May 28th

Paraguay is an interesting country. If anyone is curious enough, there is a book called 'At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig' by John Gimlette that really captures the essence of Paraguay, I think, as I won't have gone there until 4 days from now. Paraguay is a land of contrasts. It is bisected by the aptly named Rio Paraguay, and the two halves are basically as opposite as ecosystems and lifestyles can be while lying on the same tropic, the Tropic of Capricorn. The West, the Chaco, is dry, unimaginably flat, and represents 60% of Paraguay's land and only 3% of her people. The East is mountainous and lush. The 6.5 million people in Paraguay are almost entirely of mixed European and Native blood. Excluding the immigrants that is. Paraguay contains populations of Japanese, Russian Mennonites (who produce the entire country's supply of dairy), Arabs, and descendants of Australian Socialists, French colonists, Fleeing nazis, and prosyletizing Jesuits. One post cannot do justice to the demographics of this country. Anyways, I shouldn't go on too long as I have not even stepped foot on its soil yet.

I do have a vague idea of what it is I will be doing though. I will be working as a rural economic development promoter. From what I am told it is unrealistic to create concrete expectations because the variance between sites is so large. I could be working with cotton growers, cattle ranchers, or some other crops rearer. What I do know is that we work largely with Paraguayan farmer's cooperatives to assist them with managerial organization, marketing, adding value to their products and so on. On top of that we are encouraged to take on secondary projects that could involve health and sanitation extension, microfinance, alternative energy, english teaching, and other community based projects. I'm sure that I will have the chance to periodically update this blog and look forward to reading anyone's responses and emails.

Rural Economic Development in Paraguay