Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 213
really commanding presence that I had met in my life. He gave me a sense of visionary
ideas and a glimpse of the inner fortitude we can all find within ourselves to pursue
dreams. Unfortunately, neither he nor anyone in his group saw any economic
opportunity for themselves in Cochabamba and our relationship moved to a smaller and
more basic level.
After it became known that the North Carolinians would not consider any investments,
many members of my group dropped out. Those that remained were interested in
helping people in the lower strata of society find a way to move up – a worthy cause if
for no other reason than to increase the middle class. When I realized how difficult it
was to produce a stream of small self-help projects, submit them to our friends in North
Carolina and, when financed by them, supervise their implementation in the
Cochabamba countryside, I realized that we could make a perfect fit with the Peace
Corps volunteers operating in my area. Accordingly, I called on some of my volunteer
friends who resided in neighboring villages and asked for their help.
Peace Corps volunteer Lisa Ohm hailed from Colorado. She was a beautiful blue-eyed
auburn-head living and working in the rural village of Sacaba. Leo Lefkowitz, then from
New Jersey but now from Houston, inherited her job. Leo and I became friends for life
and we still stay in occasional contact with each other. Throughout the next six years
many other volunteers worked with us also. They interfaced with the peasant
communities ascertaining their greatest needs and organizing a supply of labor. We
wrote up the projects and submitted them to North Carolina. Our friends there raised the
money, usually under $1,000 per project. With this money the Peace Corps volunteers
bought supplies. The local beneficiaries provided free labor. The North Carolinians
came up with an innovative way to raise the funds for some of the projects. They would
present it to the students at any of the many high schools in their state. This was an
opportunity for the students to learn about Cochabamba and donate $1 or $2 each. It
benefited their education and helped us. It was a good idea.
Somewhere during this period, I met an unforgettable Canadian lady from Calgary,
Ellen Massey, who came to Cochabamba accompanying a friend. She wound up
adopting a young lady from the orphanage I was involved with. Her dynamic personality
and unlimited energy, coupled with her desire to help the less privileged, quickly got her
committed to help finance a rural schoolhouse. This she did as soon as she got back to
Calgary. Using the same model of our North Carolinian friends, her daughter raised the
funds at her school and Peace Corps volunteers directed the construction. The
community residents in the town of Punata provided the labor. A new little rural
schoolhouse was built. One person, not a government, made a difference in the lives of
hundreds of children. Ellen’s and her daughter’s entrepreneurial compassion improved
a community for a long time. Ellen and I remained friends for life.
In this fashion we built innumerable country schools, rudimentary medical clinics,
community centers, bridges, water wells, storage tanks and distribution pipelines. My
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