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.

Campus Cooperatives

There are three cooperatives at Unidad Academia Campesina- Carmen Pampa that offer an affordable way for students to get their daily nutrition in order to excel at this amazing college. Each cooperative has its own character and way of operating, all the way from the physical appearance of the place to the favorite foods of the staff and students. The cooperatives are open for any student that wants to join. For 150 bolivianos a month, (about $21) a student receives three meals plus one snack every day. The kitchen staff are all members of the community and during their work day from 6 or 8 in the morning until 6 at night they have two or three students that assist them. As part of the cooperative, the students take turns helping out in the kitchen, preparing vegetables, serving meals, and cleaning up. By being entering the kitchens and dining rooms, I was able to learn more about the community here in Carmen Pampa.

When we arrived at the cooperative on Campus Manning, Maria Mollizaca and Jorge Canderon, the husband and wife team, were hard at work preparing that day's lunch for the 150 students that eat in the cooperative. This is Maria's first year back after working here 4 years ago when there were only 40 students eating in the cooperative. Her favorite food to prepare is fricasa, which is either pork or chicken served with chuño and corn. (Chuño is a freeze-dried potato traditionally made by Quechua and Aymara communities here in Bolivia by leaving out small potatos during cold nights for a number of nights to both freeze them and then they are dried in the sun. Once they are preserved this way, they can be stored for years, and this process has been used for centuries. Brillant, huh?) As for the students, Maria said that she thinks they would eat chicken for every meal if they could. Her husband's job is to make the bread, which turns out to be about 1,000 pieces of bread a week. I couldn't helped but be mezmerized by how effortlessly Jorge rolled the dough as he talked with us. Jorge told us about how the community changed when the college started here now that there are more jobs for people and he is very happy that the college exists.

Elmer Brian Apuri is in his fifth semester studying rural tourism, and he is one of my students in my evening English classes. He is a 22 year old from Candelaria, which is about 5 hours from Carmen Pampa. When we asked him why he chose to study at Carmen Pampa, he responded like many of the other students I have talked with have responded, "I am from the countryside. I wanted to come to the countryside and stay in the countryside." He first ate at the food kiosks on campus but quickly joined the cooperatives because they are the most economical. His favorite food at the cooperative is anything with soup, meat, and a little bit of vegetables.

Roxana Mendizapal Chuquiza is a 18 year old in here first semester at Carmen Pampa. She came from Guanay, a town 6-8 hours from Carmen Pampa, to study nursing. She chose to be part of the cooperative because it is very economical and she eats all of her meals there. She will be having her first shift in the kitchen next week. She said that they eat a lot of scrambled eggs, but her favorite meal was the one time that they had steak. When we asked her why all the students weren't part of the cooperative, she said that she knows students who can't afford the monthly fee. Even though 150 bolivianos is cheap by United States standards, it can be very high in a country where workers may only make 30 bolivianos a day for work like cleaning houses or working in the fields. Some students only eat meals when they have enough money to buy something from one of the restaurants. Roxana told us that sometimes students from the cooperative bring food to to share with their friends who aren't able to eat because they don't have enough money.

While talking with Lee, a volunteer in his third year here at Carmen Pampa, I learned that the idea of the cooperatives was formed in the mid 90's when a student had a nosebleed that would not stop. Sister Damon Nolan, the founder of the college, took him to the doctor on the second day and they found out that he was malnourished from not having enough money to eat. Sister Damon Nolan started asking students who among them wasn't able to eat because they couldn't afford it. For these students, she started the cooperative in order to keep the food costs low by having the students do the shopping, preparing of food, and cleaning. On a visit home to Boston, Sister Damon Nolan was talking with the father of a girl that she had years earlier and found out that the girl had died of a rare disease after college. The father was the owner of a grocery chain and he decided that he wanted to help feed the students at Carmen Pampa and now annually gives a substantial amount for the cooperative program. In honor of his daughter, one of the cooperative's is called "Patty's Kitchen." Now, because of the funding that has been obtained, any student can be a member of the cooperatives for a low cost.

On Campus Leahy, you walk down a short little dirt path past the students washing their laundry on sunny days, to find the upper campus cooperative. When we walked in they were busy frying french fries and cutting up vegetables. Fransisca Auzpa just started working at the cooperative this semester after working here three years ago and Juana Zapana is in her second year. Both are from Carmen Pampa, and Fransisca lives in the house closest to the cooperative. They serve food to 140 students, which is up from the 120 students that came to this cooperative three years ago. Depending on the day, if you come here for a meal, you may find chicken, steak, scrambled eggs, lentils, pique a lo macho (french fries with pieces of beef and/or sausage, onions, tomatos, and peppers), or salchipapas (the very popular dish of french fries with hot dogs on top found throughout the three countries I have visited). Francisca's favorite food to prepare is lechon y pollo (pork and chicken cooked in the oven).

