I've finally made it home! I've got a phone, a computer, a car, and a nice selection of clothing, but unfortunately not much time. Packing is proving to be quite a daunting process, as I decide what crap to take back with me to Maine. I'm thinking there'll be plenty of time in a couple weeks to post pictures.
The last leg of my trip, the Poland study tour, was very well run, and I think I got to see people's actual lives, despite being an outsider. My group, consisting of a few Americans (most over the age of 40) traveled around the south of Poland, visiting farmers that have been helped by Heifer over the past decade or so. At each farm, we asked lots and lots of questions, got to see the actual animals donated by Heifer, as well as growing herds, and were fed excessive amounts of food.
There was no way we could turn down the homemade cakes, cheeses, sandwiches, soup, sausages, etc etc etc that each farm served us in turn. I've finally met a situation in which more food was a bad thing (the only other one I can thing of being the infamous lunch buffets at Tandoor of India).
The biggest thing I got out of Poland was that agriculture was not an option for these people; it was the only way they could live. There is high unemployment in the region we visited, meaning that there simply aren't jobs for people, even if they wanted to stop farming. This is sustainability in a more extreme sense. Sustaining a way of life, as well as the individual farmers and their families, and sustaining the health of the environment while their at it.
As a side note, Polish is a ridiculous language for English speakers. L's with slashes=w, w=v, c=s, cz=ch, and so on. I flew into a city called Wroclaw...you'd think it's pronounced "Wrah-claw," or maybe "Vrah-clav" if you're really savvy. Nope, it's actually "Vrosuave."
Having been so busy since getting back has also meant that I haven't had too much time for reflection on my trip. I still need to figure out a cohesive mental map of what all I've learned and done. So I'll prolong this blog as long as possible, if you'll all bear with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment