Sarah Mechtenberg ’99
Communication Liaison between the UAC-CP and the Carmen Pampa Fund

What year did you graduate from CSB? / What was your major?
I graduated from CSB in 1999 with a degree in peace studies.

In my current role, I vow to…share the story of the Unidad Academica Campesina de Carmen Pampa (UAC-CP), a College in rural Bolivia dedicated to educating young people in the rural areas.  As the communications liaison between the UAC-CP and the Carmen Pampa Fund (the St. Paul, Minnesota-based fundraising arm of the College), I share the challenges, successes, and every day stories of our students, faculty, staff, volunteers, and local community members who are dedicated to improving the lives indigenous youth.  Through my work, I vow to help young people become who they can be and should be by working to ensure that higher education is available to them.

Why do you do the work you do?
I have always loved the ambiance of being on a college campus—I think there is so much energy and excitement and enthusiasm and idealism.  Here, that is compounded by the fact that I work and live at a College that, in addition to experiencing many of the same challenges that any other college student in the U.S. faces, I work with students who face specific challenges related to poverty in a developing country.  For that reason, I’m even more inspired by the hope that students have here—their belief that they can go out and make a difference in the world.  I work here because I believe in the mission of the College and I believe in the potential of our students to fulfill that mission.

What drives you? / Why are you passionate about this field?
I accepted this position of living and working in rural Bolivia because I wholeheartedly believe in the mission of the College and the mission of the St. Paul-based Carmen Pampa Fund that supports the College’s work.  For a reason that I honestly can’t explain, I feel called to help the young people of the UAC-CP who, with so few resources to raise themselves out of poverty, have entrusted us to educate them and prepare them and help them improve not only their own lives and the lives of their families, but the lives of the people who live in their hometowns and communities.

The students are the reason I’m here; they are the reason I’m so passionate about my work.  They are incredible young people who, despite the many challenges that they are faced with, are able to  move forward.  I am most inspired by our graduates—especially those who are living out the mission of the College to return to the rural areas and improve the livelihood of their communities.  Whenever I have the opportunity to visit our graduates and learn more about the work I’m doing, I feel more inspired to do my work here at the College.  It can be really frustrating sometimes here at the College on some days—days when you wonder if you’re really reaching some of the students; when you question if the students are truly understanding the mission and vision and values that we strive to incorporate into their lives.  But whenever I meet with graduates, I’m able to see that the College is indeed succeeding; knowing that our students are out there creating this ripple or wave of change that was started here at the College and is being spread throughout other rural areas of Bolivia…this is what drives me.

Describe a typical day at your job.
Every day here is different—which is what really makes me love my job.  I love the challenges and adventures that the unknown bring.   On an average day, I work in an office that I share with three other people.  Because I’m responsible for sharing the story of the College, I spend time interviewing students, writing stories for the Carmen Pampa Fund newsletter, annual report, website and my personal blog (www.uchumachi.blogspot.com).

Because we pride ourselves on knowing each of our students—we know the details of their lives, we know their families, I also have the opportunity to travel quite a bit to visit students at their homes.    I attend lots of meetings throughout the week.  I help to coordinate projects for the UAC-CP that are funded through donations to the Carmen Pampa Fund which means I also spend time meeting with people in charge of projects and activities so I can best understand their needs and know how to best communicate them to donors.   And sometimes my job is just a matter of talking with students—listening to them.

Really, I don’t feel that my work here is my “job.”  The work I do here is so intermingled with my life, so I don’t really have a typical “day at the office.”  For me, that is the ideal way to work—when work doesn’t feel like it’s a “job.”

What was your path to get to your current position?
I really haven’t taken a path so much as ridden a wave—accepting jobs throughout my career that have presented themselves to me at the right time…with a few random jobs in the mix to give me a variety of experiences.  In the case of my current position, I volunteered at the UAC-CP for two years in 2004 and 2005.  I returned to the U.S. and worked in Minneapolis for a couple years and then the Carmen Pampa Fund contacted me last January to see if I would be potentially interested in returning to work on their behalf.

What are some common misconceptions about your field or your job?
Not sure!?

Can you share an example/story from your job that reinforces/illustrates the impact you are having?
One of my primary job responsibilities is to share the story of the UAC-CP with Carmen Pampa Fund donors which means that I am constantly talking with students and graduates--learning about their lives, their families, their dreams, etc.  Because of this, I consider myself very fortunate that I am able constantly able to see the impact of our work here at the College--I am able to see the difference that all of us (both employees of the CPF and of the UAC-CP) make on the lives of our students.

Just last Tuesday night I attended a dinner with three members of the Carmen Pampa Fund and seven UAC-CP student body council representatives.  The student body president of the Agronomy department, Geronimo Payhuanca, spoke a little bit about how the College has made a difference in his life.  I was able to testify to this fact as I was here when he arrived as a first year student four years ago.  He was, I recalled in front of him, his classmates and the CPF folks, very quiet and reserved.  As the oldest child of a very poor, single-parent family, he came to the College with very little finances which is what pushed him to talk to me his first semester asking for some type of work to earn money to pay his $12/mo. food cooperative fee.  I remember meeting with him in my office and asking him to speak up--he was so shy he wouldn't look me in the eye and I had a hard time understanding him.  And eventually, I found work for him at the College's Coroico Viejo goat project--he walked three hours round-trip to work a full day of physical labor to earn about $4.  Today, he's an entirely different person from the young man I remember.  For one, his self-confidence AMAZES me! Last year his classmates elected him president of the Agronomy department and he is now responsible for organizing campus-wide events and speaking on behalf of his Agronomy classmates.  It's phenomenal for me to be able to see this fundamental change in his character and it's humbling to know that I played even a small role in his success.

FYI, I keep a blog of my experiences:  www.uchumachi.blogspot.com  Several of those entries also provide examples of the impact I have on the lives of our students.

Institutional Advancement
College of Saint Benedict
St. Joseph, MN 56374
(320) 363-5682
(800) 648-3468