Leaving Campus Leahy, you walk up a path and steps through a beautiful row of trees to find the third cooperative. Mostly older students and students with families eat at this cooperative and their housing is located right next to it. When we arrived, we caught some of the last students to finish their lunch. As some of them washed their plates and joked around, we talked with Jeronimo Payhuanca Gomez, an agronomy student in his seventh semester. He has eaten at the cooperatives during all of his semesters at Carmen Pampa. His favorite food is sopa de mani (peanut soup). Jeronimo is originally from Caranabi, a town about 4 hours from Carmen Pampa, and he said that when he originally came to the college, he was scared of the foreigners that were on campus because he didn't understand why they were there. Sara, one of the volunteers who is now a staff, told him that the foreigners were here to help the college and learn from the students. It was hard to imagine this outgoing, friendly young man as someone who could be scared of me, and it was clear that he has gotten over that fear. It made me be aware of all the students who have just started here and are not used to having foreigners around.

The best part of this cooperative tour was the kitchen. When we walked in, two women were on the side of the kitchen preparing vegetables and one woman was preparing everything else for the 130 students that eat at this cooperative. Delia Beltran has been working in the cooperative for five years, and although she was hesitant to talk to us at first because she was so busy, she quickly become the most lively of all the people we interviewed. When it was time for pictures, she arranged a good background setting and asked for a copy. Even though the other two woman were full of smiles and very interested in our interview with Delia, they did not want to be interviewed and it appeared that they only spoke Aymara.
Breakfast is served at 8:30, which may include rice with milk, oatmeal with milk, or a chocolate drink. Delia said that her favorite food to cook is pollo al horno (chicken in the oven) and that the favorites of the students are also pollo al horno, sopa de mani, chairo (a stew of meat, chuño, and vegetables). When we asked Delia about changes in Carmen Pampa because of the college, she said there have been many changes and that she was able to return to work. It has become clear after talking to just a few people how much help the college is because of the jobs that became available for the residents of this small community of 40 families, including working "on campus" or having a business selling the products they grow, the food they make, and other items to the students, staff, and volunteers.

At the end of our time speaking with Delia, we were lucky to catch Yalitza Mamani, the President of the "Fiscalizadoras" (inspectors or auditors of the money in the cooperatives). In her seventh semester studying education, this 23 year old is very close to achieving her dream of being a teacher in a high school. She said that she likes to be with people and share with others. When describing why she wanted to be a teacher, she said simply yet strongly, "It is my vocation." Coming from a family of seven children with two currently studying at Carmen Pampa, economics was a large factor in choosing to eat at the cooperative and she has now taken a very active role in how the cooperative operates. After college, she hopes to return to her small community of Cochuna, which is near Coroico, to be a teacher.

These cooperatives are a part of making childhood dreams come true at UAC-Carmen Pampa by making sure that basic needs are met so that students are ready to learn.

Visa Extension Accomplished

This morning Kirsten and I headed to the Immigration Office here in La Paz to try to attain more days here in Bolivia. This whole process has been up and down. Luckily, last night we talked with Hugh and he said that you go into the building, turn to the right and there is a little desk, and you tell them you want your extension, and you get it. It sounded too easy to be true but it turned out to be. It was very exciting. Prior we had heard they might charge you, they might give you only 30 days, and maybe it would be cheaper to pay the $1.25 per day fee for overstaying your visa. Given that we have about 50 days left here, that felt like an expensive option.

Let me back up and tell you about how the process went for me. While we were in Ecuador we learned about Bolivia´s visa policy for United States citizens. When we tried to research it, we could find hardly nothing about it on any United States government page but we were directed to the Bolivia Embassy page to find out about the process. The whole thing is based on the idea of reciprocity.

In January, After lots of confusion and frustrations, we took the 3 hr bus ride from Puno across the border to Copacabana with a bus full of tourists from all over South America and various other places. You should have seen the faces of the other tourists when we started whipping out USD 20s to the border officials. "Is this a money exchange?" to "We have to pay?!" It went off with hardly a hitch after a couple days of interesting trips to copy places and internet cafes.

