Adam Nordell '05 is committed to two things: oral history and giving back to the people whose stories he has recorded. He conducted his senior project in Guatemala, where he recorded the stories of a group of former Guatemalan refugees who had been resettled from the highlands to the Peten rainforest after the Guatemalan civil war.

But his project has a much longer beginning, and it's ending is not over yet. The beginning stems from his internship, his first experience with oral history. This netted him a coveted award from The Oral History Association, the nation's largest group of scholars and individuals whose life's work involves collecting stories. Every two years, three awards, only, are given out for projects created by this diverse group of historians, journalists and scholars. One award is given for print work; one for non-print and one for an educational use of oral history. The project that Nordell worked on for his internship won the non-print award, and Nordell's name is on the award. This project was a collection of oral stories about former tobacco farmers, Born and Raised in Tobacco Fields: an oral history of Southern Maryland tobacco growers.

Having picked up his award at the OHA conference in Providence, RI in early November, 2005, Nordell set off for Guatemala with funds to bring better stoves to the community he lived with for his senior project.

Nordell, a quiet-spoken young man with large dark eyes and shoulder-length black hair, came to COA from Helena, Montana, curious about the world, uncertain about where he was going. Called by poetry as well as story, he eventually conducted an internship with Carrie and Michael Kline of Talking Across the Lines, an oral history enterprise based in Maryland.

Though most of the interviews had already been conducted, the really hard work had yet to be done: weaving together 13 disparate stories into a  compelling, thematic testimonial to the small tobacco farmers of rural Maryland, a way of life that was coming to an end. That was Nordell's job, says Carrie Kline. He came to the project, she says, with "a heavenly blend of love, laughter and smarts. He wrote a good deal of the piece, interweaving voices of those we interviewed to script a moving, vivid and complex portrayal of the real lives effected by the changing face of American agriculture. The recognition for Adam's participation is what makes me happiest about the award."

Adds historian Susan McCormick of Albany, NY, chair of the committee that voted the award, "the cd was constructed in a sophisticated, complex, artistic and substantiative way, telling a wonderful story of the history of tobacco over 350 years."

That was in 2003. Nordell became fascinated by people living on the margins of society, longing to reveal the stories of those whose voices are seldom heard. That year he headed home to Montana to learn the history of a community that had been displaced by the damming of Missouri River.

His next oral history stop was La Esmeralda, where he spent eight weeks recording some of the stories of this group of 110 people speaking 10 different languages who had lived together as refugees in Mexico and had chosen to resettle together in Guatemala as a group, Nordell realized he needed to give something back.

He decided it would be in the form of women's health. "The women cook inside their kitchen on open fires," says Nordell. "They don't have smoke holes; many don't have kitchen windows." Creosote builds up, a visual reminder of the respiratory damage the women experience from breathing so much smoke. The open fires also burn a lot of wood, exasperating Guatemala's deforestation problems. "I knew there were organizations that build culturally-appropriate, and resource-efficient cookstoves," continues Nordell.

Nordell asked one such organization, HELPS International, to come to La Esmeralda to demonstrate their stoves. Intrigued, sixty-eight women signed up for the stoves, representing nearly two-thirds of the households. HELPS expects the families to pay about 10 percent of each stove. Nordell pledged to find the $6000 to ensure that each of the families would get two stoves, a cookstove for inside the kitchen, and a smaller, water purifying stove for outside.

Having fund-raised for six months, Nordell is in Guatemala with enough money to purchase all the stoves for the village, thanks to a last minute donation from the Mount Desert Island Rotary Club. "So many people have supported this project, and the rotary folks really came through in the last minute," adds Nordell. "It's been very inspiring. I bet I'll be fundraising again once the first 68 eight women start using their new stoves.

Nordell's advisor, COA history professor, Todd Little-Siebold, remains deeply impressed at his former student's ability to turn this project around in less than a year, while also completing the town's oral history. "To combine all those interests into a compelling journey is a testament to his skill," says Little-Siebold. Donations for the next phase of the project may be sent to Nordell, 4002 Spring Hill Road, Helena, MT 59601. Checks should be written to Adam Nordell with the memo, "stoves for La Esmeralda." For more information, email adam.nordell@gmail.com.