To spend years in one place, sharing experiences with its people and accompanying them in their personal processes, has its rewards. Deysi Rosa, for instance, is a great gift for us. We met her when she was barely three years old, and we had just arrived at the Totora Pampa Community in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Deysi, the second of five sisters, was always shy, responsible, hard working and endowed with a great interior strength. However, the family environment where she was growing up didn’t forecast success. Her older sister, at age 20, was already raising two children. Her younger sister didn’t want to study because her plans were, as she put it, “to find a husband while I am still young”.
Deysi, however, had this vague “something” that some people possess, which makes you think that they can really improve their odds, that they won’t accept for themselves a somber future. For years we saw the determination and will that Deysi put into her studies in spite of the fact that the majority of her classmates were abandoning the classroom and starting families.
When we asked her what she wanted in life, she would adopted a firm posture, in spite of her shyness, and would tell us that she would like to achieve more than just work the land and have children. She wanted to study and learn about other places. Her plan, though simple in appearance, was a great challenge: in order to achieve it, she needed to break cultural habits and overcome many economic barriers. The distance between Totora Pampa, in the mountains, and the big city of Cochambamba (where she would study) was not just geographic, but also economic and social.
Seeing her situation, and that of several girls from the same area that had approached our community, we decided to provide scholarships to six young women to study nursing at an institution for women from rural areas. The advantage of this institution is that it provides the students with a place to study, materials, food, schedules and living accommodations. The young people from rural areas can, in this way, overcome the previously mentioned obstacles and barriers and complete their professional formation in the best possible environment.
Today, Deysi is a full time student, and tells us how she takes full advantage of her time, because she knows that this opportunity is a gift. We, however, think that she is the gift. Her interior strength has opened a previously closed door, so that in the future other women from Totora Pampa may follow her footsteps.
Deysi, however, had this vague “something” that some people possess, which makes you think that they can really improve their odds, that they won’t accept for themselves a somber future. For years we saw the determination and will that Deysi put into her studies in spite of the fact that the majority of her classmates were abandoning the classroom and starting families.
When we asked her what she wanted in life, she would adopted a firm posture, in spite of her shyness, and would tell us that she would like to achieve more than just work the land and have children. She wanted to study and learn about other places. Her plan, though simple in appearance, was a great challenge: in order to achieve it, she needed to break cultural habits and overcome many economic barriers. The distance between Totora Pampa, in the mountains, and the big city of Cochambamba (where she would study) was not just geographic, but also economic and social.
Seeing her situation, and that of several girls from the same area that had approached our community, we decided to provide scholarships to six young women to study nursing at an institution for women from rural areas. The advantage of this institution is that it provides the students with a place to study, materials, food, schedules and living accommodations. The young people from rural areas can, in this way, overcome the previously mentioned obstacles and barriers and complete their professional formation in the best possible environment.
Today, Deysi is a full time student, and tells us how she takes full advantage of her time, because she knows that this opportunity is a gift. We, however, think that she is the gift. Her interior strength has opened a previously closed door, so that in the future other women from Totora Pampa may follow her footsteps.
