Week 2- moving house, exploring and a roller-coaster of emotions
Some bad weather knocked out the WiFi again over the weekend so I went to Binka and Robin's house to work, which was a lovely change of scenery. I helped Binka prepare a proposal for some new potential donors, including creating a one pager for each of their main projects. The aim of these was to really help tell the story of Iracambi in a concise and professional way, and give them something they can use over and over at future meetings.
On Tuesday I got some first hand experience of one of Iracambi's main projects- tree planting! We went to work with a local farmer who was interesting in planting coffee, but also in creating an agroforestry space (where you plant lots of different types of trees in between the coffee plants, which helps with irrigation and soil composition). It was hot, sweaty, dirty, muscle aching work and I loved every second! It was great for me to also get a real insight into how the projects work day to day, which will help me massively when trying to showcase the project to other volunteers across social, website etc.
The week came crashing to halt slightly as I received some bad news from home on Wednesday. My Granddad sadly passed away after a very long battle with dementia. While not wholly unexpected it was still really hard to hear. Not being there for my family was probably the hardest part, and it made the distance feel particularly big.
The next few days were a bit of a blur of phone calls, texts and emails as I debated whether or not to come home. In the end, I decided to stay and finish the placement as I knew I would ultimately regret it if I didn't. And as my Dad rightly pointed out, Granddad would be "fuming" if I went all the way the way there and didn't make the most of it. Everyone here was really sweet and supportive which also helped make the decision easier.
The weekend lifted my spirits a bit as I moved cabins (to one with a better shower and WiFi at night - which felt like such a luxury). On Sunday we went kayaking along the river to explore some more of the area. Full disclosure- I was pretty terrible, but it's a lot harder than it looks ok? The flooding had also made the currents stronger and resulted in one or two altercations with fallen trees. What was supposed to be a leisurely 1 hour paddle turned into a 3 hour Bear Grylls style survival challenge.
But we got there in the end, and this whole experience is all about doing things outside of your comfort zone! And as I reflect on my time half way through- despite the difficulties this week- I can honestly say I am really loving the challenge. And who wouldn't love to wake up to views like this everyday?
On Tuesday I got some first hand experience of one of Iracambi's main projects- tree planting! We went to work with a local farmer who was interesting in planting coffee, but also in creating an agroforestry space (where you plant lots of different types of trees in between the coffee plants, which helps with irrigation and soil composition). It was hot, sweaty, dirty, muscle aching work and I loved every second! It was great for me to also get a real insight into how the projects work day to day, which will help me massively when trying to showcase the project to other volunteers across social, website etc.
The next few days were a bit of a blur of phone calls, texts and emails as I debated whether or not to come home. In the end, I decided to stay and finish the placement as I knew I would ultimately regret it if I didn't. And as my Dad rightly pointed out, Granddad would be "fuming" if I went all the way the way there and didn't make the most of it. Everyone here was really sweet and supportive which also helped make the decision easier.
The weekend lifted my spirits a bit as I moved cabins (to one with a better shower and WiFi at night - which felt like such a luxury). On Sunday we went kayaking along the river to explore some more of the area. Full disclosure- I was pretty terrible, but it's a lot harder than it looks ok? The flooding had also made the currents stronger and resulted in one or two altercations with fallen trees. What was supposed to be a leisurely 1 hour paddle turned into a 3 hour Bear Grylls style survival challenge.
But we got there in the end, and this whole experience is all about doing things outside of your comfort zone! And as I reflect on my time half way through- despite the difficulties this week- I can honestly say I am really loving the challenge. And who wouldn't love to wake up to views like this everyday?
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