Lesson Learned

Lately it seems that every time I come into Panama City it means bad news.  The only times I had made the long trek to civilization before this weekend were to seek medical treatment.  This trip was going to be just some time spent with long lost friends from the other side of the country.  And then somebody decided to swipe my bag when I got to the bus terminal in the city.  So there went pretty much all the things I didn´t want to lose: backpack, laptop, ipod, passport, ATM card, money, clothes, and my brand new toothbrush.  That sort of dampened the mood for me.  Thankfully I had the support of my fellow volunteers around me, who lent me some money, gave me food to eat, and let me squeeze into their hotel room.

I was surprisingly calm about it, even though it seemed like I should be freaking out.  But it seemed that God gave me peace through everything.  In the end it was just a bunch of stuff, and although a huge pain for me, not that big of a deal.  After making trips to the police station, bank, American Embassy, Peace Corps office, and the store to try and replace the essentials, I settled down to hang out with the other volunteers.  Always a new adventure, another lesson to learn.

The houses we're recycling to build my bachelor pad



Things are a lot less stressful out in the jungle.  I was hoping to return to my community more quickly, partly to get started on a community environmental health survey.  The other reason is because I want to get going on my new house.  Although much later than I hoped, we finally started building it.  After much discussion about cutting trees for lumber and waiting for the moon to be right (apparently that has a significant effect on the quality of wood that is cut), the community decided to instead recycle the materials from some old abandoned houses.  Which was fine with me, we can save a few trees and already have almost all the wood we need right there.

I went to help Lino take the houses apart, but when it came to the thatch roof I decide to watch from below.  I feared for his life as he climbed to the top and started chopping off the leaves he was standing on with a machete, about 25 feet up.  He would cut the vines holding them together and slide down to the next row.  Apparently the type of wood that was used is quite durable, so almost all of it was still in good shape despite being submerged in a major flood.  Although most of the lumber has been dismantled now, the task remains of carrying it all up the hill to my little patch of cleared out land.  This will probably be a good test of patience, as I have no idea how long it will take to finish and finally be able to live on my own.

This technique is not OSHA approved

The aftermath of our roof demolition





Just Give It Some Time

It's a never ending job clearing brush around town

Talking with other volunteers who have been here in the Darien for a while, I realize there’s this shift in thinking about our time here in Panama.  I’m not sure when it happens, but apparently you go from looking at your service as a break from your “real life” in the States, to actually living life in Panama.  Right now I still feel kind of like I just fell out of a plane and landed in the Panamanian jungle, left trying to figure out what’s happening.  But I can see down the road how this will all become so familiar.  It will become home.

Seeing how I’ve been living in my community for less than three months, I still have a lot to learn.  Every day is a learning opportunity.  Like how to wash your clothes in a river, or what brand of peanut butter not to buy when in the city.  The process of figuring out how to live here is a fun challenge, and exhausting at the same time.  I just realized that I am completely unprepared to move out of my host family house, which is supposed to be happening in the next week or so.  Essential things like a stove, dishes, rat proof food containers, a machete, and a mattress are all things I do not own.  The good news is we haven’t started building my house yet.  Actually that’s the bad news. 

The main thing I’ve been trying to learn is how people function in Nuevo Vigía.  Honestly I still really haven’t figured out what people actually do every day.  I mean they are usually doing something related to farming or preparing food, but it’s not the structured kind of daily routine I’ve been so hammered into my whole life.  The days seem to blend together since time is not that much of an issue.  I often forget what day it is.  One time I told my host mom what the date was and she said, “It’s September?  Well, there went August…” 

 

Maestra Elida with her kindergarteners in a row

It makes me think about how much time can seem to own us.  I certainly want to make the best of each day, but I also don’t want to be thinking of everything in terms of time and deadlines and schedules.  Maybe my brain will soon start to shift.

Learning Something New

Today I am in La Palma, the capital of the Darien Province, for a regional meeting with some fellow volunteers.  Tomorrow I will continue traveling to attend a meeting with representatives from all forty or so Emberá communities in Panama.  But for now, here’s a little look into my everyday life in my community as of late.  There have been some changes, big and small.  Apparently one of those changes is that I’ve gotten larger around the waist.  I didn’t notice, but that’s what my community members have been telling me lately, saying things like, “Benjamín, you are getting fat!” or  “When you got here you were so skinny, but you’ve been eating a lot of rice and plantains haven’t you?”  It’s not meant to be insulting; they say it as if I’m finally looking healthy and normal.  I just laugh and thank them for the compliment.

