Erin Lloyd de Ortigoza committed her time and talent to help improve an underprivileged community in Paraguay where she met her future husband
Hamilton native returns from stint in Peace Corps
By Carmen M. Henderson
HAMILTON — With life's opportunities for the choosing, Erin Lloyd de Ortigoza committed her time and talent to help improve an underprivileged community in South America.
The commitment at times would leave her mentally, emotionally and physically spent. In the midst of implementing projects and
facing challenges, de Ortigoza found love and became part of the community she helped.
The 24-year-old Hamilton native, who left town as a single woman, recently returned from Paraguay as a two-year Peace Corps volunteer and with her newlywed husband, Alcides Ortigoza.
"It was an extremely invaluable experience," de Ortigoza said. "It puts those things you see on TV or hear about right in your face."
De Ortigoza's volunteerism also influenced her family and students in the Hamilton City School District to donate money to purchase books for a library.
De Ortigoza lived just outside in the campo, or countryside, of a small community, comparable to Darrtown, called Tava'i near the Paraguayan and Brazilian border. The community had no running water but had a water well, TV and electricity. Telephone service was sporadic, she said. The main communication between neighboring communities was by radio.
"The lifestyle was very simple," said de Ortigoza. "Now I'm more grounded."
De Ortigoza worked as an agriculture extension volunteer, showing farmers how to improve their harvests.
Through Peace Corps training, she learned agriculture techniques to harvest crops planted on a slope. She shared with farmers and their families ways to grow vegetable gardens during the heavy rainfall and extreme winds that occur in that region.
During de Ortigoza's 27-month stay in Paraguay, she created fund-raisers with women's groups to teach them the importance of project planning. She took part in hosting an AIDS prevention and education program.
Perhaps her proudest achievement was creating a municipal library last year as part of a community initiative of Tava'i and Hamilton.
"I had never done anything so exciting in my life," de Ortigoza's mother, Donna Lloyd said.
Lloyd, a teacher at Adams Elementary School, said her students — and those at Fillmore Elementary School, Wilson Junior High School and Hamilton High School — raised $1,500. Including funds from de Ortigoza's family and friends, the donations totaled $2,400 and paid for 400 Spanish books. The books ranged from philosophy to history to health.
The library was converted from a garage and storage room, de Ortigoza said. Most of the residents in the community didn't understand the concept of a library.
De Ortigoza's most difficult time happened when she suffered from ongoing fever and broke out with a rash that covered her body. Unsure of the illness, de Ortigoza spent two months in the Peace Corps' hospital in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion. She faced being terminated from the Peace Corps because of her long illness, but recovered in time.
"I had lost 20 pounds in two months. It was a lot of stress from the political issues between the communities," she said. "I think I worried myself into fever. I tried to connect the community with resources."
During de Ortigoza's second year as a Peace Corps volunteer she'd met Alcides, 22, whom she calls "karape," meaning shorty in Guarani — the one of two official languages in Paraguay. The other is Spanish.
She said their friendship grew to romance as they spent time together. Alcides cared for Erin when she was ill and even visited her in the hospital.
"I love the way he is with children. He's very grounded, whereas I'm up in the clouds," de Ortigoza said of her husband of five months.
In November 2003, Alcides learned enough English to ask Erin's parents for her hand and marriage.
Lloyd and her son, Kevin, attended the Catholic wedding outside Tava'i last July. The Lloyds will host a wedding for their daughter for their family to attend this summer, they said.
"It's just an awesome adventure," Lloyd said of her daughter. "She can do anything."
Contact Carmen M. Henderson at (513) 820-2180, or e-mail her at chenderson@coxohio.com.
