Three months as the herbal medicine intern and I have nothing but love and fond memories of Bonafide! From the moment I climbed up the hill on my first day I was greeted with a warm hug from Sabrina, the manager of the farm, aka "farm mom". Instantly I felt like a part of the group as everyone was so welcoming and nice. It can be an adjustment to living rurally (especially if you came straight from NYC like me) but with all the support it was a really fun experience that taught me a lot about myself and the way I want to live. Bonafide has such a strong community both within but also has close ties with all the locals in town which is what makes it special. I left with some really close friends that I still keep in touch with and a million memories. I've noticed this farm in particular attracts a certain quality of volunteer that sets it apart from other places. I've met so many smart, engaging, people who are really passionate about learning and have brought some different interests to the table to share with the group.
As herbal medicine intern, my experience at Bonafide was a little more unique. I got the pleasure of working with the naturopathic doctor on the island, Dawson, once a week to help with clinic duties and brainstorm how to get more herbs to the clinic to treat patients. It was a really valuable experience to get 1:1 time to ask him a million questions about health and herbs. I also got to travel up to the north of Nicaragua to Estelli to document useful info from another farm that has a really great system for processing herbs into medicine.
Along with my herbal medicine duties, our regular farm work taught me things I didn't expect. We learned about soil, composting, mulching, swales, etc. Bonafide has such a talented and smart staff that explain everything to you. They know about all the exotic species around and are more than happy to explain things to you. Also great way to improve your Spanish!
I think my biggest takeaway, and please note this may just be my own perspective as someone going into the health field, is that Bonafide provides you with a lot of the key things missing from the western lifestyle. There you wake up with the sun, moving your body all day, outside in sunlight, eating unprocessed fresh foods, having a supportive community, going to bed early, limited electronics time, etc. All things that are strongly lacking in western culture and hard to break away from. It took me experiencing it to realize how simple optimal health is, and it doesn't come from a new app, or gadget or gym class but just an understanding and the environment to support what our bodies are built for.
Anyways could ramble all day, but I really cherish my time at Bonafide and I think about it all the time! Love the people, the food, the experiences, and mostly the farm pups !
Response from Project Bona Fide
Hey Olivia! Thank you for your feedback. Olivia came to Project Bona Fide for a marketing work-trade commitment for 3 months. There were multiple conversations and a signed letter of agreement detailing the nature of the agreement which was a generous discount on food and lodging in exchange for additional marketing & communications work for the project. Olivia decided not to participate in our plant internship program, which is an intensive educational experience led by a professional team of educators and staff. Instead she opted for a discounted work-trade and was thoroughly briefed on what the commitment entailed. We offered numerous learning opportunities in the field and workshops related to permaculture to Olivia in exchange for her hard work that were often refused. Olivia terminated her commitment to the organization one month before the agreed upon length of stay and has since threatened to leave negative reviews on all of our partner sites. We greatly appreciated the work she did while at the farm and enjoyed the experience of learning from her skill set in graphic design and marketing. We ask volunteers and interns applying to our programs to be clear and open in their communication regarding their expectations from our site and their learning objectives so that we can best fulfill their needs. We are a 15-year old experiential education center that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to join our team of dedicated staff to learn from our site, strengthen our communities, preserve biodiversity, and build a better future.