Tuesday, April 28, 2009

6 months. We’ve been living and working in our community now for 6 months, which means we have 18 months remaining in our service (if we choose not to extend). So, in terms of time in site, we’re a quarter of the way done. Now, if you choose to look at our whole service (training included), we’ve been in the country for over 8 months, although training is advertised as being a 3 month commitment, making the whole term of service 27 months. Thus with 18 months remaining, we’re one-third of the way through our service. What do all these fractions mean for us? This is flying by!

What have we been doing in our six months so far? The easy answer is – we’ve been trying to figure out what we should be doing. The slightly more detailed answer (because it is hard to know without experiencing it) is that we’ve been talking a lot. We’re talking about the culture, the people, the history, talking about their work, their needs, their dreams, their failures and dashed hopes, their knowledge, their fears, their curiosities about life in the United States. We’ve learned that only in truly knowing the people, and being accepted as a part of their community, can we begin to know where our business knowledge and work can fit in and help in the future. And we feel like we’re getting there!

Initially we thought we might spend much of our time here working on developing business plans for many groups to use to solicit funding or other necessities. As time went on we learned that actually, the first step is teaching about planning. What is a plan? Why is it important? What is the situation today – good and bad? And what are our dreams for the future? Then, how do we get there? That’s been our work so far. We could push people to develop business plans, but in truth, we wouldn’t be doing them a service by giving them anything that they don’t understand or see the use in on their own. We might, in fact, be doing them a disservice by wasting their time, raising false expectations, or producing yet another poor interaction with the developed world.

The deadline-driven, results based, “get a good grade to know you’ve done well” part of me isn’t a big fan of the slow pace of the work at times. There are days when I feel like I’ve done nothing here. That I should be planning more to do, having more meetings, touching more groups, etc. And that I can’t possibly be “saving the world” through repeated use of a SWOT analysis, and talking about a vision and goals. Luckily, I also have something inside me that is slowing me down, and reminding me that more than anything, my work is about sustainable development, and even more than that, about being a member of the community. I had a nice experience this last week to remind me of my most important work.

Last Thursday afternoon, I spent hours sitting with a group of community members under the campamento in town (a tall open structure with a metal roof), as they ground corn to make chicheme (a corn based drink). Ben was at home working on making me a door for our latrine (YES!!!! After 4 months of living in our house, I finally have a door on my latrine! No one can see me peeing, or more, anymore!) so I was just hanging out. In all honesty, I did nothing to help them work on making the chicheme, but they were teaching me about the process, and they answered my questions about the “corn with beards” (the corn kernels with sprouts) and how to make the drink. In the hours I was there though, we spent most of it just talking and sharing stories. The people had heard that Ben and I went to the balseria near our town in early April (that will deserve its own blog shortly), so we laughed as I told stories about how men didn’t want to fight Ben for me because he’s so tall and has such a big beard. We talked about all kinds of things related to life in the states. They asked me about life in the community, and we talked about pulling ticks off our husband’s asses (yes, I did this the other night too). I can’t remember everything that we talked about that day, but at the end, they asked me how my work was going. As I sat there, reflecting for a moment, I thought about SWOT analyses, and my presentations, but I also thought about sitting around with some incredible people, sharing stories, and being an accepted and important member of the community, and I answered that the work is going good. Really good.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Lisa's Parents Visit Panama


We have just seen Lisa’s parents off to the city. Chuck and Carole are heading home after a week plus here in Panama, and we had a great time. They arrived in Panama City and worked their way through customs and immigration alone because the buses running from the national terminal got Lisa and I to the airport a little late. The city buses don’t even drop people off right out in front; you have to get off several hundred yards away on the passing highway and hoof it over to the building.

The parents brought us a new computer that we’d decided we just had to buy to facilitate our Community Economic Development work; even though we don’t have electricity in our site, we can work on things offline and upload or email them when we get out. It should save us valuable internet café time. Ever generous, they also brought us an extra battery, purchased insurance for us, packed in an optical mouse, and picked up and arranged a new pelican case that will protect against nearly everything.

We stayed around the Panama City Causeway for the first couple of days. Originally, the parents had set up a tour of an Embera village on Good Friday, but the coordinator called and postponed it for the holidays. How Panamanian? Schedule a tour for the biggest day of the Holy Week of Christianity and then have to change it at the last minute. Nevertheless, we were able to set it up for a week later.

