Not all Green Hills and Fresh Coffee – Jane Haines, Colombia 2018-Present

Americans have a lot of preconceived thoughts about Colombia, which range from drug running narcos deep in the jungle to rolling verdant hills filled with coffee plantations. Yet, as with many things, Colombia is far more complex and dynamic than you may think. On this week’s episode, Jane Haines talks about her service as community economic development (CED) volunteer in the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

Photos from Jane’s Service

Jane Haines’s Peace Corps Story

Where and when did you serve? What did you do?

I am a community economic development (CED) volunteer in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I live in a pueblo of about 10,000 located an hour outside of the country’s third largest city of Barranquilla. I’m currently 8.5 months into my service and almost a year into living in Colombia. As CED volunteers, we work with a variety of groups on personal money management, business advising, and entrepreneurship projects. In my site, I’ve worked with agricultural associations, an artisan association, and a small sausage-making business. We also work in the high schools using a curriculum called “Construye Tus Sueños” that was originally created by volunteers in the Dominican Republic and is adapted to the Colombian context. We co-teach the course with local teachers, and at the end of the year students walk away with full-fledged business plans they can execute in their pueblo. I also have a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) club.

I’m currently working with a nearby volunteer to organize a meet up of LGBTQ individuals from our sites. We both realized there are active LGBTQ communities in our towns but they don’t get a lot of formal recognition or funding for activities like other groups. Many also suppress their identities to be more accepted in their communities. When you don’t leave the pueblo very often, it’s hard to realize that there are individuals that share your identity and face similar challenges. So the aim of the project is to start building a network of LGBTQ activists and see what they can accomplish together. I’m really excited about this project, and I think it’s a great example of how PCVs can use an outside perspective to introduce new ideas.

What is one of your favorite Peace Corps memories?

Right around New Years, a group of my university-aged friends decided to take advantage of their time off from school and do something fun. They held a kite-flying competition on one of the highest hills in our pueblo. December and January are really breezy months, and the wind is extra strong in my site because we’re close to the ocean. Everyone came with handmade kites and some were awarded prizes for creativity and how high they could fly them. It was such a picture perfect moment as the sun was setting over the town with all the kits flying and the community coming together like that. That night, we returned to the hilltop for an evening of stargazing. We made “tinto” (black instant coffee loaded with sugar) and a big pot of popcorn. We spent the whole night up there and it is the only time I’ve ever truly been cold on the coast of Colombia. The wind blew the entire night and we all huddled together in blankets and sweatshirts with droopy eyes. I was so relieved to see the sun finally come up so I could descend the mountain and go home and sleep. It was just such a classic Peace Corps memory that made me feel really integrated and happy to be living here.

Another favorite memory has been getting to know a family that lives in one of the rural towns where I work. They have three daughters who are all so bright and amazing. They really took me in like another daughter, inviting me to the beach with them and cooking for me and checking up to see how I’m doing, despite living pretty far from the town where I live. On my birthday,