Intro

So after graduating from WashU, I entered into an internship at the Chicago Academy of Sciences working with the collections department. My internship combined many of my interests and soon became an amazing way to learn museum theory and collection management practices. While I was living it up in Chicago, my best friend Sarah had moved to St. Louis to work on an organic farm. We started talking farms, food and sustainability. We both were clearly passionate on these subjects and needed to find a way to explore them further. Having grown up in Mid-Missouri and then both staying in the Midwest for our undergraduate schooling, we decided this would be the best time for us to get and explore. We discussed possible locations, grants and fellowships that could provide us with this opportunity. Our first idea was to go out to New Zealand, with a working holiday visa and travel farm to farm learning from the people and taking in the scenery. We started to plan, and while doing so Sarah came across gold. The Center for Development in Central America, a US-based organization focused on helping Central America build sustainable communities, had an outpost in Nicaragua that had some open positions. The positions included volunteer coordinator, office assistant and herbalist. We both read through the job descriptions and immediately applied. We heard back from the CDCA and the jobs were ours. Starting on January 9, 2007 Sarah will be the new office assistant and I will be the herbalist!

Background on the organization: The Center for Development in Central America (CDCA) is a non-profit organization that seeks to address human needs created by poverty by helping communities to become self-sufficient, sustainable, democratic entities. One part of the CDCA's mission is to improve health care for the Nicaraguans. From 1998 to 2001, the CDCA hosted volunteer medical brigades and then opened a temporary clinic. In January 2001 they opened a permanent clinic providing medical exams, a people's pharmacy, and wound care. When Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua in 1998 the already poor, war torn country was devastated. Many were without any homes, money or jobs. The mayor of Managua moved more than 12,000 flood victims onto two fields, and gave each family a plot of land measuring 10 yards x 15 yards with a big piece of black plastic for a new home. This resettlement camp is now called Nueva Vida, or New Life, and is located just up the road from the CDCA health clinic.

In an effort to make use of Nicaraguan herbs and green medicine knowledge while lowering medicine costs, the CDCA wants to add a green pharmacy to the list of services it offers the community. And so, they have added me! As the herbalist I will train with Nicaraguan herbalists and then put that training into practice: planting and cultivating useful herbs, making tinctures and setting up the green pharmacy, training Nicaraguan staff and volunteers and compiling a manual of useful information.

So here I am in Chicago, wrapping things up getting ready for this new adventure. The plane tickets are purchased, the subletter has been found, and the first round of things have already been taking back to my parent's house. This next weekend, Sarah and I will get together and go over our packing lists and health insurance needs. My last day at Chicago Academy of Sciences is on December 15, and my last day teaching the ESL Computer classes is the next day, December 16. I will return to Mexico, MO on December 23 for Christmas. After that my schedule is as follows:

December 27 - January 2: Denver, CO
January 4: Go to Los Angeles
January 9: Off to Managua, Nicaragua!
July 23: Return from Nica to Washington D.C.
July 25: Family vacation to Northeast US and Canada
August 3: Return to Chicago

I will keep you posted on all the developments leading up to my trip. Once in Nicaragua, I hope to update the blog at least twice a week.