During our days in the City, we went to the Canal Museum, took a boat from Gatun Lake through the Canal’s Pacific locks, ate some excellent food, and enjoyed the comforts of a great hotel. Mostly we stuck to the Canal and Causeway side of the city. Even with a rented GPS, getting through the many construction changes and disruptions in a fast paced, rules-be-damned downtown is sometimes a harrowing experience.

After Panama City, we got on the Interamericana and drove all the way across the country to Boquete. A stay at another first-rate hotel allowed us to see much of the beautiful mountain town. The highlights for us were a tour a world class coffee farm and a walk around an exotic animal rescue center. At the coffee farm, we got to the see entire modern process from start to finish, marvel at the oldest drying/roasting machinery in Panama which is still functional, and learn about and try to cup some of their best coffee.

At the rescue center, Chuck and Carole, who are raptor enthusiasts, got to see macaws, parrots, toucans, owls, and many other large and small birds of which I cannot remember the names. They flittered and fluttered, screeched and cawed. A toucan decided to taste our toes, following us all around the bird-house enclosure that shelters many of the smaller birds. We also got to interact with several types of monkeys, see three large cat species (margay, ocelot, and puma), walk around their new picturesque Japanese gardens, and watch a baby anteater feed on some milk.

From Boquete, we began to work our way back to Panama City. In David, we picked up some food supplies and magazines. In San Felix, we got some plastic chairs and rope. After strapping the chairs to the roof of the Suzuki, we were ready to make the ascent to our site. Through hill and dale we rode, stunned by the steepness of the slopes and the rugged loveliness of the communities. For Lisa and I, it was kind of like seeing it all again for the first time, this act of showing off our new environs. We could point out things like fellow communities and volunteer sites, but much of the ride was silent.

At home, we introduced Chuck and Carole around to our neighbors and friends. We drove up to higher villages to see the eastern valleys and ridges spread out below us. We could just make out the ocean, but it was a bit hazy that day so we had to settle without it. We presented our new kitten, Felix, to them (he’s still living with Meligo). A short hike below our house brought us to a ridge where you can see all the way down the western side of our ridge. With Chuck, I hiked up a small hill outcropping to see it from a new vantage point that really opened it all up. We could even see the beach that we would be visiting later that day.

Down at Las Lajas, we stayed in the new Beach Resort that was just completed by an American ex-patriot. The Pacific was like bathwater with surf. The beach was fine sand crawling with snails and crabs. The pool was comfortable and fairly clean, except for the suicidal beetles. The food was delicious, as it was at all the tourist spots we enjoyed in Panama. I lost the room keys in the ocean, but not until we were nearly checked out.

To get back to Panama in time to meet up with Embera tour group the next morning, we had to skip out on our El Valle de Anton plan, but we had fun at the now familiar hotel by the Causeway. The next day, Vladimir picked us up and drove us out to the Chagres River National Park. The Embera village providing our excursion lives upriver and in the park, which means that they cannot farm, fish, hunt, or otherwise affect the natural environment. Panama cannot afford to have anything disrupting the natural watershed that supplies the water for the gravitationally powered canal locks.

We worked our way up a very low river, low because it is the end of the dry season here. At many places, the outboard had to be lifted to get through a shallow spot. We were delivered to a tributary and lead up the river bank to a gorgeous waterfall. Had it been the rainy season, we could have been dropped off right at the base of the waterfall’s pool. As it was, we had a short hike.

After the waterfall, the dug-out canoe took us back down river a ways to the village itself where we were allowed to wander around. We looked at their artisan crafts, thatched homes on stilts, and striking bead clothing. The people also presented us with a dance and an explanation of the works. Afterwards, we purchased a few items, ate a normal local fare of fried fish and patacones served in a rolled-leaf cone-bowl.

Back in the City, we relaxed at our hotel and had a few more norteño meals. We played some more cards, as we had done about half of our evenings (I won the last game). For our last day, we visited Albrook Mall and National Terminal. From there, after a little shopping and lunch, we said goodbye to our family. They used the GPS to work their way back to the airport and Lisa and I caught a bus west. It was a great visit, especially for us to get to see more of the country while enjoying the company of Chuck and Carole.