Diversity & Inclusion

I recently traveled back to Peace Corps Mexico headquarters to participate in two important events: trainings for the Diversity and Inclusion Network, and a national Volunteer Advisory Council meeting.  I decided to take a sabbatical from my career and join the Peace Corps because of a seed that was planted during Equity and Social Justice trainings I attended at King County.  I jumped at the chance to keep working on those issues with the Diversity and Inclusion Network (DIN) here in Mexico, as DIN’s goal is to “create and maintain an environment that celebrates diversity and promotes self-awareness, social inclusion, and integration among Trainees and Volunteers, and to integrate these values of diversity and inclusion into the work we do at site.”  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

 Church in San Miguel de Allende. 

Diversity - it's good for ecosystems and for society. 

Papel picado on display. 

I’m not going to lie to you, trainings on how to support your peers and be a good ally are energy-intensive and require you to really open up.  On November 8th, election day in the US, we did an exercise where we wrote 6 words that we or others have used to describe us.  We each shared one “bad” word and its story, and then we reframed it in a positive light.  For example, if your word was “pushy” you might reframe that as “strong.”  You would not believe the words and stories that people shared.  You would not believe how personal and powerful they were, how much it bonded us, or how strong and supportive my fellow volunteers are.  You probably can believe there was some crying involved...  

Last week’s training was a reminder that we know so little about the people around us, and what they’ve been through or where they're coming from.  A reminder of the value of diversity in all it's forms and the importance of supporting and standing up for the rights of people being oppressed or discriminated against.  A reminder to be open-hearted and loving towards people, because everyone deserves kindness and respect.

 We ran in to many kind people in the mercado. 

This is an iconic image found all over Mexico. 

This is the most beautiful of churches. 

On the way home, my friend Kyle and I decided to celebrate our amazing fortune to be in Mexico right now by checking out San Miguel de Allende.  If you’ve been thinking you want to visit Mexico and you want to see beautiful architecture, have lots of opportunities for shopping and good food, and you want to be super comfortable/surrounded by plenty of other Americans and Canadians (but not on the beach), then this is the place for you!  The Mercado San Juan de Dios and the Mercado de Artesanias are amazeballs, you can buy a hot white chocolate drink that is heaven on earth when paired with a chocolate-filled churro (and yes, that was our dinner), there’s one beautiful plaza and church after another, and you won’t feel too much like you’re in another country when you pass the rows of retiree mansions above el centro. 

One of the mansions we passed on the hike to the botanical gardens. 

 A perfectly rustic door attached to a huge mansion. 

The most elegant of door knockers. 

Artwork in the window of a local store.  

However, the real gem of San Miguel de Allende is the botanical gardens, El Charco del Ingenio, just up the hill from town.  Sure, you could pay an uber or a taxi to take you there, or you can be tough like me and Kyle and trek up the hill on foot (which then earns you hot chocolate and churros for dinner).  It was a cloudy day, so we didn’t see many people out, but we had a grand time investigating different cacti and other Mexican plants, many of which are rare, threatened or in danger of extinction.  We spent about 4 hours at the park and reserve, hiking into the canyon and then out to the mirador with the most amazing view of the city below. 

View from the end of the garden trail. 

Hiking in the botanical gardens. 

So many cool plants. 

Wall of cacti.

My favorite pink church in the distance. 

We spent a lot of time talking during that trip, carrying on the conversations from our DIN training.  We talked about how the strength of biodiversity in the nature preserve we were exploring was akin to the strength of diversity in our human population (and wouldn’t it be nice if we could find a way for everyone to see that connection).  It occurred to us that a fourth goal of Peace Corps is getting to know your fellow Americans better – and in a different context.  Here in Mexico my best friends from America are all in their early-20s, or they’re retired, and they come from all walks of life.  That’s a wee bit different than my friends back home (not that you people aren’t still young and sprightly). 

Kyle is about the age of my youngest sister and I have to say that getting to know him has really helped me see my sister in a different light and to value her thoughts and words in a different, more positive way (side note: Zoe, I'm really proud of you 💚).  Likewise, Kyle probably would not be spending his weekend with me if we were in the states and I was his 30-something coworker (I can admit that my coolness has limits).  But because my fellow volunteers and I are all doing this thing at the same time together, we’re all peers in a new way.  Turns out that if you surround yourself with people different than you, you are going to be stressed and uncomfortable, but you can also start to see all those things you have in common and to see yourself in them.  This is what I came for: growth and a new perspective.  It was during an equity training in 2015 that I heard the following, which prompted me to join Peace Corps: "If you surround yourself with people who think and look like you, it's a lot harder to understand the perspective of those who are different."  

Kyle in the wild.

It's been a rough month as I struggle with what lies ahead for my LGBTQ friends, for my non-white friends, for my career in the environmental field, for the families of many people I've met here, for my rights as a woman... but I know I'm lucky to be in Mexico right now and that I am blessed to have this opportunity to be a voice for my country and to meet so many extraordinary people.  And, perhaps most importantly, I finally got a nickname everyone can pronounce: just call me Auti (or for my nieces, Aunti Auti).