Day 11: Last Day in Providencia

As the time in Providencia de Dota came to an end, we started our final day off with a powerful discussion about water out in nature, followed by a hike in the recently purchased “plot of land” by dream volunteers — in the purest stretch of jungle I had yet to see on the trip. Our discussion and focus of the morning was water and its uses. The discussion was very impactful as it concerned water and its uses. It impacted me greatly in that the generous usage of it by some is never okay in comparison to the desperate need for it by others elsewhere. Another important point David showed us was a comparison between two images— people in Africa at a watering hole who had traveled 5 hours on foot to get there, and then the largest swimming pool in the world, just 5 minutes walk from the ocean. Not much needs to be said about that, other than that it left me with a very visceral reaction. After ending the discussion with our short nature walk, I was left with a lot of things on my mind about my lifestyles and priorities in terms of the big picture of world resources.

After our very important discussion, we finished our last two hours of work by mixing concrete at the biofabrica. We made a pile of the gravel in the bottom area where we dug the trenches, and mixed cement into the gravel until they were homogeneous. Then, after making a pile of cement/gravel, we carved out a hole in the middle and added water. In order for the right consistency to come out, four of us had to walk in a circle while continuously spooning in the mixture from the outside into the water puddle in the middle (think of a pile of dough with eggs in the middle to make pizza dough). Once the water started seeping out and the “dam” broke, we had to quickly shovel the remaining dry pile into the mixture until we had a nice pile of concrete slop (like oatmeal texture). We were able to get two piles of concrete made before we called it a day, and left the job site for the very last time.

Before our last activity, we had the pleasure of grinding up sugarcane at Don Francisco and Dona Flora’s house (at the trapiche next to their house, to be specific). We got to try raw sugarcane water, the foam off of the top upon boiling it, and then the products of the boiling process, which was similar to caramelizing milk. They gave us coffee, fresh sugar cookies, and let us help as they processed the products of the boiled sugar cane into honey (immediately out of the boiling pot), fudge (after mixing the fresh honey until chalky), and sugar (crushing up the chunks of chalky fudge that formed until a full powder was made). We left there jacked up on sugar but very satisfied.

We ended the day with our last activity with the families and young dreamers, saying our goodbyes and playing fun games together. Me Elian, and Aidan were very melancholy in our goodbyes with Lety and Gerardo, as they were such great hosts for the entire time. It was so sweet to hear from all of the families and my fellow delegates as we all said sorrow but heartfelt goodbyes. It ended with good spirits as we played multiple fun games with the young dreamers, which were high-stakes and active/moving (at least for me). I hope to see the families and young dreamers in the future again someday; I will make it a long term goal of mine to do so

Group photo of our last day on the job at the biofabrica

Processed sugar cane into fudge