Just an escape artist
Racing against the night
A wandering hermit
Racing toward the light
Summary of Activities Accomplished as a Peace Corps Volunteer from the Period September 2003-December 2003, as Reported to the U.S. Peace Corps Washington, D.C. on January 15, 2004
1) Participated in the delivery and planting of over 200 Samique trees to local communities.
2) Worked with three local organizations in their organic gardens, providing them with training in the production and use of organic fertilizers and insecticides, as well as soil preparation, planting, and harvest.
3) Gave 4 family planning and nutrition workshops to 65 people.
4) Organized and oversaw guinea pig breeding workshop.
5) Supervised and participated in the planting of 2000 teak seeds and 450 neem seeds in the municipal tree nursery.
6) Participated in municipal land-fill location search.
7) Worked with local community member in the development of a recycled paper project.
8) Purchased materials for local tree nursery, and organized construction of such with counterpart; subsequently planted 200 seeds from 6 tree species.
9) Oversaw completion of feasibility study for women´s indigenous clothing manufacturing project.
10) Engaged in seed collection expedition with Shuar shaman.
11) Launched new radio show “The Green Hour”, which features environmental news, and interviews with Ecuadorian experts on all aspects of sustainable development, natural resources conservation, organic agriculture and animal husbandry.
These last four months been quite engaging, to put it dryly. I´m working in a completely different framework of universe. It´s so different from the way things are in the states, that I am often confounded, flustered, confused, and just downright flabbergasted by what I hear, see and experience. I can´t really explain to you how different it is here, living in a tiny rural village, in the Amazon Basin, in a developing country, where shamanic medicines rule, and chickens, pigs and cows freely roam the streets.
I sometimes feel like I´m in a dream, but when I wake up to the sounds of scampering rats and ear-blasting cumbia music at 5:00 A.M., I know it´s just another day in the village.
It´s such a psychological and physical challenge, like landing on a different planet and launching a bunch of projects in a foreign, and sometimes hostile land (please, insects, leave me alone!, and I love it when the people here tell me that Jews are the devil).
People are so ambiguous when they speak, and I don´t always know when they´re telling the truth. I´m no longer surprised when I make an appointment with someone, and they don´t show up. I´m getting used to being dirty all the time. And after coming back to Ecuador from the states to find a dead cat in the rafters of the house (flies everywhere!, the stench was horrific), I merely said to myself “Oh sh-t. How interesting”.
I left I lot behind when I departed the States to do the Peace Corps. But if I get through this, I think I´ll be glad I did it. I´m quickly approaching the half-way mark, the hump on the hill, the countdown. Can I do it????
Friend, enjoy life, take a hot shower, and be glad you can eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich any damn time you feel like it.
|
