Waking up to aching knees after sleeping without covers, getting up at 7 AM (earlier than I ever wake up at school), and reminding myself to use bottled water to brush my teeth so I don’t get Montezuma’s Revenge wasn’t ideal. However, out the door at 8 AM and off to the tiny office, and experiencing a moving workshop that not only helped the PIBV team sympathize with the Hunger Project’s cause more, but also helped us further understand our purpose in Mexico City, made it more than worth it.

We walked to the office on our first day of work in “business casual” dress, worried that we would be underdressed (“is business casual cross-cultural?” we wondered), only to arrive and find that they had casual Fridays as well. Nonetheless, we arrived at approximately 8:30 AM and got straight to work, researching various aspects of Mexico including its economy, culture and social enterprise organizations. Claudia, our project supervisor, had said the day before that before we began the marketing materials for The Hunger Project (THP), she wanted us to really understand the culture in which we were working. At first, it seemed redundant to research these again: after all, hadn’t we already conducted research on its culture and the NGO before we even pursued this trip? However, it was only after Claudia walked us through one of the workshops that they administer to the participants of The Hunger Project, when we really understood how we would be able to help THP achieve its goals.

The Hunger Project isn’t an organization that simply hands out food, to satisfy poverty’s hunger for a day. To quote Claudia: “when you [simply] give people things, you are stealing their dignity.” Hence, THP is committed to promoting self-sufficiency and sustainability for their participants. In particular, it promotes gender equity and empowerment among women because their typical role in the Mexican household is to provide food and an environment for healthy well-being for the family. One of the major obstacles that these women face is that they are stuck in a vicious cycle of day-to-day living, and as a result, do not have the means to find a long-term goal to work towards. To help instill this mindset of desperation in us, Claudia walked us through a workshop, pretending we were all middle aged Mexican women (with the exception of Jesse) who were dealing with similar circumstances as many women around the country. In doing so, we were not only exposed to the receiving end of THP’s efforts, role-playing as actual participants in the workshops, but we were also exposed to the work that THP does, and to the work to which we would be contributing for the next four weeks.

One of the major points of the workshop was the point of Vision, Commitment and Action (VCA). In order to help Mexican citizens, THP propagates the idea that it is possible to achieve your goal, with devotion and motivation. Part of our PIBV team’s assignment is to facilitate this approach, with marketing materials, as well as a presentation. In addition to this marketing aspect, PIBV will also be working on helping THP with its pursuit of investors and maintenance of investor relations. (Claudia was quite insistent on the group’s use of the word ‘investor’, and not ‘donor’ because unlike donors, who seemingly try to rectify their apathy with mindless philanthropy, investors stay with the project because they want the project’s success and are willing to work to achieve it.)

At the end of the almost 6 hour meeting with Claudia, we created a temporary timeline, that not only included when we were to have the beginnings of our presentation and marketing materials (the date is Friday May 23rd by the way), but also included visits to Mexico City’s cultural sites such as Teotihuacan, Templo Mayor, Chapultepec castle and the Museum of Anthropology. According to Claudia, these visits (which we were already planning to do) would constitute as “research” because we’d be learning about Mexico’s culture….. *sigh* we’re really being worked to the bone here! Did I mention she also bought us all sweet bread for our breakfast?

At 2:30 PM, after establishing what we would be working towards for at least the next 2 weeks, Claudia drove us to Coyoacan Mercado, which is a small market with numerous food, dessert, trinket and clothing stands. Claudia brought us to a stand with tostadas, which are hard tortillas covered in meat (usually), tomatoes, onions, lettuce, avocado, sour cream and cheese. Then, she brought us to a canteena (Mexico’s equivalent of a bar/hang-out place), where we all ordered (what else?) non-alcoholic drinks. After that, we walked around the market, shopping for souvenirs and mementos for a short while before cabbing over to the office to pick up our laptops and walking back home.

It is Friday night and our first weekend night in Mexico City……were we about to stay in? I think not. Four hours later, we were out and about on the town, for our first night out since arriving. Craving some cultural influence, we went to Mama Rumba, a well-known salsa bar, with the recommendation of our colleagues at the THP office. The environment was definitely quite different from what we were used to but with 50 peso ( only 5 dollars!! That’s almost the base fee of Philly cabs!!) cab rides, stress-free weekends and good company, we welcomed the change.

Next up: the Saturday Bazaar…….with 4 girls and only 1 Jesse. Ay, pobrecito……

Over and out,

Flora