2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: Imperial Republican: Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter accomplishes goals in Bolivia
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2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: COS - Bolivia: Imperial Republican: Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter accomplishes goals in Bolivia
Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter accomplishes goals in Bolivia
Woofter's job turned into being a micro-enterprise consultant. She formed and worked with an artisian group that made and sold the incredibly beautiful ancient art of weaving. She also consulted with people wanting to set up small businesses. The villagers grow crops and tend sheep for their own existence. There isn't much left over to sell for a profit. "We were selling textiles in my community. It was very grass roots, not mechanical, no accounting records," she said. Woofter formed the weavers into an association. They then marketed their textiles in cities and abroad.
Peace Corps Volunteer Alisa Woofter accomplishes goals in Bolivia
Local Peace Corps volunteer accomplishes goals in Bolivia
By Carolyn Lee
The Imperial Republican
The work that Imperial native Alisa Woofter accomplished as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia the past two years may translate into her profession in the future. Woofter returned to the United States this month, and is determining her next steps.
Woofter packed a computer, sleeping bag, solar shower and clothes into her suitcase in August of 2004 and headed down to what she calls the poorest country in South America. At the time, she didn't know if she would be assigned to a city or village.
Her mission was to work to expand tourism. The country is trying to develop tourism, especially hiking and outdoor activities.
She ended up assigned to the village of Cahdelaria, in the Tarabuco region, which is the home of indigenous Inca Indians, who speak some Spanish, but mainly Quechua, the official language of the Inca empire.
The village is dusty and barren, 10,000 feet above sea level in the Andes. Transportation from the nearest city, Sucre, is by a wood-sided truck, shared with many other people.
The trip sometimes takes seven hours, sometimes more if a road is washed out.
Woofter's home was a dorm-sized room without running water. One end was her kitchen/living area, with a small refrigerator and stove, and the other end was a bedroom/closet.
The 2000 Chase County High School graduate said she was lucky in that she was the only person in the village with a flushing, outdoor toilet.
She really didn't feel too deprived, though. She was busy, and everyone else had so little.
Woofter's job turned into being a micro-enterprise consultant. She formed and worked with an artisian group that made and sold the incredibly beautiful ancient art of weaving.
She also consulted with people wanting to set up small businesses. The villagers grow crops and tend sheep for their own existence. There isn't much left over to sell for a profit.
"We were selling textiles in my community. It was very grass roots, not mechanical, no accounting records," she said.
Woofter formed the weavers into an association. They then marketed their textiles in cities and abroad.
Another accomplishment was the construction of a museum in Cahdelaria. It was built to show the history of weaving, plus to sell finished products to tourists.
Each associate had to volunteer 10 days of work on the museum. It was made of adobe.
The museum is only open when a tourist bus comes through the village. "Our community is very small," Woofter noted, "so everyone knows when the tourists are there."
She said it would be pointless to keep the museum open on a set schedule.
The association and museum were two goals Woofter set for herself once she was living in the village.
"It's nearly impossible to set goals before you're there. You need to integrate in the community, identify the needs, establish and accomplish the goals," she said.
Woofter said accomplishing goals may not mean leaving concrete work behind, like a museum. "You can affect someone in the community just by being a role model. There are so many other ways to measure success," she said.
She became very close to her neighbors, Woofter said. Her host family was her family. People always came to her for advice. "I was so incredibly respected. They were looking to me for help. They elevated me." Woofter found that astounding, considering her age and "gringo" status.
She didn't have best friends her own age, "mostly because they can't relate to issues I'm dealing with." She said no one in the community was educated, "so that changes the way you communicate and the relationships you develop."
Although she speaks Spanish at a "comfortable" level, she didn't develop it beyond what she already knew. Some Incas speak a mangled Spanish which Woofter picked up. She also mastered some Quechua phrases.
She knew she was part of the community during an event that she describes as "If my friends and family could see me now."
A NGO, or Non-Government Organization, had built a cement dam at a neighboring village. Every time there is an event like that, or the opening of the textile association's museum, there must be an inauguration ceremony.
Woofter and her fellow villagers bundled into a truck, drove way up high in the Andes, and past the neighboring village to the dam site. Foreign donors attended, murmuring "Who is the gringo?" as Woofter mingled with the crowd.
After the ceremony, big pots of food were cooked outside, with each diner supplying his or her own bowl.
"It got to be dark, time to go back, and the men had been drinking and were pretty drunk," she said. They packed into the truck, along with the band they had brought for the ceremony, and started down the mountain.
When passing the neighboring village, a bunch of villagers decided to climb on the truck and continue celebrating.
"So we were packed like cattle, with everyone in traditional clothing, driving in the middle of the fields. We were stuck in the truck and when we'd hit a bump everyone would fall down."
"When you do stuff like that and feel comfortable, that's integration," Woofter laughed.
She feels that the Peace Corps is going about economic development and promoting peace and cultural understanding in poor countries in the right way, although you always see things you'd like to improve.
"When I've lived there for two years, they see me as a representative of the U.S. The Peace Corps should be doubled or tripled and the world would only be better," she said.
After two years in South America's poorest country, Woofter looks at people differently.
"I would encourage people to travel. It is so important for your children to see other cultures."
She would also encourage communities in the United States to help people feel welcome, whatever their racial background, to respect them for their efforts to make a better life, and to learn from them.
For now, Woofter is searching for a position in International Sustainable Development work, which is hard to locate in the Midwest. That means she'll continue to help communities and countries make small business programs work "on the ground."
She's looking forward to Christmas and a tree, something she's missed. She was overwhelmed at Thanksgiving. "That food could have fed my entire village for awhile," she said.
"It's amazing how easy you get accustomed to the simple things we have here that aren't available there."
Thanks to Woofter, though, the Tarabuco region now has an association that markets its own textiles, and a museum that showcases them for tourists, drawing even more income to the region.
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Headlines: December, 2006; Peace Corps Bolivia; Directory of Bolivia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Bolivia RPCVs
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Imperial Republican
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It has been exactly 6 years today since my son was declared "officially" missing by Peace Corps. Since then it has been a constant battle to insure that he is not forgotten by Peace Corps. Very little communication has been coming out of Peace Corps since the House hearing on Volunteer safety in 2004. It took some arm twisting by the Massachusetts senate delegation and our 5th District congressman to even get Peace Corps to keep Walter on the active list. As of this year, there has been no communication from the new Director regarding our son's status. Come to think of it, there has been no communication from him at all. The Poirier family is still hoping against hope that Walter will be found, but there is little if anything being done by Peace Corps it seems at this time.