Report

As a World Citizenship Program UF intern, I worked with the University of Florida - Forest Management Trust (UF-FMT) partnership in the lowlands of Bolivia in collaboration with the BOLFOR (Bolivian Sustainable Forest Management) Project.  BOLFOR’s principal goals are to reduce degradation of the natural resource base and protect biodiversity in the lowlands of Bolivia, especially in areas outside of the national park and protected area system. Our work with this project took place in a very small village of Guarayos Indians called Salvatierra.  A beautifully tropical village that is 60 kilometers north of any town with electricity or running water, Salvatierra is home to approximately 390 people and divided into 54 families, many of them extended families.

I secured a small house made of mud with a palm-thatched roof, which we rented for a modest price.  Although life in Salvatierra is very rustic, everyone appeared quite content and their simple lifestyle reinforced our belief that you do not need a lot of money or possessions to be happy.

My work was to evaluate the different types of cropping systems utilized by the people of Salvatierra and the major limitations to their swidden agriculture.  I accomplished this primarily through numerous field visits with farmers, but also through community, family, and individual meetings with the purpose of fully understanding the complexity of the family’s role in their subsistence.  In addition to my primary project, I also worked with two individual families to construct family gardens.  I worked with each family on appropriate horticultural techniques so they could better supply their families with a more balanced diet and hopefully sell or barter surplus fruits and vegetables as production increases in the future.  This arose from a particular field visit where the farmer learned I was quite knowledgeable in gardening and wanted my advice on starting his own garden.  It was very rewarding to see a bare piece of land turned into a lush garden that would be used to better a family’s nutrition and hopefully add to their future income!

I now realize, more than ever, what kind of work I want to do in the future and the importance of hands-on experiences in one’s education, such as those offered by the World Citizenship Program at the University of Florida.

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