We have had requests from many people to continue our blog, at least for now, so here we are! Today's Waverly Democrat newspaper published a front-page article about our return, Here is a picture:
Since they don't publish all of the articles online, here is the text of the article and the two photos they used...
One
year ago, the Cornforths of Waverly set out on the journey of a lifetime. After
more than two years of planning and fundraising, they departed at last for a
year of mission work in Bolivia, South America, the second poorest country in
the Western Hemisphere. They traveled to the Unidad Academica Campesina (the
UAC-CP), a small college in the tiny rural mountainside village of Carmen
Pampa. Founded in 1993, the mission of the UAC-CP is to: provide higher
education to the poor and marginalized; prepare young men and women who are
called by Christian principle to serve the poor; guide young adults in their
search for truth through education, research, and community service; and
integrate the College’s work throughout Bolivia’s rural area.
The
college started as a joint effort between the Catholic University of Bolivia in
La Paz, the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MFIC),
the Diocese of Coroico, Bolivia, and the sub-central Villa Nilo–a local
governing body of the indigenous people, Nor Yungas, Bolivia. The people of Nor
Yungas are mainly of Aymaran or Afro-Bolivian descent who, until 1952, were
indentured slaves.
Sr.
Damon Nolan, MFIC, who was living in the mountainous Yungas region, guided the
four groups who were united in their concern regarding the absence of higher
education for young people in one of South America’s poorest areas. Building a
college, they agreed, would be a way to empower people from the rural area to
respond to common problems and needs of the population. In 1992 an agreement
was signed with the local farmers’ organization to build the College. Some
farmers signed the pact with a thumbprint.
Jeff
and Susan Cornforth visited the UAC-CP in 2001 when they were graduate students
at South Dakota State University, one of several US institutions with which the
UAC-CP has exchanged students and research projects. They were so inspired by
the work and mission of the college, and its effect on the rural communities
and people of Bolivia, that they returned after two weeks determined to return
and help someday. Their youngest child, Delaney, grew up with talk of the day
they would return to Bolivia, and the family felt called to go there together
and serve God’s people. As Delaney prepared to begin high school, she began
discussing the possibility of missing a year to go to Bolivia, and a family
friend mentioned Iowa Learning Online, a program that would allow her to keep
up her studies over the Internet while gone. Susan reached out to an old friend
at the UAC-CP, Dr. Hugh Smeltekop, who by this time had become the Vice
Director of the college, and began discussing the idea that the family would
come for an entire year, with Delaney keeping up her studies online. He assured
them an Internet connection was regularly available, and they realized that the
time had come to make their dream a reality.
The
family talked with their church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Waverly, and
they were very willing to help with fundraising and support the family in any way
they could. Jeff and Susan, usually accompanied by Delaney, began fundraising
in earnest, visiting over 20 churches and organizations and using social media
to reach friends and family members out of state. Several committees of the
Episcopal Diocese of Iowa gave grants to help, plus St. Andrew’s raised funds
before and during the year, supporting needs that came up as the mission
developed. Without the generous gifts of people all over Iowa, and throughout
the US, the mission would never have happened.
Landing
on July 10, 2013, in La Paz, Bolivia, at the world’s highest international
airport (13, 070 feet above sea level), the Cornforths then departed for the
Yungas. As they settled in at the College, their work began. Susan taught
English to two classes, one a group of students in the Agronomy department and
the other in Education. At first, the students were hesitant and shy, but since
Susan is a singer, she fills her life and surroundings with music wherever she
goes. She began a tradition of creating a playlist of songs in English for her
classes, and playing the music before class. She also used song lyrics in many
lessons, teaching her students English while they sang along. Many times, she
discovered some of her students had heard a song before and were eager to learn
the words and what they meant. The music broke the ice, as students would crowd
around her after class asking for copies of music she used in class and dancing
and teasing each other. Susan says one of her favorite things about Bolivian
culture is their artistic tendencies – they love to dance, sing, dress up,
decorate, have parties. Over the two semesters she taught there, she made many
friends among the students, and had great fun. Among other things, they baked
banana bread together (using recipes in English to practice), played baseball,
and sang karaoke. She learned to love them and their creativity, and learned
much from them about the importance of joy in everyday life.
Jeff
started out exercising his handyman skills, fixing things small and large all
over the campus. He also designed and worked on several large projects during
his year, including a hanging garden system to create a visual barrier along a
set of stairs with an open side and no handrail, a fountain for a redesigned courtyard
that reuses old satellite dishes, and a complete remodel of the library. His
vision for library included an indoor garden and soft corner to encourage
reading for pleasure, an almost unheard-of pastime in Bolivian culture.
Delaney
spent much of her time working on her schoolwork, and with the Internet
connection very unreliable at times, she sometimes needed extra hours to
complete her schoolwork. Her volunteer work was centered on the children’s
library in the village. A family from Minneapolis came in August with a large
donation of books and helped her set it up, then she ran it by herself for the
rest of the year. She took great delight in interacting with the village
children, and established a weekly storytime where she could read to them. She
also built a great relationship with the faculty and staff children on the
campus where the family lived, often having them over to bake cookies or play
games.
The family
returned to Waverly on June 21, and was welcomed back by St. Andrew’s the
following day. They say they will spend the next several weeks adjusting back
to life in the US, and that the experience has changed forever their
relationship with God and the way they think about the world and other people.
“While we know this sort of mission is not for everyone, it was an incredible
time for us, and we would encourage anyone who feels moved by the needs of
others to act, whether that’s by spending a year in a developing country or by
volunteering at your church or in the community. Get outside your ‘comfort
zone’ and interact with people from other places or parts of society, and be
open to other points of view,” says Susan.