To cross the border as a US citizen, Bolivia says you need a Visa application, $135, a copy of your yellow card vaccination sheet, a passport picture, a copy of a credit card, return tickets, and an invite from someone in Bolivia or a hotel reservation. It's based off of the concept of reciprocity (and many countries have it down here now) and I completely understand it as the US makes it almost impossible for average people to come to our country from these countries. We didn't think it would be too big of problem until we ran into problems with our airline tickets and hotel reservations and we stayed a night in Puno extra trying to figure out why. The week before we went and got 6 copies of a fun passport picture taken (the smallest amount we could get) and went around town trying to find a copy machine that worked to get a copy of the vaccination sheet and credit card. When we got to the border, they were super friendly, and although they didn't want our hotel or airline reservation stuff that we worked so hard to obtain, they did wait a copy of our passport, so we ran next door conveniently to get that. At the last minute they remembered to ask for the additional passport photo, which was thrown into a huge stack of other things, so who knows where that will end up. We were granted 90 days, and three days later were assured when we left Bolivia by the still friendly border police that we would be able to get another 90 days, or an amount up to a total of 90 days when we returned. I would recommend having everything they say they require because I´m sure the process depends on the border official.

Flash forward to two weeks later when we tried crossing at a different border (Desaguadero) to save a significant amount of time. I´m pretty sure that the Peruvian border police stole $40 from me as they searched my bags and checked all my money for fake currency over and over while asking me lots of questions. I didn´t discover the missing money until the next morning but the whole experience left me feeling shaken up. I don´t think they see too many people from the United Stated crossing at this border. When we crossed they would only give us 30 days and said that we had to go to La Paz at a later date to get it extended. So we left the border with our multi-entry $135 visa, good for up to 5 years for 90 days a year, and a 30 day stamp. Even though we saved a lot of time, I don´t know if it was worth it.

All ended well today. I have a new 90 day stamp (free of charge) which will carry me through my departure date. And another plus was that the man at the immigrations office was very friendly. Heads up for anyone going to the immigrations office in La Paz, you need a copy of the page with your picture in your passport, a copy of your visa in your passport, and a copy of your green card (the one you get when you enter). There is a copy place right across the street.

I know my future!

I received the best email ever today... subject line: YES! from University of Minnesota School of Social Work Admissions! I sent my mom an email which included "I know my future." I am so excited... everyone here in the volunteer house has heard me scream and seen my huge smile. I will start my search for my internship right when I get back and I am already excited about the possibilities.

It's weird though- to know my future. I have been living my last months one month at a time, if that. So much time has been spent planning the next day's travels or searching for the next volunteer gig, wondering what I would like to do or what I would like to see. Since that moment I clicked "okay" to confirm my plane ticket back, I've had mixed feelings. I will be so happy to see my family and friends, and to start grad school, but it's strange to know that this adventure is coming to an end. It will be interesting to be back in the states... I'm not sure what to expect of it.

The great thing is that I still have well over a month left here and I know that every moment is going to be packed with greatness- between talking to the students, teaching English, dinners with the volunteers, reading more books, and going for great walks surrounded by this beauty (people saying hello, sunshine, and gorgeous greenness).

We started our English classes with the tourism students this week. They are in their 5th semester and are supposed to be fluent by the end of their 6th. I will be leaving in just a few minutes to go to our third class. We have also been attending their weekly English class that they have with a "real" teacher and I am learning a lot about my own language, like why and when you use a form of "do" in a question. It's all so automatic. The students are awesome. I leave each class with a lot of energy. Last night I stayed an extra hour to work with four girls on pronunciation, and we had a lot of fun with "th." Next week we start English classes with the "pre"- students who didn't pass the entrance exams but got the best grades and are attending classes to get a head start. I love teaching.

We are also getting to know the kids in the area more. Yesterday was my first shift in the kids library and we had five kids there to read books to and play games with. Most of them I recognized from short conversations on the side of the road. I have yet to seen the ones that attacked us with buckets and bottles full of water on the last day of Carnaval. We were on a peaceful little walk and all of a sudden they came out of nowhere. No trick in the book could get them to stop and it was made worse by the fact that there was running water by the side of the road that they could refill at as we were walking away. I could have gotten angry... but the shear joy on their face made me survive. And if I wasn't in my only pair of clean, dry clothes, maybe I would have joined in. I didn't escape with a dry inch on my body.

The view on my walk from upper campus to lower campus yesterday evening. The physical beauty of this place is matched by the beauty of the people here.