Through casual conversation I’ve figured out that there is very little knowledge of the world outside of Panama, or even outside the community.  Most people just can’t quite grasp how small their country is in comparison to the US.  I’ve tried to explain how Michigan is about four times the size of Panama, and that’s just one of fifty states.  Sometimes they ask how long the trip is to go home and visit, by bus.  Estimating if it were one of the Panamanian public transports called a “diablo rojo,” which is a retired American school bus with a new paint job, I could make it in 2-3 weeks.  That’s when they say something like, “Whoa, that IS really far away!”

Muchachos working hauling gravel

It’s funny how random some conversations can be.  The other day I was talking to a guy who I call “Picante” because his last name is Ají.  Somehow we got on the topic of time zones and how the sun works.  He told me he was pretty sure that the sun moves while the earth stays put, because he can see it going across the sky.  I couldn’t believe I was the first person to tell him otherwise.  Trying to explain the angle of rotation and orbit of the earth in Spanish was somewhat of a struggle.  He countered that by asking how the earth started spinning.  I told him God did it.

The lack of education here is a problem that is starting to become more apparent to me.  There is a large number of adults in Nuevo Vigía who are unable to read or write.  Statistics tell me that in 2007 only 18% of the Emberá population attended school beyond 6th grade.  Just ten years ago junior high did not exist in the Emberá province.  That’s a reminder of how fortunate I am to have had such a great education.  It’s such a simple thing: the opportunity to learn about the world around us, but some people don’t have that.  I am very grateful for the opportunities I have been given.

Speaking of learning, in a way I have been studying since I got here.  Whether it was a good idea or not, I pretty much decided to stop teaching myself Spanish and focus almost completely on learning the local indigenous language, Emberá.  Honestly I don’t think I’d be able to do it if people in the community weren’t so encouraging.  Every day they try to teach me something new.  It helps that I have a few resources so that I can learn to read and write the language at the same time.  The difficult part is that there are several sounds that have no similar pronunciation in English or Spanish.  That’s why there are some strange looking characters when writing it.  Now that I have learned a few phrases and sentence structures, people get so excited when they hear me speak it.  They say things like, “Whoa, you are so smart!  How do you learn so fast?”  For example, I’ll say something like, “Mẽra aché, kãreta óbᴧa?” (What’s up bro, what are you doing?), or “Mᴧa beda kóde diguidá wãya” (I’m going to my house to eat fish).  One of my favorites is “Wana kuide!” (Let’s go bathe!), which is a common phrase especially when it’s really hot out.  The funny thing is it’s also sort of a pickup line which I’ve had used on me.

One night my host mom, Estela, was teaching me Ẽbera bedea (Emberá language) while we were sitting at the table after dinner.  She brought out this booklet of the gospel of John that was translated into Emberá a few years ago by Christian missionaries.  She was a little embarrassed to admit that she couldn’t actually read it, even though it was her native language.  With the light of the kerosene lantern, I did my best to read the words out loud.  My pronunciation was close enough to where she could figure out what I was saying, and then say it back to me in Spanish.  That’s one of those moments that will stay with me for a long time.

A cultural difference that I was prepared for and determined not to be bothered by was the concept of time.  I knew that time does not have the same meaning that it does in the States, but it’s still tough when actually experiencing it, and having your plans messed up as result.  Trying to organize a community meeting without internet or phones makes things move a little more slowly.  It takes me several days to walk around from house to house just to inform a small number of people about a meeting that I am planning.  Despite some setbacks, rescheduling, and practicing being patient, I managed to do my first couple of participatory activities as part of a community analysis.  Needless to say, the hardest part was getting people to show up.  In the first meeting members of the community made a map of their village, looking at things they’d like to see change.  The next subject was analyzing their daily routines to see what could be improved.  The idea is that the community itself is very involved in every step of the process of their own development, giving their input.  That seems obvious, but it’s something that is ignored by many development organizations.

