Pennies

• Perhaps the person who understands me most here so far is another language student at the Institute named Pennye. Pennye and I share a similar sense of humor, a love of working with kids, and an equal disdain for sentences combining indirect object pronouns with reflexive verbs.
  
• Meanwhile, in Omaha, my best friend Rosie just got a dog and named her Penny.
  
• One U.S. penny here in Cochabamba can buy you over 7 times what it can in the States.
  
• PENNIES have become very important in my life over the past two and a half weeks and therefore it seemed providential that I take a moment to reflect on what I have always looked at as "mere pocket change."

Pennye and I have classes right across the hallway from each other. She teases me ruthlessly about having had "bichos" or amoebas, in my stomach, is always up up for a walk around town or exploring a new corner of town, and runs a NGO called Comedor de Ninos, which cares for severely malnourished children in the tiny village of Montero, Santa Cruz. Comedor de Ninos also and offers mothers help with economic development through artisan trades like beading and pottery. What is most touching about Comedor de Ninos and Pennye's drive to turn "hunger into hope" is the reason why she began such a courageous project...

6 years ago, Pennye's 16 year old daughter Etta was a Rotary exchange student in Montero, Santa Cruz. She had studied in the rural town for only 3 months when she was killed suddenly in a tragic bus accident. Pennye, a social worker by training decided to commit her own life to the spirit of her daughter and thus began "Project Etta" which Pennye comments about on the organization's website: "Through her death many children will be fed either through the animals they will raise or through her nutrition center. Countless people will feel and be touched by Etta’s heart. No parents could be more proud of their child than we are of Etta." If you want to read more about the incredible work being done by Pennye and Project Etta...and I encourage you too!...go to: www.ettaprojects.org

Today Pennye and I went shopping downtown for Bolivian artwork and antiques that she can auction off at a fundraiser for Project Etta this winter. (Yes, remember it is winter here!) On our excursion Pennye and I talked about my work at Red Cloud and the frustrations and joys that our experiences have in common... hers in Montero, mine in Pine Ridge. We both agreed that the solution to hunger, poverty, violence and sickness in places such as Montero and Pine Ridge is education....programs that support, educate and care for the whole person--this is the goal of Project Etta and this is also essentially the mission of the Jesuits and the Maryknoll Missioners.

I look at Pennye and think of how much she has lost in the past 6 years and then how much she has humbly given to the people of Montero. She spends 3 months out of every year here in Bolivia..mostly at Comodore de Ninos in Santa Cruz, but also here at the Maryknoll Language Institute brushing up on her Spanish so that she can better reach out to the families in the community where she works. The other 9 months of the year, Pennye is on the road fundraising for "Project Etta" as well as being a wife and raising 3 children in her home near Seattle, Washington. I told Pennye today just how humbled I am by all that she is doing for the people of Montero. And she very quietly noted (as we shared a piece of pizza...yes, pizza!) downtown this afternoon, that CHANGE takes time, patience and a whole lot of individual people doing what ever little they can and however little they can give to support the outcome of HOPE.

Pennies = Change = Hope (okay, sorry for the corny connection and over-the-top emphasis with the red text)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unknowing of this budding relationship (AKA my constant awe of everything that Pennye is doing with her grief, her life, her faith, her family...), Rosie emailed me today to say that she and Ryan have adopted a dog from the pound and named her PENNY! I couldn't believe this when I read her email and of course emailed her back right away to explain just how neat of a "coincidence" this is for me! It really is the little things in life...

I'll end with a list of what I have discovered 7 Bolivianos can buy you here in Bolivia (the equivalent of one US penny):
-5 rides on the public bus
-4 boxes of oreo-like cookies
-10 antibiotic tablets that I took for my amoebas (they actually only cost 6 Bolivianos)
-2 pints of yogurt
-a taxi ride pretty much wherever
-3 tapioca and cheese rolls
-sunglasses

To think...I actually knew someone in college who used to throw his pennies out!! To think of all the things that the kids in Montero could have with those seemingly meaningless cents....