When I applied for this volunteer experience, I was in the middle of reading Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea." The book is about his work building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure that children, especially girls, were able to get an education. Finding this opportunity while being inspired by his work was thrilling, and it feels like it was really meant to be.

My work as a social worker in the US and a volunteer down here in South America has been centered around my desire to empower people and work with them on their journey. Back in the states, I worked with families in a safe shelter, young people in a community center (The Garage in Burnsville), and families at an elementary school--- with a huge emphasis on making sure that their needs were met so that they were able to succeed in school. Here in South America, I have been volunteering with women and children, helping them with their homework and English, while learning about their life stories. This experience here at Carmen Pampa is a perfect way to wrap up my time down here. And I can't help but think of Greg Mortenson's work. I am not comparing myself to him... I am comparing the work that Carmen Pampa is doing and all the people who founded this college and continue to keep it going.

On the "Three Cups of Tea" website, it says: Mortenson advocates girls’ education as the top priority to promote economic development, peace and prosperity, and says, “you can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change”.

There is a magnet on our fridge here that says "Teaching today touches tomorrow" and it reminds me of all the little things my gramma has had around her house and office while I was growing up, showing the importance of education and reading. I get so excited when I hear the stories of the people here. I've never seen a group of young people so excited to go to college. Every person I have talked with talks about how lucky they are to be here and how thankful they are. I will work on sharing their stories on here so that you can learn from them and get excited too.

Bus rides and interviews

Today I got back from La Paz and Chulumani, the capital of the South Yungas. We had a long weekend because of carnaval so we decided to see more of Bolivia. Even though we were warned to wear rain jackets because of the water fights, it was still a shock to get pelted by water balloons as we entered Chulumani in the middle of the Carnaval parade. I would have loved the event as a child, but found myself staring down all children, and men of all ages, to warn them not to hit me with a water balloon. We had arrived in Chulumani after 4 hours in the very back of a bumpy bus ride with my bug bite covered legs hitting the metal of the seat in front of me. It was fun to see everyone having fun, but the true Chulumani showed through when the town was quiet the next day and everyone was friendly and greeting us with many hellos. We hiked around the area, which is fairly similar to Carmen Pampa. It's technically about 2 hours from here if you can find transport, but we took the easier and longer route... four hours to La Paz and then four hours to Chulumani.

In La Paz, we met up with Prisca, who is going to be a new volunteer at Carmen Pampa. She was the first person we met in Ecuador and we became instant friends. It's nice to see a familiar face and it will be great to have her here at Carmen Pampa. This morning I walked by the school my gramma volunteered at when she was 19 and it was exciting to think of her here. The school is in the middle of where all the action is in La Paz!

So far at Carmen Pampa I have been spending time getting to know the students. Kirsten and I have been interviewing students who are at the end of their studies and doing their thesis projects. It's been interesting to interview people on things that I know nothing about. We are meeting a lot of people and learning our way around campus as we try to track people down. One student, Judit, has been working on her thesis regarding different ways to grow spinach. She wants to promote it in the area because of its health value and its market in the tourist industry. She came from a village 24 hours away to first go to high school here and now to college. She chose agronomy at Carmen Pampa because her family is from the countryside and she worked in the fields growing up. She says that she likes to work in the countryside because it contains all of life and that it is important that people have relationships with plants and animals. While completing her thesis, she has been raising her 1 and 1/2 year old son with her husband and hopes to run a fruit farm in the future. (And he's really healthy from all the spinach he's been eating!)

Checking out the area

These last few days have been filled with lots of events to get to know the area and figuring out how things work.

On Saturday, we went with Andy and Sam (2 of the volunteers here that we will be working with a lot) to the market in Coroico to buy groceries for the house in order to learn the places to go to and which ones to avoid. We enjoyed a juice of strawberries and milk after filling three large bags with food. We lucked out by meeting up with one of the students here, Celia, and she helped us shop. We saved a lot of money with her making sure we were getting the right amount to match what we were paying for and by selecting the best of the best. It was great to watch although I know I will never be able to look at the worker and say, "Can I weigh that myself?" after it seems like it's not right.

We are going to be organizing weekend events and had our first event on Saturday. I worked on the lower campus with Sam to show the new movie "Che" to the students. I had a lot of fun popping popcorn on the stove to give to the students: some batches were great, some not so great. I would call the event a success. We had about 30-35 students stop in to check out the movie and maybe about 15-20 of them watched the whole movie.

