Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Muchachas Guias = Girls Scouts
This past weekend we had our swearing-in ceremony where 11 of my girls became official Girl Scouts. We will have another ceremony in March or April as a lot of girls are away visiting other family outside of the community as we are in the middle of their summer vacation. At the end of this month I will take some of them to girl scout camp which is made possible by donations received through various sources - one of them being our sister troop in Houston, TX.
Our sister troop in the states donated money, friendship bracelets, and string to make bracelets. The goal of the partnership is to share cultures. My girls have learned a lot from me about my culture and I love the fact that they now ask me questions about girls their age in the states. Each troop has made a book for the other troop. Our book showcased the lifestyle here in Panama showing that living off of the land and very few monetary resources (most of these girls' fathers make $5 max a day when there is work), these girls still have fun and are happy. From the states we learned all about their aspirations for when they grow up. I wanted my girls to see girls their ages with big dreams. Below are some pictures so you can meet the girls!
(above) In the midst of our ceremony/me giving each of them their girls scout scarves.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
So what else do I do down here?
As a Community Economic Development (CED) volunteer I work with the local cooperative to improve business practices and general book-keeping. On top of that I work with the local youth at my school teaching them environmental education and have also started a local Muchachas Guías (Girl Scouts) chapter. One of my side projects that definitely feels like my main project when it is actually taking place is giving HIV/AIDS prevention presentations.
To date, I, along with a team of other volunteers, have given these types of presentations in three communities including my own and two others up the mountain about an hour and a half from where my community is. Over 700 students (ranging from 7th grade to 12th grade) have listened to these 3 rounds of presentations and have learned/been refreshed on what is HIV/AIDS, how it is transmitted, and how each of them can prevent it. The fun part about these presentations is that as volunteers, we don’t just stand in front of class and speak at the youth for two hours but we involve them with activities ranging from having them act out how the virus affects the body, an interactive discussion about bodily fluids and whether or not they transmits HIV, a demonstration on how to properly use a condom, and another activity in which they learn how easy it is transmit the virus while at the same time learning how to prevent transmission.
The response that I have received from teachers and principals has been 100% supportive and sometimes there isn’t enough time to give presentations to the younger kids at the request of the school faculty. As the students from the interior tend to get embarrassed easily, we encourage them to write down a question that they may have during the presentation on a piece of paper that we have handed out at the beginning. At the end of the presentation the slips of paper are collected and I along with the other presenters go through the round of question and answer. The questions these students ask are genuinely important questions and I feel that without this activity the students would only learn half of what we are trying to teach them.
Through these presentations the students’ awareness level of a disease directly affecting their country’s population is heightened and they learn what they can do to prevent the disease from spreading to each other. Also, before each presentation we (the volunteers) find out the availability of condoms in that specific community and provide that information to the students. The condoms are usually available in the local Health Center but not all the time. Something else that these students gain is an indirect sex education as we talk about the methods and bodily fluids of transmission. We also make it a point to talk about whether the students are prepared to raise a family and provide for kids in the event that they were having/thinking of having sexual relations. In this case we talk about other consequences of having sexual relations other than contracting HIV. All in all, educating some of Panama’s youth about HIV/AIDS has been a very rewarding experience for me and although there will be many who don’t apply what they’ve learned in these presentations, there will still be those few who do and for those students I gladly give my time and energy.
Please note that I am one of many volunteers in Peace Corps Panama who give HIV/AIDS presentations of which our Gender and Development Committee (GAD) supports.
(above) Bridge over a river we had to cross to get to a community to give an AIDS/HIV presentation.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sustainable development - tougher than you may think
These are questions that run through my mind all the time and although I have 13 months left, I have to remind myself of something that we all realized while going through training. In many cases, we will leave our communities not knowing the difference we have made. Our impacts on the lives of these Panamanians won't always be apparent in the time frame that we are here to share and live with them. This is always hard to remember because as Americans we grow up in a results oriented world. If you don't deliver the results, nobody can measure your success or productivity. Here in Peace Corps its all about the process. Its how you do things and who/how you teach to be able to "measure your success." I put "measure your success" in quotes because that is another subject all together. How to measure the success of a Peace Corps volunteer is something that Washington has been working on for years and as of right now we have a useful tool for just that but as you can imagine, evaluating Peace Corps volunteers in the work that we do isn't anything that can be set in stone as there are so many variables to each project and each community.
About 28 years ago in my community there was a Swiss nurse that came and taught about the importance of healthcare. Now if you could see my community now which is still pretty rustic, you could only imagine how things were 28 years ago. As I was speaking with one elderly woman about her (now grown) children she mentioned that because of the Swiss nurse's advice on giving birth in a hospital instead of at home, she ended up having her last 2 kids in a hospital. Long story short, one of the babies was in very critical condition, wouldn't come out and had the cord wrapped around her neck. The old woman (who wasn't old at the time) was also in very bad shape and told me that if she wouldn't have taken the advice of the Swiss nurse and gone to have the baby in a hospital, she and her daughter would have died. This is just ONE story from ONE woman on whom this Swiss nurse made a difference. I can go on with other examples about the nurse and about the former volunteer who was in my community for agricultural reasons (I work with businesses and community groups) and the effects that they had on the people of my community. I'm sure that I know more about the difference they made on these people than they themselves ever did.
