This is my last week of school before summer break. Yeah, it is pretty cool to get two summers in one year. I'll have off until February 12, so there will be some time hopefully to get some other things done like maybe take some Quechua lessons. Anyways, as our first trimester comes to a close, I just thought maybe I would share with you a little about what I am studying. If you recall in an earlier post I think I said that my program was called Agroecology, Culture, and Sustainable Endogenous Development in Latin America. That is a mouthful. Well, in class after all the stuff we have been studying we kind of came up with a working definition of "Agroecology" that I thought I could share with you:

"The ecological managment of natural resources through the use of diferent forms of collective social action that present alternatives to the present social and ecological crisis of Modernity through proposals of participant development."

It sounds better in Spanish. You might think that doesn't sound too much like farming. Well, it actually has a lot to do with it. We want to find alternatives to the modern industrial liberal economic system and those alternatives have to start with the land. We humans are tied to the land. We depend on it for sustanence and as Christians we are called to care for it. Our program helps us to recognize that environmental justice cannot be separated from human rights. So the mission of agroecology is to find alternative ways of production that not only are sustainable for the land but also help to diminish social inequality and transform structures of power. And part of that process can, and must, be accomplished by designing methods of local development, which is the "endogenous development" part of the program. The actual program objective is stated as this:

"To contribute to the intra- and intercultural formation of professionals dedicated to sustainable endogenous development from the knowledge, feeling, and understanding of the potentials and limits derived from the cooperation and complimentarity of the wisdom of the indigenous people groups and modern science."

In other words, we believe that all people groups have a "science" that they use to work in the world and with their environment, which comes from their worldview. And we recognize that the science that has been developed in our culture and society is not the only science and neither does it have all the answers. If we are going to help these people "develop" the way they want to, we have to understand their science, respect it, and help them to realize what they have too, since in many cases they suffer from very low self esteem due to discrimination. We must involve the people in the decision making, let them decide what their needs are and come alongside them, partnering our scientific knowledge with theirs, as well as help them find ways to discover and analyze their own reality. You might think it sounds silly that we have to help them think about their own reality, but that is a big issue for a people group that for centuries has had other people do the thinking for them.

Anyways, I could keep talking about this for a while, but I don't know if you want to read any more. So if you have any questions, just ask. The one thing I want to add right now is a thought about what in the world what I am studying has to do with the Kingdom of God. I believe that as Christians we are not just sitting around waiting for the world to end so we can go to heaven. Faith is not faith unless we act on it. That means for me that weare here not just preaching the Gospel, but living it, living out the Kingdom of God right here. That means working towards a more just world, struggling with the power of the holy spirit and God's love to live lives where our relationships with our fellow humans, with the creation, and with God are as they should be-- that is Shalom. For me, this is where I feel led to live out that Christian calling. I do believe that the current dominant world economic system and the cultural gospel of consumerism that our counrty preaches are a false gods. Of course, no human economic system is faultless, but as Christians we are not called to pick the best option and go with it, we are called to follow a different path completely. Well now my thoughts are getting jumbled, so I'll stop here. Just wanted you to know a little more about what I have been studying and thinking. More to come.