On Sunday, all of the volunteers went to a rutucha, a ritual for the first hair cutting of a child, because Hugh was the godfather and we were all invited. (Hugh started as a volunteer here and is now the Vice Director General) I rode in the back of the truck, which was perfect for sight-seeing. When we got to the house, the boy had the cutest mop of hair and it was a shame to cut it off. Each participant cut a lock of his hair and then donated some money to be saved for something important in his future. I was a little nervous that I would cut him or cut off too much hair. I cut a door in his bangs, similar to the one I gave myself when I was in second grade. Luckily, the idea is to cut off all of his hair , so at the end Hugh gave him a full short haircut to make it all as close to even as possible. Turned out the boy was just as cute with choppy short hair as he was with his long locks. Afterwards we had a meal together and Hugh did a ceremony with the locks of hair, money, and some rice for prosperity. The family also had three cute girls that I played a version of peekaboo with. I love genuine kid laughter. We also got to go in the goat house and I held a little goat. I was nervous my allergies to life would get the best of me, but it turned out I survived. And he sure was adorable. The goats are part of a project that Carmen Pampa has. I got attacked by some bugs that have decorated my arms with welts. Surprise surprise. I have been doing super good with the bug spray, but never good enough.

On Monday, which actually ends up being part of the weekend due to the Tuesday through Saturday schedule the campus follows, we went on a long hike to Trinidad Pampa. Sliding through the mud on slippery paths through the trees is a great way to experience the surrounding areas. Along the way, both to and from, we talked to area farmers and kids to make sure we were headed in the right direction. We climbed up to the Puerta de Viento (Door of Wind) which offered an outstanding view of the valley and both campuses. The students and classes are divided between 2 campuses that are about a 20-30 minutes walk apart. We live on the lower campus, and the students seem to be evenly split between campuses. After that we climbed down through the trees on small slippery paths and through farming fields to Trinidad Pampa to meet with a student and her family. I arrived covered in mud, but what else would you expect of me? They were the friendliest family and invited us back anytime. Going back we took the long way on the road in order to avoid climbing the muddy paths. The whole trip was about 8 hours.

First Blog and First Day of School

I arrived here in this green paradise filled with college students just a few days ago, on February 11th, and will be staying here for the next two months before heading back to the states. Kirsten and I crossed the border on February 9th and spent two nights in La Paz before taking a three hour bus ride to the town of Coroico and then a 45 minute minibus ride, known as a combi ride in Ecuador and Peru, to the town of Carmen Pampa. From the moment we got past some frustrating parts of crossing the border and we were on the way to La Paz, I knew I was going to love this country. I can't quite explain it but there is a feeling in the air, and inside me, that is unlike anything else.

Unidad Académica Campesina de Carmen Pampa is a college in rural Bolivia founded on the concept of providing a higher education to young people from rural communities and generating social and economic change through community-centered education. I couldn't help being excited when I first read that the college was a "catalyst of change" and that the students were "agents of change." Could this place really be for real? The answer is yes. The energy of the students, staff, and volunteers was evident from the first day. The bonus part for me was that it is all located in beautiful green mountains.

In between touring and meeting people, I have had a lot of time to reflect on the journey that has led me here. It all started as a dream, inspired by my gramma, who taught in Bolivia when she was a few years younger than I am now, and my great-great uncle has been a priest in Bolivia for the last 45 years or so. After saving money and quitting my job, Kirsten and I hopped on a plane to Ecuador on August 6th with a one-way ticket and only a month of our trip planned out. It all began in a similar green paradise called Marianitas, teaching English to the 6 amazing women of Colibris, a women's artisan cooperative, (while organic gardening and making jewelry). After that, we headed to Misahualli, Ecuador to teach English in two indigenous communities and clean caterpillar poop in a butterfly garden. In month four, we settled down in the dry, hot city of Arequipa, Peru to work with street children, talking, playing, and helping with homework. When we found this program at Carmen Pampa, it seemed to be everything we were looking for, and in the last few days I have not been disappointed.

We were lucky that our schedule matched up with Carmen Pampa's, because on day two we were able to witness the inauguration ceremonies of the new school year. The student body of approximately 700 gathered in the square outside before going into the church for mass and an official welcoming. I was honored to be one of the "official" photographers so I got to whip out my camera and not feel like I was being intrusive. It was great to see all the students gathered together.

This blog, my first blog ever, will be dedicated to sharing all that I experience and learn about during my time here. Maybe it will inspire you to save some money and hop on a plane down here.