Right now I’m working on getting a house built so I’ll have my own place to stay for the rest of my time here.  People in my community think it’s ridiculous that I would want to live in a house by myself, that I’ll be scared and lonely at night, and that I need a woman to cook and clean for me (hey they said it, not me).  Personal space is not valued quite so much as I’m used to.  So far nothing has developed except for me picking a spot up on the hill where there’s some cell phone reception.  I figure if I just keep asking people about my house every few days, then things will start to come together shortly.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

By the way I was thinking there are a lot of people I haven’t heard from in some time.  I’m going to put my phone number on here, because I’m pretty sure through Skype you can call me if you want.  Otherwise you can try and catch me when I have internet once every few weeks or so. 

Here’s my cell phone: (507) 6540-7421

Or try the community pay phone on the off chance that someone will answer it: (507) 333-1210

Just don’t call after 8:30 at night, I’ll probably be sleeping.

 

Also please send me your mailing address if you would like a postcard of some sort.  I'm utilizing the old snail mail because it's more fun that way.

A Typical Day in the Comarca

The following is sort of just a spewing of random stories and happenings from the past couple weeks.  Now that I have a computer I can actually type some things out while in my site.  So here they are:

After one month living in my new community, I've found that there are always surprises that come with each day.  Like when I found a bird had made a nest in the pocket of my pants, which were hanging up in my room.  I was wondering how so many twigs and grass got in my pocket when I heard a little crunch and splat on the floor near my foot.  There was the little bird’s egg, but in worse shape than Humpty Dumpty.  That’s the downside of having good air circulation in the house – with the air comes many creatures: birds, bats, geckos, cockroaches, armies of ants, scorpions, and alarmingly large spiders.  The rental agreement did not mention these other tenants would be part of the deal, but I let it slide.

The wild ride with the angry pig

Or kind of like when one of our passengers on the dugout canoe was a very large, angry pig.  I knew it would be an interesting ride before I got on the boat.  Sure enough, as we were cruising along the pig decided it was very thirsty and needed a big drink of water.  The problem is pigs don’t have the greatest balance, so when it leaned over the side its front legs slipped off the side of the boat.  Its weight began to tip the entire boat to one side, dangerously close to filling with water.  I leaned back in the opposite direction as far as I could as Ruben tried to pull the pig back into the canoe.  Fortunately the pig made it to town safe and sound, just in time to be chopped up into little pieces and sold to people in the community.  Sales are made by yelling, “Hay puerco!” really loudly until people come from all over with little plastic bags in hand.  I thought of the good times the pig and I had on that boat trip as I chewed on a piece of its tail.  It’s interesting how different a simple meal can be when you saw where it came from.

As Peace Corps Volunteers we like to compare our sites just for fun.  We ask things like, “How far do you have to hike to get into site?” or “What?! You have electricity?” or “Do they want you to teach English in your site too?”  One of the most common comparisons though, is the food.  Fortunately for me, this is where I can brag a little.  The staples are generally rice and plantains, but that’s just the start.  Although we may not have beautiful views of mountains and cool weather, being in a jungle community of hunters and fishermen has its perks.  So far I have sampled a variety of meats including pork, wild hog, venison, rabbit, chicken, wild chicken (not sure exactly what that is), and possibly more that I didn’t recognize.  I’ve been told by community members that there are many others I still need to try such as iguana, anteater, crocodile, even parrot.  I suppose it’s part of my job to discourage the hunting of certain animals to protect the wildlife, but they hype everything up like it’s so delicious…  More often than not however, there will be fish on the table.  If the guys haven’t had much success spear fishing in the river, they can always wait for the fish salesman to come up the river with his boat full of ocean fish.

While I can’t complain about the food, because I know many of my fellow volunteers on the other side of the country have it worse, I have developed some intense cravings for vegetables.  I actually special ordered a tomato, some carrots, and cucumber from one of the stores.  The girl working there said nobody buys vegetables, so they never have them.  But an exception was made for me.  Every Wednesday the stores are restocked by boats that go back and forth between the nearest town that has a road to the Pan American Highway (which means it’s connected to the outside world).  So from the port town of Penita my precious vegetables set sail.  My host mom was very perplexed by the strange assortment of foods that are neither fried nor boiled before eating.  I’m not sure if she had ever seen lettuce before, she looked at it like it was a lunar soil sample or something.  Don’t get me wrong, fried plantains and rice are fine and all, but I need something green to eat once in a while.

