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.