Being a ¨Connector¨

I think one of the most challenging aspects of being a “rural community developer” is forming my own definition of what exactly that entails. As I’m sure any RCD PC volunteer would agree, it is a constantly evolving definition that is highly dependent on the nature of the community. The work that I’m doing in my town might have nothing to do with what another PCV is doing in her town. And that’s ok. While I imagine this, too, will be an ever-evolving aspect of my job, what I have come to realize in the last month or so is that a huge part has been that of a “connector” (or CONNector, as befits a Connecticut College alum). Allow me to explain: ever since I’ve gotten to my town, I’ve been meeting people left and right, from community members to the mayor of the county to leaders of various governmental organizations. It is sometimes to my embarrassment that someone comes up to me asking how I am and I don’t recognize him or cannot place him for the life of me (this only happens in my closest city as I know pretty much everyone in my town). As my career-counselor Mom has always told me, “it’s not just what you know, it’s who you know” and during my time here, I have been able to widen the circle of people who know about my town and the projects we are doing, as well as people of the town who are getting to know each other better. Here are some examples:

I believe I wrote about this when it happened, but a few months back, I helped coordinate a visit of a really awesome group facilitator for the women’s group in the neighboring town. The woman, who is affiliated with a religious organization, does anything and everything group development-related, came to give a charla (talk) on personal development. She did a very simple activity, but the women loved it and were so happy to add this woman to their ever-expanding “net” of contacts. It is great to know that these contacts, at the end of the day, will remain with the woman so that they may program activities for themselves in the future.

As the seasons here are reversed, kids are just heading back to school this week from summer vacation. During the break when many kids weren’t doing all that much, I had an English class for kids ages 10-14. The initial idea began because the elementary school in the town next door (also home of the women’s group) does not receive English classes— there are only 6 kids in attendance! When I was there for a meeting with the women’s group, a few girls in the school asked if I could teach them English, thus spawning the idea to have the class during the vacation. Therefore the class had kids from both towns which, though just 4 km. away, don’t have too much interaction. One of the girls from the town next door just graduated from 6th grade (the only one!) and is thus the only person heading to the high school from her town. Therewere several girls her age from my town in the class and she became friends with them during the past few months. It has been really sweet to see their friendships developing and know that it probably isn’t quite so scary heading to high school, now that she has a bunch of “compañeras” in her grade.

On what is basically the next mountain away, but still part of my town, a few Canadian builders are developing a housing complex of some quite large homes. The other day I was outside the pulpería waiting for the bus when I heard some people struggling to communicate with the owner, asking for a telephone card. I stepped in to translate and the people came out of the pulpería, surely curious to see who their fellow English-speaker was. Turns out they were a lovely Canadian couple who built a house to come down a few months of the year to escape the cold Canadian winters. I ended up telling them about my (adult) English class and inviting them to come and help out. A few weeks later the woman came and was a total hit with my students. They were really excited to have someone new come in and speak English and it was really cute to see them using what we’ve learned in the class to communicate. Following the class, many class members have gone to their house to practice English (it’s funny because they come back and tell me how hard it is thinking and speaking only in English for an afternoon and I tell them: welcome to my life!). The other day my host family invited the couple over for lunch and it was sweet because they were so touched to come and see what life is like on the “other side of the mountain.” It is a good feeling knowing that as a result of the English class, these connections are being made and friendships are beginning to flourish, which in turn are bridging language, cultural, and socio-economic barriers.

There are many more examples, but I will leave it at this. I think one of the huge challenges of volunteerism is the idea of sustainability. How will I make a “lasting mark.” In addition, what can I do so that my 2 years away from my family and friends are “worth it?” I think this remains to be seen and (gracias a dios, as they say here), I still have over a year to work on it, but I do believe this idea of being a “connector” is one way in which the work and collaboration of these two years will continue after I leave and provide peace of mind that there is a certain amount of sustainability in the human relationships that are formed during these 2 years.