Field Trip

First let me say, I love this!

Secondly, I realize I can't change the entire world in two years.

I was debriefing my host family on my field trip this week; we were debating the effectiveness of our work in the grand shceme of things. In the end I expressed that the world is relative & if I can reach one person, then it was worth it.

Mexico is complex, yet it is simple. People live simple lives in a complex system marred by historical events which have had long standing consequences (embedded in the culture & in the way the govt is run). We visited many projects where we saw the struggle of people to exist & prosper on of lands that where declared National Protected Areas (and rightfully so). On top of that, Mexico has a semi-socialist system of 'ejidos' (eh-hi-dos), where hacienda lands were redistributed after the revolution (100 years ago) to the workers; while the land still belongs to the govt, ejido stakeholders have a deathgrip on the land, its use & funding the govt sends... so in a way, the decendants of the peasants have become the proprietors their ansestors revolted against---meanwhile families grow bigger & lands mass remains the same, so naturally there exists a struggle with overuse of natural resources.

Bueno, bueno...enough of things that can't be changed--i'd rather focus on people...b/c people do change...and slowly so do cultural more`s (i hope i'm using that word in context).

Right now, all i have is 'the jist of it'...so as i know more, i will share. But I hope you get that the 'jist of it' is to share ideas & life & to mutually make each other's lives better.