Cooperative Living November/December 2019 - 15

our people work, but I know it
was tough. "
The biggest issue was the
altitude - 13,000 feet above
sea level in some locations.
Nosebleeds and labored
breathing came with the
territory. " It's almost like you
took three steps for every step.
National Rural Utilities Cooperative
Finance Corp. (CFC), the National
Cooperative Services Corporation
(NCSC) and a host of vendors that
supplied the men with essential gear.
The group included workers from
A&N Electric Cooperative; BARC
Electric Cooperative; Central Virginia
Electric Cooperative; Choptank Electric
Cooperative; Northern Neck Electric
Cooperative; Rappahannock Electric
Cooperative; Shenandoah Valley
Electric Cooperative; and Southside
Electric Cooperative.
A long day's journey
Arriving after three plane connections
and a 10-hour bus trip, crews were
taken aback to see how residents eked
out their lives, without quarrel, in
subsistence conditions.
" It didn't take you very long to figure
out that these people had nothing. I mean,
they were actually living in the stone age, "
says Patrick Ambrose of Rappahannock
Electric Cooperative (REC), who watched
two women skin a llama with a rock
because they lacked a knife. " We made
a dream come true by getting them
electricity. "
The project gained traction earlier
this year when Alan Scruggs, vice
president of safety and training
services for the VMDAEC, toured
potential work sites with John
Medved, director of safety and
compliance at REC. Medved, a
volunteer on a previous NRECA
International trip to Haiti, served
as team leader.
Most such trips involve work at one or
two sites, but United We Light: Project
Bolivia undertook service to five widely
dispersed areas. " John and I probably
underestimated what it was going to take
to do some of those jobs, " Scruggs says.
" But the crew went down there and they
just knocked it out. I didn't have any
doubts about that because I know how
co-opliving.com
We'd climb a pole, we'd take three or four
steps, stop, take a break, try to get your
breath back and then continue on, " says
Jason Purvis of Central Virginia Electric
Cooperative (CVEC). " It eventually got a
little better. But any kind of physical
activity, you were stopping. "
That wasn't the only hurdle. A bus
ferrying workers got mired in mud for
four hours. A hard day's work led to
unappetizing meals - shredded llama,
some cheese and two eggs was one bill of
fare. With the labor, food and altitude,
virtually everyone lost 10 to 20 pounds.
But the hospitality of the Bolivians, shy
who told me she didn't think she would
live long enough to see electricity in her
home, and that now she could die happy, "
Farmer says.
An emotional ending
In one village, residents draw well water
by hand with a bucket. Now, they have an
electric water pump to do the job. In
another area, pumas hide in the mountains
to kill llamas - an important meat and
pack animal - at night. Now, villagers can
shine a light to keep the poachers at bay.
" I thought coming in here that I would
enjoy the fact that I'm bringing power to
someone who's never had it and bringing
joy to those people, " says Mike Johnson,
a 20-year veteran of Choptank Electric
Cooperative. " What I'm taking back is the
joy of them changing my life because I
won't ever complain about petty things
when I see that these people don't have
much and they appreciate everything
they do have. "
'They gave the best gift of all - the gift of light.'
at first then welcoming, lifted their spirits.
In mountainous Achoco, locals helped pull
wire and hoisted 50-pound tool bags on
their shoulders to take to the work teams.
" They're a little bit more acclimated to
this elevation and they showed us up when
it came to pulling wire out, " laughs JT
Jacobs of Shenandoah Valley Electric
Cooperative (SVEC). " But it was a big
help to the success of the job. "
Lorenzo Arroyo is mayor of Coniri,
which has lost about half of its 15 families
to communities that have electricity. When
Purvis handed him some local currency,
Arroyo picked the bigger lineworker off
the ground and started crying.
" Can you believe that? " Purvis recalls.
" Oh, it was amazing. And then we turned
the lights on and, all of a sudden,
everybody was just running into the room
looking at the light bulb and crying. "
Because the light bulb signaled hope.
" With the electricity grid that is
being installed, people will come back, "
Arroyo says through an interpreter.
" We are so happy, we have no more
words to say 'Thank you.' " 
The conclusion was inescapable:
Power changes lives. Kent Farmer,
president and CEO of REC,
witnessed that with co-op CEOs
Greg White of NNEC and " Butch "
Williamson of ANEC, and Scruggs
at an " inauguration " ceremony in
which power lines were energized.
" We met an 82-year-old woman
November-December 2019 | Cooperative Living | 13
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Cooperative Living November/December 2019

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