Post Trip Reflections

A Recipe for Change.

How do you explain to your family and friends the life altering experiences you had during a ten-day trip to Central America? Cook with them. My daughters and I decoded the recipe from my host mom in Linda Vista for empanadas and we got a little carried away.

Clockwise: Corn Flour Tortillas, Empanadas, Patacones (Fried Green Plantains) and Beans and Rice

Our cooking session gave me an opportunity to talk to them about the different ways in which families interact and support one another, and what it means to have "quality of life" (the problem our group of teachers grappled with during a global leadership exercise called "Utopia"). My stay with my host family prompted me to think about the meaning of material wealth. It is an artificial construct, like race, that allows groups in power to determine the worth/value of those who do not have power. Our basic accommodations (the wooden tin-roofed structure of our home, the indoor-outdoor plumbing, fresh air, and the fact that we could easily identify the source of our daily meals) made me re-think my conspicuous consumption back home in the US. Now that I have returned to my more comfortable way of life, I will remind myself not to place a value judgment on any aspect of my experience and develop new habits. I will take off my privileged "western glasses" (i.e. check myself), strive to nurture authentic relationships, stretch myself, learn something new every day and, most importantly, help others do the same. Gracias a mi familia Blanco-Arce y esperamos verle pronto de nuevo.

Diahann