Cómo? Qué? ...ah, ya entiendo!

The words were zooming across the room. “mejor que digamos….”, “debemos incluir otros servicios sociales…”, “queremos saber también de su equipamiento…” While my mind was struggling to focus on this foreign language, I realized after this meeting with a local coffee cooperative that Spanish is no longer foreign to me, it has become a second language that I can manage with ease in this sometimes strange country. But my ability and fluidity in speaking Spanish allows me to connect with the people and work in a professional level that previously has been a challenge for me.

It was a challenge for me to keep up as I followed this conversation with three native Spanish speakers and one other near fluent Spanish speaker. My Spanish was definitely ranked 5^th out of the five people in the room. But as we discussed the community survey that myself and another intern have been designing, I felt that my understanding of the survey material, agriculture and sustainable livelihoods, was on par to participate as an equal in the conversation with these professional agriculture and agro-forestry professionals.

Communicating the need for holistic and community based measurements to these specialized professionals was one of the goals of the meeting and myself and my coworker were able to strategically navigate the Spanish and the semantics in order to bring understanding to the importance of these matters.

It is for reasons as these that I have come to Peru for the summer: to learn about agriculture and sustainable livelihoods, as well as how to manage and interact with development professionals that may not fully grasp the concept or importance of participatory community development. 

My energy level faltered, as the continuous need to follow the fast paced Spanish conversation lagged on, but I was energized as well with the skills that I was applying and the additional knowledge I was learning. Along with this I thought back to my first visits to Latin America and the effort that it took to communicate in Spanish. I reflected on how far my Spanish has come, to be able to sit in meetings with other professionals and comprehend the conversation’s details and clearly communicate concepts and ideas of my own.

Being in Peru this summer is also allowing me to grow in my Spanish language skills, something that I could never get in a classroom, and to grow professionally as well as personally. It is an invaluable experience that is as beautiful as the country and the people I am living among. 

Poop is PC

So I’m gonna geek out on you all for a few minutes and tell you about something that I was very much looking forward to during my time in Peru and it is being fulfilled! Its gonna sound really weird, but I was very excited when I found out that I was going to be using a composting latrine for the summer! Yes, that’s right, I was excited about the human waste disposal system. If you have ever travelled to developing countries you know that the bathroom facilities are usually not what we are used to in the United States, and in the countryside they are even more minimal, consisting most often of merely a hole in the ground that you squat over. These holes are usually swarming with flies and reek of human waste. I don’t ever recommend looking down into the hole, for what you will find will surely turn your stomach. 

A traditional latrine.

Quaint, but not very sanitary

I was first introduced to the concept of composting latrines in Paraguay, where a few of my Peace Corps friends had constructed their own personal composting latrines as both an alternative to the unsanitary options as well as a way to begin to implement alternative sanitation projects in their community. Of all the varieties of improved latrine projects that exist, this is the most sanitary as well as environmentally sustainable, even comparable to the toilets in the United States. How so? Well you don’t use any water and the waste will eventually be used as a fertilizer, completing the natural cycle. Also, proper maintenance of the composting latrine results in no smells and no bugs!

A composting latrine is built elevated, with the first level of the structure containing openable and/or removable compartments where the waste is first deposited and later removed. Human waste needs about a year to decompose before it can be used as fertilizer, so the compartments are divided into two so that one side is decomposing while the other is in use.

Elevated composting latrine with two divided compartments

So how does it work? After you do your business (both solid and liquid), throw a cup of sawdust, (well, we are using sawdust here, but you can also use ash…basically anything that will soak up liquids and maintain a dry atmosphere. All forms of human waste are acceptable to put in the composting toilet as well as toilet paper. Feminine Hygiene product won’t work here though (BUT, diva cup friendly!) Then, make sure the lid is closed. If the latrine starts to smell or have a lot of flies, just throw on more sawdust to maintain a dry environment!

A clean dry environment!

My favorite thing about our composting latrine is the cloth door made of Shipibo textiles. Its beautiful and blue!

SO...?  How did I do talking about shit in a politically correct way??

Giving Value Back to the Amazon

You may have wondered what the heck I am doing in Peru this summer and for what purpose, besides the fact that I love to travel, speak Spanish, find new adventures, give power back to the marginalized and learn about new cultures. I am currently in a social work graduate program that requires me to complete 600 hours of a practice internship in my area of interest. My wide variety of interests fall somewhere between international development and community organizing with a little bit of agriculture and food security thrown in and participation as always being central to the work. So as I was looking for internship opportunities on idealist.org I put into the search function “agriculture” and “community development” and out came an organization looking for a “participatory community development planning” intern. Other opportunities with the organization included working with agricultural cooperatives and farmers. So I signed up! (Well, actually I sent in my resume)

Fundación Runa is the name of a multifaceted organization and you may recognize the name from a tea you have seen in your whole foods or organic gr

ocery store. This tea was the initial beginnings of an organization whose goal is to harness the Amazonian cultural and biological resources and ancestral knowledge and create socially sustainable opportunities. Within this core value their work is focused on cultural, ecological, economic, and social (i.e. governance) sustainability. They are bringing value back to the rainforest. In Ecuador they started with Guayusa tea, a beverage that is drunk daily by the people and have found ways to sustainable grow it and market it in the United States.

