In this interview, we hear from Leila Parsons. Leila is a Peace Corps volunteer working as an Agriculture volunteer in Paraguay. What Leila shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Leila talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Leila’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Social Identity during Service
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as an Agriculture volunteer in Paraguay?
Serving as an Agriculture volunteer in Paraguay was a really unique position. We were assigned to work with agriculture-focused high schools, which Paraguay has all over the country. The first year the goal was to teach sustainable techniques in school with other teachers and counterparts. These techniques included composting, worm culture, companion planting, agroforestry, etc. The first year I worked mostly with 7th graders and seniors in these classes.
In the second year, the focus was to then take those classes and techniques and teach the community, with the help of the agriculture students. My second year was very successful. I worked with four groups of 4 high seniors and each of the groups used one of the techniques in a family’s property. It was a cool project for sure. We ended up with four sustainable project family gardens! Compost, agroforestry, organic produce, and companion planting were used.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Paraguay?
My parents are RPCV’s who served in Ecuador 95-97. Growing up, they told my sister and I a lot of stories, and it always seemed like an interesting path to take. I know it made them a lot more resourceful, curious, and empathetic. My mom had a whole bag of resourceful tricks she learned from Peace Corps, and it was inspiring to see her whip up a solution from nothing as a kid.
When applying to Peace Corps, Paraguay was offered to me when I said I wanted to go to South America. I had very little knowledge of that country, so I said yes.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation:
I live alone, but I don’t feel alone. I live in a house built by my host family on their property. I eat with them most days, but I have my own space too. My host family has a few people living on their property, so it feels like a mini community where I am. My house is the upstairs of the house next door, my downstairs neighbor is my host brother. In the backyard, there’s a neighbor who is not part of the family but feels like family. My host family’s house is right next door, and they have chickens and pigs and a beautiful organic garden. It’s a really wonderful spot because we have this tiny community on their property. We live in the center of a town of about 10,000, with 10,000 more people living in small tiny towns on the outskirts.
My house has electricity and running water. My host family has a tank to store water, and often the water goes out and we have to be careful to not use the whole tank. Electricity often goes out too.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
I think Paraguayans are generally some of the kindest people I have ever met. I made most of my friends here doing the ‘classic walk around and talk to people’ strategy volunteers have been using forever. Most people I met that way have invited me to eat with them, gifted me fruit or other things, and been curious to get to know me.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Paraguay?
Paraguay is an amazing place to be for agriculture. Everything grows here. However, with the practices people have been doing for centuries, it is challenging to change people’s minds on how to grow or tend to their crops. There has been a long history of harvesting the crops, then burning the organic left-over material, and putting manure alongside chemicals to help new crops grow. Monocultures mostly. Obviously, it is a challenge to risk not growing the same amount of crops as the year before because farmers here make very little, and they don’t want to risk making less. Green manures, crops that help fix the burned soil, was a project I tried to implement with my counterparts to try and bring to the farmers.
My counterparts are fully on board, as they saw the soil difference in the time I was here and helped plant the green manures, but it’ll take time to convince farmers.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Agriculture projects?
I think miscommunication was a big challenge. Us North Americans often say what we mean, and mean what we say. We say things straight forward, all about business and moving forward. Paraguayans are very much not that way. They will say yes, enthusiastically, to just about anything, and not mean it. They also must have small talk, catching up, before any real business can happen. Sometimes they start meetings with prayer as well.
With these two layers of communication difference, many projects I thought we were lined up to do never happened, and I would often show up to the meeting I was sure we had planned, and no one would be there.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have done?
I was fortunate to be in a big enough site to have plenty of secondary projects. The first summer I was in site, I started an art club and an English club for kids. During the first year, I also had English for adults, a kids eco-club, and a girls entrepreneurship club.
Throughout my service I also taught voice lessons at the music school, had an eco-brick project with the elementary school, and wrote a book in English with one of my adult students!
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Agriculture volunteer in Paraguay?
Unfortunately with the changes in the Peace Corps, the Agriculture program ended after my service. Although this change affects volunteers and Paraguayans, the environment volunteers in the future are encouraged to work both in agriculture and in the environment.
My advice would be to think about what you’re already good at and try to apply it wherever you can. Make connections, see what people are open and excited about, and go with that.
9. What skills or qualities do you think are most important for an Agriculture volunteers?
I think being resourceful, having a positive attitude, and seeking creative solutions are the most important things for a volunteer to be. Being open and willing to get out of your comfort zone helps open a million doors you didn’t know were there.
As for being an ag volunteer, I think recognizing structures that limit your help are super crucial to understand. Being a woman in the ag field was challenging because it’s mostly men who work in agriculture here. This limited me in many ways, but I realized I could get in with my students and they could help bridge that gap.
10. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
The pre service training helped prepare me for various technical training. We learned about compost techniques and worm cultures, along with Paraguay specific techniques that most locals use. Language was also important. In Paraguay they speak Spanish in most formal settings, but at home and in the community they speak Guarani. Learning the basics of Guarani was especially important for community integration.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
11. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Paraguay volunteers?
I packed a lot of hobbies that I had before coming here. Here, I learned new hobbies, that fit more into the community. I would recommend not overpacking things. People have most everything you need where you’re going.
12. How has learning the language been?
I have leveled up my Spanish completely. I came in with beginner Spanish, and am now at Advanced. In Guarani, I am intermediate! It was quite a struggle in the beginning, but I found a great tutor friend in site who helped me progress.
Language was one of the bigger challenges when I first got here. Guarani is a very complicated language, and most people didn’t have the patience to help me try to speak. Over time, I got better at just listening, and after a while, I was able to understand a lot of Guarani, and reply in Spanish. The locals appreciated this because I could at least be part of the conversation.
One of the triumphs of this time has been learning how to be myself in new languages. With a lack of vocabulary, you can barely express basic things, let alone tell a joke or a story. As I progressed, I got good at telling stories and jokes, and it felt incredible when I could make people laugh. It’s the small things for sure.
Social Identity during Service
13. Service Experience as an LGBTQ+ volunteer
I am part of the LGBTQ+ community and for fear of community rejection, never came out to the majority of my community. It’s a Catholic country, and just would inhibit me from being a part of the community more than I’d like. I told close friends, and friends in site I knew were also part of the community, but kept that information to myself. This aspect obviously affects the experience of the individual, and sometimes it felt sad to think that people might not act well towards me if they knew.
I think that aspect of my identity has been put on hold during this time, and I’m excited to find a new community that accepts that when I am home.
Final Thoughts
14. Any last comments you’d like to pass on to future Paraguay volunteers?
See what the world has to offer! Being part of a culture away from the states is endlessly interesting. I think it should be a requirement for all Americans to live abroad for a while. We come back more understanding, empathetic, and curious people. I think it helps to understand yourself better too!
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Leila’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Paraguay Government.
