Salt of the
An Interview with Jeremy Bayes ’05 Jeremy fondly recalls the reading buddy program that partnered Schechter middle-schoolers with Boston-area first-graders. “I remember very clearly going to read with them. I saw just how excited young kids are to read and learn.”
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eremy Bayes is quick to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. As an undergraduate at Ithaca College, Jeremy studied economics and politics while also becoming involved with the Cornell Farmworker Program. He was drawn to the program’s mission of providing farmworkers with legal protection, living wages and housing as well as respect within the local community. “I offered English lessons and community support to immigrant dairy workers in upstate New York. It really sparked my interest in Latin culture, immigration issues and political justice,” Jeremy explains. Immediately after Jeremy’s 2013 graduation from Ithaca, he joined the Peace Corps, serving in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama where he worked to bring sustainable agriculture to rural, hillside communities. Jeremy’s fluency in Spanish, begun at Schechter and honed in college during a semester abroad in Spain, was an essential tool. Jeremy details the profound challenges faced by local farmers. “These are rural sub-subsistence areas with no roads, no electricity, infrequent water access and minimal provisions. There are heavy rains which devastate the soil while population increases mean less available land. Mostly, farmers are able to grow high carb, 14
starchy crops such as bananas, yuka, otoe, rice, beans and corn.” Composting, irrigation and agricultural improvements are among the life-changing skills that Jeremy strove to introduce to these poor, indigenous communities. Progress was painstaking and limited, however. Jeremy recounts local farmers’ wariness of change. “These people work very, very hard. They have no time to spend on new technology or a novel approach if they do not feel certain about it or have not seen it.” Projects in which people could witness visible progress were more intriguing than long term projects that would produce results over time. Jeremy notes some partial successes with rice and fish tanks that yielded tilapia, snails and other filter feeders while also producing waste that could fertilize fields. “Our biggest win was composting. My host family worked with me to collect organic materials. We slowly improved the soil quality in a small plot of land I had rented.” When community members saw a burgeoning garden full of foods such as peppers, sweet potatoes and peanuts, they were heartened and intrigued. Jeremy paid children in the village to go to the stream and pick up leaves that would have otherwise washed away, but could now be added to the compost instead. Little by little, some families adopted the practices. On top of the agricultural improvements Jeremy sought to establish, he focused on bringing other benefits to the community as well. He organized and maintained a small library with both English and Spanish books and taught English to any local residents who were interested in learning. Jeremy fondly recalls the reading buddy program that partnered Schechter middle-schoolers with Boston-area first-graders. “I remember very clearly going
