Despite the frenzy of last minute setbacks and preparations, our team of four is finally ready for our work with CECAM Bolivia in the city of Cochabamba. As a team, we all share the vague goal of working with the local people to facilitate the process of economic development, hopefully improving the lives of those within the community. This common objective necessitates cooperation, yet our success depends on each member’s unique characteristics:

Heather is our team leader, and studies International Relations at Boston University with a minor in Environmental Analysis and Policy. Her ultimate goals are for our work to have a positive impact on the community which persists far past the end of our stay in Bolivia, and to expand the network of organizations associated with CECAM in order to foster growth in its capacity to “create and implement environmentally sustainable technologies that contribute to improving the quality of life of the Bolivian people,” to quote CECAM Bolivia’s mission statement.

Marlon, who is primarily responsible for communicating with other organizations, is a Political Science and Hispanic Studies double major at Boston College. Through his work with CECAM and Sustainable Bolivia, he hopes to learn more about the structure and inner mechanisms of NGOs, as well as study the social and economic relationship between the leftist Bolivian government, headed by current president Evo Morales, and its citizens. He also plans on improving his fluidity in Spanish, and then utilizing it to become more involved within the local communities we are working with.

Sabrina studies Biology with a specialization in Cellular Biology and Genetics at Boston University, and is thus the unofficial medic of our group. During her stay, she hopes to expand the capabilities of CECAM with her work which has a particular personal focus on public health. Through her experiences in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, she hopes to learn about the healthcare systems in developing nations, and more about the personal lives of those lacking the amenities and high levels of consumption that are characteristic of developed countries like the US.

Lastly, my name is Jeewoong, and I am the blogger for our Bolivian experience. I study Economics and Environmental Studies at Boston College, and my personal goal for our work at CECAM is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of local people in sustainable economic development, as opposed to the contemporary paradigm of corporate globalization. Although significant development entails industrialization and thus a substantial increase in anthropogenic emissions, I hope to explore alternatives to at least partially decouple economic growth and soaring levels of pollutants.

We depart for Bolivia with high morale and expectations of our internships with CECAM. Effectuating significant and beneficial changes in the span of six weeks is a high bar we’ve set for ourselves, a goal possibly bordering on naivety, but with our collective tenacity (and more than a bit of luck), we hope to make a difference.