What I'm trying to say is that I have to continuously remind myself to keep on doing the good work I'm doing without thinking about the long term effect I will have made on this community because unless I go back in 20 years, and even then, I won't know about the differences I've made on other people's lives. Thats hard for me because as I see changes and improvements made, these things motivate me to do more. So because I don't immediately see them, I have to assure myself that the differences I make and the lives I touch will be evident long after I leave.
On a lighter note, here is another glimpse into Panamanian culture as far as some food is concerned. I get a vegetable truck in my site selling great veggies 2-3 times a week but to get fruits I have to buy them hours away and bring them into site or wait for the individual fruit seasons. So far mango season was good to me as I have a huge mango tree in my front yard. The only problem was when the kids would come steal them until I made it a rule to give me one everytime they came to knock them off the tree :) It was pretty convenient to just go outside and pick up my fruit off the ground to eat instead of buying it at the store. Here are some examples of some mangos that were gifted to me. Super grande...
Below is only one of the best new fruits that I have come across called Mamon chino. It doesn't grow in my site but the season is among us and these make their way into the veggie truck as well. This is what the hairy little thing looks like...
As my neighbor Roger demonstrates, you suck on it until you can't anymore and spit out the seed. Super yummy but I think I've eaten way too many this year. I'll hold off for more until next year. It has a sweet taste. coming up very soon is orange and mandarin season. I'm in luck because I have various orange and mandarin trees in my yard. Time to start enforcing my fruit rule with the kids again.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
It sure has been a minute!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Easter in the campo
It all started with Palm Sunday where everyone brought palm leaves and attached to them were bags of beans, corn, and other things that the people are getting ready to plant so that the father of this catholic church could bless their future crops for good yield this year. Pic below shows everyone in the park with their palm leaves getting blessed by holy water. I was gifted a palm leaf so the father could bless and then I could keep in my house until next year. I was told it was for the witches...
The Thursday before Easter was a celebration at church that I didn´t go to but was told that various people got their feet washed as a representation of the message. Then on Friday, everyone met at church at 7am to carry a cross that was made by some people in the community to one of the hills in the area. I was told that we got lucky because this year the hill was close by (an almost 2 hr hike).
(above) Here we are about 15 minutes into the walk. Two men are carrying the cross and the rest of those participating from the community (over 100 people) are behind me. You see that peak in the distance? That´s the hill we´re heading to. You may also notice the machinery in the distance as well (we just got a road and they are finishing it up). This is also the road to my house.
(above) Now its the lady´s turn to carry the cross. I went next with another 5 young women.
(above) Almost there.... There are a lot more people you can´t see who haven´t made it up the rocks just yet.
(above) We made it on top, the father gave his last of 14 (yes we stopped 14 times) messages and we sang the last of the songs and said our 14th ¨Our Father¨ prayer, a hole was dug and bing bang batoboom here is the cross on the hill. My house is down there somewhere in the distance.
On Saturday night at 10:30pm to about 1am we had another (the last) church mass of the Easter season where people from all over hiked over 2 hours to come. This was called a fogata and there was a big bon fire.
To experience Easter in another country, in a different religion with different traditions where the people are humble and depend on the land to live was something that I never imagined to experience. An experience like this brings you back to reality so while I as a child was getting dressed up in my Easter dress concerned only with hunting eggs with candy and confetti, there are other children around the world helping their parents get the seeds to the farm ready to be blessed by the father so that they can have enough food to eat throughout the year. Just one of the MANY experiences that has and will shape me for the rest of my life.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Aquí en la lucha
(above) Friends hanging out during training many moons ago.
(above) Hanging out at the beach hechando cuentas (telling stories).
(above) Celebrating at an Indian restaurant in Panama City after we ¨officially¨ became Peace Corps volunteers.
(above) The guys who dared to go against the ladies in a game the night before are here fulfilling their punishment for losing by wearing bikini bottoms and taking a dip in the ocean.
(above) Celebrating a birthday!
(above) Visiting Dylan´s site and using his hot plate to make tacos because he hadn´t bought a gas tank yet.
(above) Some of the gorgeous ladies of group 62 hanging out on the beach.
(above) Three of my neighbors after I told them to smile big so I could see their teeth.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Me? A Teacher? Who decided that?
So to get familar with the kids in the community before school starts (Panamanian school year is March-December but for some reason the government pushed the start date to April this year), to be productive and pass time, and to help my name spread throughout the community, I started a short 3 week English course. In the mornings for 2 hours I teach 6-10 yr olds and in the afternoon I teach 11-17 yr olds. My class in the morning averages over 30 kids and the afternoon class averages to 20 students per class.
In latin american culture, its generally acceptable to show up late. If you tell someone to show up at 8am, showing up at 8:45 is pretty normal. They made sure to warn us about this during training since it directly applied to Panamanian culture. I´ll tell you what, these kids are really excited about English class because for my 9am class, I see kids passing my house on the way to my class when I´m standing in my pajamas outside brushing my teeth at 8:20! Its not unusual for some kids to come to my house and hang out while I finish getting ready and then we walk to class together.
(Above) Here is a pic of my morning kiddos.
So although I didn´t come to Panama to teach English, its a great way to get integrated into the community and my original perspective on teaching still remains... not the profession for me :)
You may have noticed that I mentioned my house. Yes fans, I HAVE MOVED INTO MY OWN HOUSE! I won´t dare put photos up until it is properly decorated so you might have to wait until the next post to see it. Having my privacy back after 7 months of being without it is absolutely amazing. Until next time... chao!