Coming out of my room the other day I saw this white bucket on the steps.  I looked inside to find about eight huge spiders crawling around.  These kids saw me staring at it and came over with big smiles.  They had found them in somebody's house.  So one proceeded to grab one and let it run up his arm, around his head, tickle his ear, and back into the bucket.  I was ready to just smash them, not realizing they were pets.

Another gringo came to town the other day.  I knew he was there before I saw him because people made sure to tell me, after all it doesn’t happen very often that a white person comes through Nuevo Vigia.  It was slightly confusing when at first he started talking to me in the indigenous language, then he switched to Spanish.  After talking a while, he finally switched to English.  What a relief, finally someone to speak English to.  Apparently he was studying medicinal plants.  The townspeople called him a sorcerer.  I’m not sure if he would have agreed to that title or not.  He told me he was born in the Darien in an Embara community, moved to the States, and had now returned to look at some plants.  And just like that he was gone, leaving me as the sole gringo in town as normal.

On Sunday the 29^th we had a big community monthly meeting to talk about anything and everything.  I decided that would be a good time to reintroduce myself and try to clarify what exactly it is that I’m doing here.  There seemed to be quite a large percent of the population that still had no idea why I was walking around talking to people.  With my speech prepared with all my qualifications, skills, background, and detailed explanation of the Peace Corps, I was ready.  After I finished talking in front of everyone, which I don’t particularly enjoy even in English, I knew I had nailed it.  That is I thought so, until the town president followed it up with, “Did you guys understand that?”  What can I say, there’s some room for improvement with my Spanish.

Meeting New People and Fighting Bacteria

Having spent just two weeks in my community, I have returned to Panama City sooner than expected.  A long lasting stomach bug was enough to make the Peace Corps doctors decide to bring me in and give me some medication.  After some testing, I'm glad to know I don't have worms or anything too disturbing.  Apparently it's a bacterial infection from food, so I know I need to to more careful what I eat.  Tomorrow I will head back for another long trip.

Other than the sickness things have been going quite well.  Starting to live in a new place with a bunch of people that don't know who you are and don't speak English is always a little tough.  Everyone speaks Spanish but since it's an indigenous community, it's their second language.  Fortunately the teachers at the school speak Spanish very well, so I've found that I get the best practice from talking with them.  Everyone in the community practically has told me that I need to start learning Embara, the indigenous language.  I've gotten a start, but it's going to be a challenge, especially while still trying to work on my Spanish.  The language is pretty basic as far as the structure, but the pronunciation is really different.  There are certain sounds that I think my mouth just cannot do.

My host sister in front of the house

Most of my time so far has been spent walking around the town meeting people and explaining who I am.  The majority of people are pretty curious about why there is a very tall gringo walking around in their back yard.  I must say it is pretty awkward sometimes just going up to somebody's house and asking to talk, but people are very friendly and usually just tell me to climb the ladder and come inside.  All the houses are on stilts about 6-10 feet off the ground, so as I walk around people can look down at me from the shadows of their thatch roofs.  Now I understand even more what they call the fishbowl effect.

It's been interesting hearing all the stereotypes that people have about North Americans, and I've done my best to combat them.  According to the people here, every person from the United States is: a millionaire, white and blonde, lives in a skyscraper, etc.  People have many questions about the US, and some have asked if I will take them there when I go back home.  The curiosity makes for fun conversation.

Community futbol game

Some guys working on a piragua to
make it seaworthy

My goal for these first few months is to work out a community analysis.  In other words I want to figure out what the needs of the people are, what their strengths are, and how to best facilitate positive changes.  I'm expecting things to continue to get better as I get to know people better and feel more comfortable.  As for now I'm headed back to my hostel to hang out with some other Peace Corps Volunteers who are taking a break from their sites.

Almost Official

This week the Environmental Health group said goodbye to Santa Rita, our training community for the past two months.  We ended one chapter of our service, leaving our Panamanian host families to head off to Panama City.  Just about all the other volunteers who have been in Panama for a while that I've talked to have been surprised at how fast time flies during their service.  Seeing our training all of a sudden come to an end, I can definitely believe it.

We had a chance to celebrate a baile tipico in Santa Rita before we left.  The way they announced the start of the party was marching around the block with flags, fireworks, drums, trombones, and throwing candy.