 Runa Tea Brand! Focused energy!

The Guayusa tree I planted in our yard. Ojala que crezca!

In Peru they are harnessing the medicinal plant knowledge of the rainforest to create a clinic called Rios Nete for the investigation and practice of traditional plants medicine. They are creating public and partnerships to turn this dream into a reality working with Shaman healers, doctors of western medicine, and development professionals. This area is highly deforested and the value of traditional healing is being lost. With the creation of Rios Nete in combination with community work value will be returned to traditional healing and the forests will be regrown. 

So where do I fit into all of this? I am living in the rural community that the Rios Nete Clinic will be located and developing sustainable relationships with the community to identify ways that Rios Nete can partner with the community to build on the values of Runa (Culture, ecology, economy, and society). We are starting from square one, and I am a part of the first round of interns on this project.

We are also partnering with the Fair Trade coffee and chocolate Cooperative, Oro Verde, to assist in surveys with their cooperative members to create baseline data for their organization and ours and assess the feasibility of introducing Guayusa (Runa Tea) with these farmers.

Join me on this journey as I explore the world of international NGOs, participatory community development, food security and agriculture, and Peru!

A little taste of what I get to see everyday!

Getting Caught Up

Well followers, its been a while since I've posted on this page. After 2 years of posting on my blog "Becoming Paraguaya" and a year and a half break while I readjusted to the US and maintained a rigorous academic lifestyle, I have returned to the blogosphere of "Color Our World" to keep you posted on the comings and goings, and travels and reflections of my life.

So what have I been up to?

Upon completing my Peace Corps service I traveled the world. Literally. Over a period of two and a half months I had been on four continents and 8/9 countries (depending on how you classify Palestine). I have been very fortunate to be able to travel and those two and a half months I saw beauty and pain. Division and healing. History and change.

Final farewells in Paraguay

Wine Tasting in Mendoza, Argentina

Relaxing and exploring the colorful town of Valparaiso, Chile

Climbing historical ruins in Jordan

Walking the ancient streets of Petra, Jordan

"Best Day Ever!" Camel Trek in Wadi Rum, Jordan

Seeing the reality of injustice and the struggle for reconciliation in Bethlehem, Palestine

 Discovering the streets of the Holy City of Jerusalem

Crossing the Sea of Galilee, Israel

Food, Wine, Cafés, and Eiffel Towers in Paris, France

Celebrating Carnaval in Venice, Italy

In February 2013 I decided to return to my birth country to transition into something new. I spent six months working in the service industry at Dunn Bros. Coffee, getting reacquainted with family and friends, training for and running 2 half marathons, volunteering in my community, visiting Peace Corps friends, and readjusting to speaking English and everything else that comes with moving back to your hometown after seven years away.

Baseball games with my other half

Readjusting to the frozen tundra

Enjoying the company of Peace Corps friends in Acworth, NH

In August 2013 I started another journey. I began a graduate program in Social Work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St Louis. Attending one of the top schools of social work in the country is a great honor and challenge. I have had the chance to learn from some of the top scholars and have access to some of the best resources, but what I think the best part of this education is bringing together my previous education, experience, and interests to discover what I am passionate about and capable of accomplishing.

I have been able to connect my interest in community development during undergrad, my experience in community organizing at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and my work in participatory development in the Peace Corps, with my work on an organic vegetable CSA, agriculture extension role in the Peace Corps, and growing knowledge and understanding of food deserts and the global food market to understand my role in an unjust food and agriculture system that is leaving us all poorer and sicker.

I am concentrating my studies, therefore, on social and economic development. But more specifically I am looking at Participatory methods for collective community action as it relates to food security and agriculture. Where this may take me, I am unsure. I hope that it allows me to work with farmers in developing countries whose livelihoods are unable to compete in the global market, or alongside peasants who have been displaced by unequal land distribution protesting and organizing for change, or alongside migrant farmers in the United States, or with users of SNAP benefits, or with community gardeners and dietitians.

But where is this taking me next week? That is what I hope to share with you over the next three months. I will be departing for Peru, to work with an organization called Fundación Runa. I will be completing an Participatory Community Development Planning internship, working alongside farmers and families to identify how their knowledge of local plant medicine can be cultivated and created into an income generating business. Stay tuned as I share how this internship contributes to my increased understanding of food justice, community development, and environmental sustainability.