Jim Rouhan
From Peace Corps Wiki
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| Volunteer: |
Jim Rouhan |
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Served for 2 years as an agricultural extension agent. Projects included horticulture, poultry, swine, pasture improvement, agroforestry, english classes at local school, and community development such as creating a sports club.
Working with the youth of Pacora was much more productive than working with adult groups, however there were individual campesinos interested in improving and diversifying their crops. By providing guidance with a sports club I was able to gain the trust and acceptance of the locals rather than my solely working agricultue.
I have maintained my experiences from Panama ever since returning. I teach Spanish part time at night, helping US citizens understand latino cultures and language. I also work a great deal with the Latinos in our community solve problems and interpreting. In my full time job as a landscape specialist for a municipality, I plant tropical food crops;papaya, mango, pineapple sugar cane, cassava, and so on. They get mixed into the annual flower beds, and I have been fortunate in that many people ask what plants are and how to grow them. We have also grown rice a time or two.