Jefe (#2)

...In the afternoons, we were given various jobs to do. We removed salvageable bricks from a wall for reuse, broke down a wall with a hammer and extracted a tub


,


dug soil from the ground and transported it to make a garden, and turned and weeded another one. By the end of the week, we had truly gotten our first experience on a farm.
Apart from Alec, I was given a task to do with another employee named Soan (a sweet, patient, puppeteer "titeretero" from France who had traveled around South America for 2 and 1/2 performing).


Over the coarse of our stay, some of the sheep had gotten sick from contaminated water. With Soan, we fed those sheep vitamins. Soan was amazing. She cared so deeply for those sheep, and showed them affection that I never saw with any other on either farms.

One of these sheep was extremely ill. Her and I carried her to the sunlight and laid her in the grass. We attempted to hand feed her, but she refused to eat. We left her and returned throughout the day to check on her progress. By night, I walked outside with my headlamp to find that she had died.

It became Soan and I`s job to burn her. After Hector carried her a couple hundred feet away from the barns, Soan and I collected wood and piled it on her and burned her. We did not completely cremate her. I learned that the reason we were doing so was for the dogs. If we left the sheep to decay on its own, the dogs would eat it, and relate the smell of wool to food. If it was burned, they could then eat the cooked meat and associate that smell with food.

But through it all, Alec and I worked closely with Soan and Hector. Here and there we saw Augustine during the 6 days after the asado.


He dropped by to check on the farm and give tours to people of the land. WE became part of the tour. People would watch us work and observe us milking the sheep. It was strange.

We had some issues with our living space...no hot water for showering (the weather outside was cold and their water was freezing as it came from the well below) and the gas on the stove ran out for cooking. We addressed the issues to Augustine when we saw him...it took 5 days for hot water (you can imagine how smelly we were), and the gas was never filled. He did in fact provide us with good food to eat fresh from the farm.


It took a couple of days, but we slowly did notice a divide between the two farms. Almost a class divide. His personal farm, living space, and hostel was beautiful; the conditions of our farm where his employees and volunteers resided, was the opposite. It saddened me to see this. I understand that there are economic crisis everywhere, but maintaining the space and relationship with those helping you to stay afloat is imperative.

Everything we were experiencing was bearable, especially since Alec and I have each other. It was the lack of appreciation and acknowledgment that we did not receive that led us to leave the farm so much more prematurely than we had expected.


Which brings me back to my first point..."it´s all about the jefe." If you are a boss, please appreciate your employees and volunteers! It can seriously affect their performance, the environment of the job, and whether or not they stick around. And if you are an employee, and your boss doesn`t appreciate you, it may be worth it took look for another place to work (if you can afford to do so).

But as I sit here and ponder my thoughts, I realize that it isn´t just the jefe that needs to appreciate, it is all of us. We need to appreciate everyone around us. And most importantly, let them know.

Alec and I appreciate all of you reading about the thoughts and experiences that we have every day. Knowing others are sharing in these experiences we are having here makes this blog worth writing. We appreciate all of our family and friends. We appreciate all the wonderful people we have met along this adventure. We appreciate all the beautiful nature and animals that we see and come in contact with. We appreciate all the experiences we have every day and that are yet to come:)!!!



...Thank you...