Over winter break, I served as a Learning Partner for GW Alternative Breaks in Puerto Rico. The trip focused on environmental sustainability, which led GW to partner with the non-profit, Plenitud Learning Center, a permaculture farm committed to organic culture and sustainable practices in Las Marias, Puerto Rico. I also documented our journey as an explorer for Planet Forward, an online media organization based at GW that reports on environmental and sustainability initiatives.
Sustainability and Service
As our trip began, a question emerged: is sustainability service? Sustainability is about people, sustainability is about systems, and sustainability is ultimately about service – service to the earth and the communities it affects. There were 25 people on the trip: nineteen student participants, four student leaders, and two learning partners. Each of us worked on a number of projects, including rainwater harvesting through cisterns, thermal composting, and learning about the process and economics behind coffee and orange picking. The trip was zero-waste, so everything from our toothpaste to deodorant was biodegradable. All the food was vegetarian and vegan, and we spent every day and night outdoors, sleeping in tents and farming outside.
Pictured: Director of Plenitud (far left) training GW students.
What story will you tell?
As our trip neared its end, I hosted a storytelling and camera 101 workshop for the students. We discussed what makes a compelling story, online social media etiquette, and how to best share our Alternative Break experience online and off. I challenged students to focus on the people they met and service experiences that shaped their trip – and to take those stories back to D.C. with them.
Pictured: GW students prepare for the vegetarian workshop, where the group harvested, prepared and cooked a sustainable, vegetarian meal.
During our last days, we took a work break and visited a local beach and cove.
The Journey Home
I’m so grateful to the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service for the opportunity to learn and serve in Puerto Rico. Beyond serving the earth, the Plenitud staff lived out what it means to serve each other. While my afternoons are no longer filled with siestas and Spanish music, I’ve kept the lessons learned from my Alternative Break experience near to my heart:
"We spend so much time in classrooms and in our lives talking about how we can change the world, how we can make a difference and how we will get trained to fix the problems of our world.
We forget that people are our world.
The people you pass every day, the people who make up our smallest moments and our biggest - they are our world."
- Owen Ingley, Director of Plenitud
The GW 2016 Puerto Rico Alt Break Group, pictured with Maldi (center) the head of transport and a new restaurant owner - we were his first customers!