This past week, PC offered a training class in Project Development for those of us in sustainable agriculture. A coworker and I both attended, and I must say, it was well worth it. It showed the steps in planning a project, and how important it is to be sustainable.

          SUSTAINABLE……What does this mean? According to Encarta Dictionary, it

          means “to be able to be maintained, or to exploit natural resources without

          destroying the ecological balance of an area”.

          Everything we do as PC volunteers should fall into the category of sustainable.

          Otherwise, what’s the point in helping if the people we are here to help can’t

          continue when we are no longer here?

          I take my job very seriously. Instead of just doing things on the computer, I show

          them how to do it. It takes some time, and it can be very frustrating, but it’s worth

          it in the end.  Despite the language barrier, especially in teaching technical things,

          my counterparts have seemed to enjoy our lessons. The funny thing, it’s not just

          them learning to be sustainable. I’m learning as well. I knew nothing of coffee before

          I arrived here. I don’t even like to drink it. But in the past few months, I’ve learned

          so much about how coffee is grown, cut, picked, pulled apart, toasted and shipped

          for export; all without expensive machinery. I’m not sure I could have had this

          experience anywhere else. It’s very labor intensive, but with the help of others, we

          get through it. It’s very interesting to me that in our country, we rely on so much

          technology. Here, where I work, they don’t have that luxury. Here, a sustainable

          relationship is worth more than technology. We work together towards a common

          goal, and there is no time for “I” in the equation.

After the workshop, my coworker thanked me for going with him. I explained to him that we are a team, and it would do neither of us any good for only one of us to go. It was important that we went through it together. We have ideas for secondary projects in the future. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.