Company Retreat

This past week (the week of October 16th because I'm super behind) we all were fortunate enough to have a company treat from Thursday to Saturday. This meant no programs Thursday afternoon or Friday and a bit of travel and professional development.

This first quarter we traveled to Laguna de Apoyo to stay in Casa del Sol.  The Laguna is a crater lake that I have visited with my fellow PDs once before (see previous blog post).  Here is the page for Casa del Sol that includes pictures (although I do have plenty of my own to share).  It's a beautiful house right on the lake and it was so nice to decompress and have time with my coworkers.

We did a myriad of professional development activities but the main focus of this first retreat was reflecting and building group goals.  In these past three months we've grown from wide-eyed newbies to teachers, coaches, clinic workers and a myriad of other things.  It felt good to acknowledge as a group what we knew we'd been nailing and patting ourselves on the back.  Reflection is definitely something I've tried to personally incorporate into this experience and doing so in a group setting was just as productive in my opinion.

The one part of the retreat that was especially helpful for me was watching the documentary Living on One Dollar (link to website here).  This documentary follows four friends as they travel to Guatemala as they attempt to mimic the lifestyle of those in a rural poor village who make no more than a dollar a day.

This experiment is done with a lot of thought.  The group sets up a system so that their budget fluctuates daily to represent the uncertainty the natives experience with their own incomes.  One dollar a day doesn't necessarily mean a dollar every day.  They try to immerse themselves into as much of the lifestyle as possible and there are certainly struggles along the way.

After viewing the film we discussed it as a group, which served as an eye-opening exercise for me. One point that my boss Dana made that I will try to keep in mind for my entire time here is that it's easy to become desensitized to the level of poverty here.  After seeing things every day for months, I hate to admit it but they elicit much less of a response.  Stray dogs are absolutely everywhere and while seeing a dog whose ribs you can see never stops being sad, it does become incredibly common. 

One part of this film that was a help in keeping perspective was towards the beginning when the four friends started recooking all their meals in lard. This was because living with so little money, they were ingesting far lower than the proper amount of calories for a day and cooking things in lard increased that calorie count.  After some discussion I realized that that's probably why so much food is fried here.  There is definitely a lot of nutrition knowledge that's lacking here but consistently doing something that is so fundamentally unhealthy is more than likely due to the same problem.  Madi, one of my fellow PDs brought up the good point of how this exercise is the exact opposite of calorie counter apps and diets we might see at home.  Some people are trying to cut of the excess and others are desperately hoping for more, even if it's not solid food.

This is not intended to be a guilt inducing post by any means.  Healthy lifestyles are good and there is absolutely nothing wrong with counting calories (provided its being done properly) but this was just a dose of perspective that I certainly needed after being here for three months.  I wouldn't be here doing the work I am if I didn't think there were problems to be solved.  But I think with any culture, living in it for extended periods can make you desensitized even if that isn't at all the intent.  Living in a city with more crime could make you desensitized to stories of theft, working at a funeral home might make you less prone to being freaked out by dead bodies.  The important thing is to check what you know every so often to remind yourself that this isn't normal.

Another good reflection for me based on this movie was that I am but one part of a whole.  I was reminded that there are people all around the world that see the same problems I do and are just as shocked and willing to take action.  Not just in this documentary but at home, I've gotten so much support from people willing to donate anything possible or asking if they can help in any way.  If I ever feel discouraged I want to remember that feeling, that I am just one person and there is a lot to be improved in the world.  My effort is important but it certainly isn't the only one.