Ecuador, November 2010. Three weeks of immersion in Latin American culture and Spanish language and close friendship. There could have been no better way to transition from Canadian civil-servant in northern BC, to Canadian volunteer in Central America.
My return to Canada included 5 days of "Skills Working in Development" training with CUSO-VSO in Ottawa. A great group and skillful facilitation lead us through topics we may or may not have considered such as: power and privilege, gender equity, cultural competency, change fatigue (aka culture shock), and we met with an ex-pat from our placement countries for a briefing on specifics we might like to know about, such as "A good icebreaker would be to ask about soccer, but don't say you have a favourite team!". In our medical briefing from Dr. Wise about rabies we were warned, "Don't play with dogs, cats, or monkeys, and by the way, puppies--are just small dogs." I may seek a pet goat I guess.
Now I am reviewing all the Spanish language, international development and tropical agriculture materials I can find in my little mountanous hometown in southern BC. And yes, watching "The Motorcycle Diaries" counts as good research.
Honduras, me voy pronto.
