he was going to give me injections for three days, told me it wasn't fractured, and left. Luckily, he came back and described he thought it was dislocated, the injections were for pain and inflammation (more common than pills in South America), and he was going to have me get an X Ray to make sure that was all that was wrong.

Getting X Rays was not as easy. Kirsten waited in line, but then found out you had to pay first and get a slip, so she made it into the second group of people to give their reciepts to the doctor. For some reason there were a ton of moms there with young babies getting x rays. We finally figure out that they were getting x rays of their babies and I still need to investigate why. They would get the copy of the x ray and leave smiling without seeing the doctor. When it was my turn, Prisca came in with me and the doctor first had her hold the x ray card in place under my foot and then had her hold my leg in place when they took the x ray. Between two of there for foot injuries, the man in the motorcycle accident had nothing wrong and me, the girl who tripped, had a fractured foot. We were instructed to come back in two hours after lunch for a cast. When we arrived back, we saw a man with the worst cast in the world... his foot was extended fully out instead of in flat standing position and the plaster was bumpy and wierd. I decided I needed to make sure I got a good cast... my foot is important to me. As we had fellow patients describing the way to register (it was complicated) and a man in an even worse cast trying to sell me crutches, I was overcome with guilt knowing the privelege I have to be able to pick the doctor I want.

We headed to MediCentro and I was greeted at the door with a wheelchair, a great relief after hopping around all day and one time hitting my foot on the ground. The doctor agreed that my fifth metatarsal was fractured (known as a Jones fracture, although at the time I thought he was saying John's fracture with an accent). While he cracked jokes and played music from a radio, Kirsten was instructed to go buy the supplies from my cast downstairs. This girl was on errands all day long. Afterwards, I waited while Prisca and Kirsten left the clinic searching for crutches.

What have I learned? To quote Joanna, one of my English students, walking and talking are a "bad combination." I'm still reflecting on the rest. What I do know is that everyone that I have encountered have been great about the whole thing. We got to engage in two converations with taxi drivers about my foot and then about their lives. The bus ticket sellers got me a seat to sit in and wait for the bus and a woman selling food asked me what happened. We ran into the director of Ecotourism in La Paz just in time for him to help me get in the minibus to get to Coroico.

All of the students have been very caring and helpful. When I walk to class, I am surrounded by at least a couple students that are checking to see how I am doing and trying to help me navigate the paths. Yesterday as I left the English class with the Ecotourism students, I was greeted by scaffolding set up in front of the only exit. It seemed impossible for me on my second day of crutches to hop over the pole while ducking under another one at the same time. One of the workers helped move it. It was still up for the evening English class but I managed to get through it with some help.

The kids in the library were confused about the whole thing because I had a bag around my cast to protect it from the rain (which is really hard to walk in on crutches). I explained that I had a fracture but later realized that they understood broken better. Well, until one girl asked me where my foot was... was it in the house? Then I took the bag off and showed them all, and later there was a small stream of kids coming in to check it out.
So, I will wrap up my time in Bolivia in a different way then planned. No more hikes and a lot less sight-seeing. But I will leave full of love for this place and will want to return to see it all again and experience all that I am going to miss out on.

Volleyball Tournament

The Winning Team with me as the Referee

Last weekend we held a Mixed Volleyball Tournament on the upper campus. All week students were asking us about it and seemed pretty excited. We had 5 teams sign up ahead of time, but due to the rain the morning of the tournament, we had a late start and two teams didn't show. I went planning to ref the game but ended up having some fun playing too. We were able to form "Team Gringo plus Antonio" which was made up of five of us volunteers plus Antonio, one of our Tourism students. Our team didn't do so good against the teams who had been practicing together, but it was a lot of fun and once we got the hang of it we made the other team work hard to beat us. Kirsten ended up playing on both our team and the winning team because they were short a girl. Throughout the games, a number of students came by to watch all the action. Next up: a basketball tournament.

A Day at Carmen Pampa

My days have gotten a lot more busy... which means a lot more fun. Five evenings a week, Kirsten and I teach English to fifth semester English students as a supplement to their real English class that we help out with on Wednesdays. I love working with them. It's interesting because I think that teaching English was last on my list of what I wanted to do in South America but I have ended up doing it a lot and I love it!

Three evenings a week we work in the children's library for the community children. It can be a very very interesting time. It is a small room that at times is filled with 15 kids reading books, putting together puzzles, and playing games. Jean, a volunteer who has been here for two years, has done a great job of setting this room up, filling it with books and games, and teaching children how to use a library. The idea of signing out a book and returning it later is a new idea for the children. They are thrilled to walk out with the book in their hands. These are the children that we have been greeting and talking with outside since we got here, so it is wonderful to spend more quality time with them. I have been playing chess with the older boys around. They are really good but I've been able to hold my ground. I think it's the new thing to try to beat me. It's been great to walk down the road and see all the children that come into the library. We know their names and sometimes they know ours. Usually they call us "hermana" for sister, because they connect all foreigners to the nuns in the area that have had such a positive impact on the community, especially Sister Damon who founded the college.

One evening a week, and every other Friday, we teach English to the "Pre" students. I have my very own class, my first ever. The "Pre" are students who didn't pass the entrance exam to the school, but got the best scores on the test. They are attending the college this year in order to hopefully start next year. This gives them the chance to catch up to other students and start their studies at a good level. My students will surpass all the students next year in English, I'm sure. Prisca, the friend we first met in Ecuador who is now here at Carmen Pampa, has been helping me with class and will stay with the teacher who takes over when I leave. She is currently living in a dorm with 39 of the "Pre" girls, an experience I am sure she will never forget.

Between these activities, I have done some 1:1 English lessons with students and we are continuing are interviewing project with thesis students. I love the 1:1s because you get to know the students on a different level.