Business Advising & Grants from the United Nations, USAID, USDA, and SENA

Co-written with my wife Alexandra My time in the Peace Corps was spent mostly with a Cacao Association called APOMD (Asociación de Productores Orgánicos del Municipio de Dibulla). I was tied to them through the Cacao for Peace project with USDA/USAID to encourage and accompany APOMD to participate at events and trainings. In this article,…

My Average Schedule and Teaching at the Local Schools & Community Center

As a volunteer, one of the best parts of service is that, for the most part, you really get to shape your weekly schedule however you want. Sometimes a volunteer collaborates with one school, and other schools reach out for collaboration. Sometimes a volunteer doesn’t work well with a counterpart, but then finds three new…

Cacao Training in San Vicente de Chucurí, Santander

During my Peace Corps service, 3 volunteers were assigned and given the opportunity to train in the field of cacao through the Cacao for Peace project run by US Department of Agriculture and USAID. After the three months of initial Peace Corps training, we were sent off to the beautiful Department of Santander to visit…

Entrepreneurship & English Class at the Agricultural Cooperative Asoreagro

It took over one year to finally organize a successful and collaborative course, but not in Dibulla, rather for the nearby community of Mingueo. One thing I’ve learned in the Peace Corps is that your service requires a lot of patience, trial & error, and relationship building. I had tried to organize a Financial Literacy course…

How I Started a Community Savings Group Through Youth Dance Classes

In November 2016, I had no idea where to start when I moved to Dibulla, La Guajira fresh out of training with the daunting Peace Corps’ community economic development program objective to start a community savings group (CSG). Never did I think it would be a lot easier than I expected thanks to the amazing…

The Cacao Process in Mingueo, La Guajira

I’ve had the distinct honor of working with APOMD (Asociación de Productores Orgánicos del Municipio de Dibulla), the association I’ve worked closely with during my service here in Mingueo, Colombia. They are an association of roughly 40 farmers with a combined land usage of 250 hectares (~618 acres). Though they are still small producers, they perform…

Dibulla Pre-Carnavales – “Nueva Generación” Dance Youth

This article was originally posted in Oiste – A Peace Corps Colombia Volunteer-Run Online Magazine.  I have been dancing with young ladies from my community since the very beginning of January. Once school started in early February, they stopped coming to my class because they had to prepare for their grade-specific Carnaval dance presentations at…