Evolution not Revolution:
A Film about Education for Social Change in Rural Bolivia

“People in the US, by donating or volunteering, can make a real difference in the lives of Bolivian college students working towards lifting both themselves and their communities out of poverty.”

- Paul Lechtenberg and Jason Kling

We are two recent college graduates from Jesuit institutions of higher learning, who have spent the last eight months working on a documentary film about the Unidad Academica Campesina-Carmen Pampa (UAC-CP) - a university in the rural Yungas region of Bolivia.  This university offers higher education to indigenous youth in an effort to provide them with opportunities for a better quality of life in a region marginalized by poverty and underdevelopment.  For five of those eight months, we lived at the UAC-CP to learn about its impact in the Yungas and on the campesinos, or peasant farmers that live there.  Through interviews with faculty, students, and visits to communities, we hope to show how the UAC’s solution of dignified opportunities through education is combating the problem of embedded poverty and its debilitating symptoms.

The story of the UAC and its mission of social change through education and service to the needs of the poor is an important one for all.  We feel that people in the US can take much from witnessing a taste of living with poverty in the rural area of an underdeveloped country such as Bolivia.  Also, college and university students in the US, especially those of Jesuit or Catholic ideals, could benefit from the students’ example to serve those in need.

Beginning in April, we are visiting colleges, churches and other social groups to present the film and talk about our experiences.  By doing this, we hope to generate funds and find sponsors that will help with the essential financial needs of the UAC-CP, such as tuition and food.  The UAC is funded almost entirely by donations from the US, and its increased success has resulted in the need for increased support.  We look forward to sharing this thought-provoking and inspiring story with college students, families, parishes, and social groups.

We will be speaking at Loyola College on Thursday, April 6, 2006 and at Boston College on Wednesday, April 12, 2006.  We hope to visit a number of Jesuit and Catholic Colleges and Universities to present our film, share our experiences and raise money for the UAC-CP. Please contact us at: jkling311@gmail.com by e-mail or by phone at (240)-475-4965 to arrange a showing.

http://carmenpampadiaries.blogspot.com