Source: istockAnalyst.com
Jun. 14--MEADVILLE -- Nancy Kopf embarks today on her latest journey to the rainforest with CONAPAC Peru, and she's inviting everyone to follow along.
The retired Maplewood Elementary School teacher from Titusville is involved in CONAPAC Peru's Adopt-A-School program, an effort that's taken her 7,500 miles away to San Pedro de Mangua, deep into the upper Amazon rainforest, 12 times since 2002. There, she's known as Pachita ("Little Earth Mother") to the local people she's come to know as personal friends.
Back in Crawford County, Kopf annually operates an under-the-grandstand booth at the Crawford County Fair, filled with everything from ornately handcrafted jewelry, dolls, masks and rain sticks to cold soda and signed sports memorabilia. Every penny earned from the items she's selling -- most of which were made by the villagers and brought back from her trips -- goes directly to the Amazon's rural villages for the development of schools, clean water plants and other improvements meant to promote self-sustainment within the local culture, she said. According to CONAPAC's official website (at conapac.org), the Adopt-A-School program as of last year had grown from 10 schools to over 120 since its creation in 1993, serving over 4,500 students and teachers in 75 rural village communities.
In a region where much rainforest land has been stripped by multinational corporate endeavors, CONAPAC and its volunteers' education-driven projects are "helping (native) people realize what they can do with their land besides de-forestation," said Kopf. "We're not a bunch of 'gringos' going in and changing their lifestyles. We're just helping them have a more productive way of life."
For the first time this year, anyone interested in following what's happening with Kopf and her group of area volunteers on their two-week trip may do so simply by checking out Kopf's new blog, at pachitamama.wordpress.com on the Web. And for those who may want to go beyond that and actually join Kopf, there's always an open invitation.
"I'd love to have so many people want to go with me I'd have to take two trips in a year," she said. "You just have to be there."
For more information about the continuing efforts led by CONAPAC and volunteers like Kopf, visit conapac.org on the web.
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.