Cooperative Living November/December 2019 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 74, No. 1
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
STEVEN JOHNSON
Acting Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
JOHN GROTT
Production Coordinator
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Email: sjohnson@vmdaec.com
Web: co-opliving.com
To change your subscription, please
contact your electric cooperative.
Published by the VA, MD & DE
Association of Electric Cooperatives
FLETCHER B. JONES
Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Vice Chair
RUSSELL G. BROWN
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson,
Jr., A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC;
George N. Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E.
Arnold, Micheal E. Malandro, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett,
Steven A. Harmon, Community; James E. Huffman, Jeff
M. Ahearn, Craig-Botetourt; Patricia S. Dorey, J. William
Andrew, Delaware; Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr.,
Mecklenburg; Russell G. Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck;
Wade C. House, Stan C. Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale
McNiel, Randell Myers, Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick,
Casey J. Logan, Prince George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer,
Rappahannock; Larry C. Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings,
Shenandoah Valley; Frank W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards,
Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
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Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
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COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
published 10 times a year, monthly except for
combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address
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ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
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encounter non-compliance with these standards,
they are asked to inform the Editor.
B
olivia is a land of breathtaking contrasts.
Lowlands barely 300 feet above sea level.
Sky-scraping peaks more than four miles
high. Extremes in weather, from equatorial heat
to arctic cold.
This South American country is mountainous
in a way that we in the East can't fathom, and
Coloradoans can but envy. The mighty Andes
reach to the sky here, in parallel ranges towering
over 20,000 feet.
Nestled between these Andean heights is the
Altiplano, or " high plateau. " A flat depression
80 miles wide and 500 miles long, its elevation
of 12,000 feet would make it a rooftop almost
anywhere in North America. In this part of
Bolivia, though, it's merely a floor. Cold
winds blow through this bowl year-round,
eroding the dry soils of its slopes and hills.
Coarse grasses, low shrubs, cacti and mosses
cover this rocky region, grazed by llamas
and alpacas.
Yet, despite a landscape with few adornments,
the Altiplano has been well-populated for at least
1,400 years. Crops have been successfully grown
here, and animals successfully grazed, from the
time of the ancient Andean peoples, to the Aymara
Indians, to the Incas, to the Spanish conquistadors
who invaded in the early 1500s.
Centuries later, railroads were built, and cities
grew up: Oruro, Uyuni, Tupiza, El Alto. And also
La Paz, the capital of Bolivia's executive branch
and legislature.
At night, if you fly over these cities - or view
a satellite image from space - you see clusters
of light, tiny sparkles in an ocean of darkness,
an ocean of lonesome, empty plains.
Sprinkled across Altiplano's plains, though, is
a patchwork of small villages, their modest brick
and adobe houses filled with life, but not light.
But light came to life in September, when
a team of 15 volunteer lineworkers from electric
cooperatives in Virginia and Maryland labored
through long days under difficult conditions to
electrify five villages in Bolivia's Oruro region.
For the villagers in Achoco ... Coniri ... Jalsuri
2
... Lagua Cruz ... and Puqui, the tireless efforts
of these 15 American heroes brought them light
and hope for a better life. For many of these
villagers, electric service for now means a single
CFL bulb, hanging from a low ceiling, providing
instant light, brighter light, better light than
candles or kerosene or wood can provide.
The association that publishes Cooperative
Living magazine helped to coordinate this trip,
part of a long-time effort by the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association to electrify rural
areas in developing nations. Funding support
for the trip was provided by the Cooperative
Finance Corp. and the National Cooperative
Services Corp. It was a cooperative effort
made possible also by the generosity of
the electric cooperatives that provided
these brave young men. The on-site
coordinator for the trip was a seasoned
lineworker, John Medved of Rappahannock
Electric Cooperative.
In addition to overseeing the projects, John
kept a diary during the trip. In it, he notes the
array of challenges they overcame: few tools;
no bucket trucks; drastic swings in temperature;
needing to roll 2,000 pounds of wire onto a
trailer and having a tractor pull it a mile to the
work site; finding a doctor to remove cacti spines;
a bus carrying the lineworkers to the job site
getting stuck in mud flats; and on the day of
departure for home, the bus not cranking due
to the 18-degree weather.
His final entry, though, sums it all up: " Not
only are the lives of the villagers changed, but
the impact of this adventure has changed us. "
In this cynical age, it's easy to be wary of
missions and motives and plans and people.
But for 17 days in September, 15 young men
in boots and hardhats voluntarily made an 8,000mile
round trip to a land with few amenities, to
undertake a job filled with difficulties, to benefit
strangers whom they're unlikely ever to see again.
All of which provides a great example of
peace and goodwill during a time of year when
we gather to celebrate both. 
Poignant videos and stories at facebook.com/groups/UnitedWeLight
co-opliving.com
Peace and Goodwill
in Boots and Hardhats
A team of lineworkers from electric cooperatives in
Virginia and Maryland travels thousands of miles to bring
light and hope to the residents of several remote villages.
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.facebook.com/groups/UnitedWeLight http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living November/December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living November/December 2019
