Most nights end with me covered in bugs. They stick in the hairs on the back of my neck, fly in my mouth when I talk, and buzz around my students, creating unbeatable competition for their attention. Admittedly, it’s kind of fun to watch the teenage girls freak out: “Ai, teacher! Bichos!” [...]
Archive for April, 2010
“When are you coming back?”
To go away is to die a little, it is to die to that which one loves. Everywhere and always, one leaves behind a part of oneself. – Edmund Haraucourt Field work requires comfort with transience. Many development workers parachute into places, build their lives from scratch, weave themselves i[...]
April 26th, 2010 - 6:08 pm § in In the Field, Nicaragua
Water is What Water Does
Last Thursday, Earth Day celebrated all methods to conserve our natural resources and how we as citizens of the world can help do so. One of the surprising facts I’ve learned while volunteering with blueEnergy is how desperate developing nations have become for clean, filtered and pure sources of [...]
Watch Out For What, Exactly?
Before I left for Ecuador, a friend of mine told me, “Now, Lizzie. Remember what I’ve always told you about Latin American men. The will harass you on the street. They will harass you in the clubs. Don’t go anywhere with one by yourself. Buy your own drinks. And above all, don’t trust any of[...]
A Matter of Trust
Refreshed by a rare rain, Tegucigalpa felt bright and peaceful yesterday morning. The peace was shattered, though, when a coworker walked through the door and announced that she had been robbed at knifepoint. As she retold the story I marveled at her courage, at her luck in getting away unscath[...]
Department of Homestay Security
Like many volunteer organizations, mine (which is looking for June 2010 volunteers now) placed me in a homestay. The benefits are many, as any program’s pamphlet will tell you. Adina, my Tica mama, has been a connection to the community, a part-time Spanish teacher, friend/parent, and more. Ho[...]
Field Loneliness in Colombia
Amazon rainforest In an indigenous community of the Amazonian rainforest, the line between family and community becomes blurry. The village consists of five inhabitants, all of whom are related by blood or marriage. Every November, tribe members flock to the maloka, the hut-like structure that hou[...]
Hungry?
I can’t leave South America without writing a post on one of my favorite things in the world: FOOD! Many of the clients I met working as a Kiva Fellow sold food in various forms – whether they were wholesale potato dealers, raised and prepared cuy for functions, cooked lechón at the local[...]
