In 1985, Cheryl was living her dream. She had two kids, and still she worked those occasional long nights as a Nurse-Midwife. Her patients loved her. Some would ask her to come in when she might be off duty to attend the birth. She got involved in their lives, and loved the intimate moments she got to share, not only at the time of birth, but also in the months and years after, watching a few of “her” kids grow up and become real, not just potential people.
That’s how she met Pennye and her newborn daughter, Etta. Etta seemed to have a boundless love of life and others. Early in her teens, she was determined to travel as an exchange student and had the courage to look full face at poverty. In the fall of 2002, at age 16, she took off for the mountains of Bolivia on a Rotary scholarship.
For almost a decade now, I have heard the story of Etta and her journeys into that poor and happy land, and the continuing impact she has on its people. Saturday night, I got to re-visit that adventure, and came away feeling I had to do my part to bring her spark to some who may not have heard of her.
Who knows, maybe it was the stirring sermon I heard the night before which inspired me. “Be the Spark” – the Tacoma edition of the last speaking tour of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Sandwiched between dance crews, hip-hop performers, syrupy guitar and cello singers, our Governor, and a local TV celebrity, he had filled the Dome with thousands of mostly middle and high school kids and their teachers. I felt a little out of place with all the screaming for the Nickelodeon acts, but Bishop Tutu didn’t seem to mind. He slowly walked on stage, and got everyone first hushed, then laughing as he giggled his way though a simple but important message: God can only work on this earth through men and women. He is not so powerful that he can act alone; we must be His spark for any good to come of our lives here on earth. Don’t despair at what He has caused – He doesn’t work that way. Rather, make the change yourself, and with others, even if you are enslaved or desperately poor or un-represented in your government.
Now, I am not one who regularly uses religious metaphors to view my world, but I understand the language when I hear it. And the best part of Tutu’s talk was that he did not expect you to share the same religion as he does, only the belief that we must help ourselves and others. If it helps you to know that this is how God works in the world, then all the better, but that belief is not necessary for the trick to work.
So I took this aura from Bishop Tutu with me the next night to the 7th Annual Etta Projects Auction. We heard from several people, including Pennye and Katie Chandler, the director of Etta Projects in Bolivia. Katie gave a stirring vignette of how Bolivians view the earth and its people.
According to a new law passed there, Bolivia enshrines natural world’s rights with equal status for Mother Earth, the law “will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.” Now, Mother Earth is called “Pachamama” in Bolivia. Katie recounted how she spoke with one of the old women in a little village where Etta is currently making an impact. The old woman said, “I believe that Etta is still here with us; Pachamama has more work for her to do for us.”
On November 25th, 2002, Etta was traveling with some other exchange students on a local bus over a mountain pass above 13,000 feet. At 3 AM, the driver fell asleep, sending the bus down a steep valley. 7 of the 30 on board died, including Etta.
Losing a child, especially one with such promise as Etta, is probably the hardest thing a mother has to face. Occasionally, parents will start a foundation or use an existing charity to honor their son or daughter. That was Pennye’s impulse, but, as the old woman said, Etta had more in mind.
Pennye started with a vision that small projects in local communities could help the people there in the mountains, the ones Etta had come to love and be loved in return. After several rounds of fund-raising, two comedors were built, to help feed children and their mothers. But because Pennye/Etta’s vision was not to create outside help, but to spark self-sustaining local development, the work quickly morphed into a myriad of activities. Micro-finance to help women set up crafts works and sales outlets; wells and delivery systems for clean water; teacher training, school gardens, an indigenous health service – Katie is overseeing a varied group of local experts in health, finance, agriculture and construction.
And Pennye has moved from grieving mother to successful executive director of a truly amazing charitable foundation. She has never lost sight of her vision: to partner with Bolivian communities in crafting sustainable solutions to the challenges of poverty. Improving the health of those living there, improving the education of the next generation, and helping mothers acquire the business skills to support their families. Clean water, fresh vegetables, creating businesses where none exist – these are the basic components of a healthy, vibrant community, and it is what Etta has engendered in that corner of Bolivia where she spent her last days, and continues to live still.
http://www.ettaprojects.org/default.aspx