In the midst of all the craziness and busy schedules throughout our training time, I've actually had more peace about starting my service here in Panama.  The abundance of material we've been learning, along with greatly improving my Spanish, has given me more confidence to be working on my own.

This afternoon we will officially swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers.  The ceremony will be pretty classy with speeches, presentations, and important people like the US embassador.  Thinking back to when our group all got off the plane together two months ago, it's amazing to see how much we've come together and learned from each other.  These people will be a great support throughout all the challenges we will likely run into. 

After a few free days to celebrate at a beach somewhere, all of us will be heading out to our different sites across the country.  I will be in Nuevo Vigia for the next three months before we meet again for more training in Panama City.  Thinking about being out there on my own is a little daunting, especially since we've been in such a structured environment up to this point.  The contrast between Panama City and my community is amazing considering how small of a country this is.  I'm going from flashy skyscrapers, super malls, and freeways, to houses made of wood and leaves, open jungle, and rivers.  From a place where people have more money than they know what to do with, to to a place where there's hardly any money at all.

Since I will probably not be finding internet very often, I thought I'd give some contact info.  The unique thing about living on the east side of the country is that there is so little development, you don't really feel like you're in civilization unless you go all the way back to Panama City.  There are no roads except the Pan American highway, which comes to an abrupt end just east of my site.  Let's just say it's out there.

My new postal address closest to my community:

Benjamin Vander Plas
Meteti
Darien
Panama

As you can see, there is so little going on in the Darien that real addresses aren't even necessary.  Meteti is the closest "city" to me at about a 2 hours away, and has a post office.  You can still send mail to the address for the Peace Corps office, but it generally takes a lot longer that way - and I have to go to Panama City to get it.

I now have a cell phone with two numbers:

(507) 6540-7421
(507) 6926-9273

And that's where I'll be after this weekend.  I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone in the community, moving into a house, and just getting more comfortable there.  Doing that will be a long process, but nothing about development work is fast.  There are so many things to think about for the future, but I'm trying to focus on the present, just taking it a day at a time.

My New Home

Well I have some big news: 

Nuevo Vigia, my community for the next 2 years

After a long time waiting and wondering, I received my site announcement!  The town where I will be living and working for the next two years is Nuevo Vigia.  This is an indigenous village in the Darien province of Panama.  It's in an indian reservation called the Comarca Embara-Wounan, which is in the middle of the jungle on the eastern side of the country.  I am the first Peace Corps Volunteer in the community, which presents some unique challenges in itself.  The normal cycle for a community is to have three volunteers in succession, for a total of six years.

Last week I had a chance to visit the community to meet the people and get to know the area.  Lino, a farmer who lives there, is my working counterpart.  He came to meet me in Panama City, and we traveled out to Nuevo Vigia together.  After a six hour bus ride almost to the end of the Pan American highway, a ride in a chiva (taxi truck), and a half hour boat ride in a dugout canoe up two rivers, we arrived!

The community is about 370 people, with around 100 houses.  Houses are settled overlooking the Tuqueza River, which is a very important part of their lifestyle.  The river is used for everything: transportation, bathing, laundry, a toilet, fishing, and drinking water.  You can maybe see the problem here...  There is no electricity except for a solar panel at their school, and a few small generators that people own.  Also there is no water system, and only a handful of latrines.  Water is hauled by women carrying buckets on their heads, which is no easy task climbing up the river bank and walking to their houses.

The Rio Tuqueza, also the community hangout area

My host family house for my first 3 months in site

While the Embara people were pretty shy at first (I guess I'm pretty scary looking), they really opened up after a couple days and were very friendly.  My host family took great care of me, and I ate quite well, by rural Panamanian standards.  I found the best way to meet people is to go jump in the river.  Pretty much at any time of day there will be groups of people bathing and hanging out (still clothed), kids playing on the beaches, guys spear fishing, or women doing laundry.  People are somewhat obsessive about taking baths, at least two or three a day, and it's a very social event.

After a week I came back to the city, and now we're finishing our training.  I'm really excited to go back for good, and to continue getting to know people.  There's a lot more to say here, but I don't quite have time right now.  I definitely feel that God has been preparing the way for me, and I have a lot of peace going into this.  Things are still a little intimidating and there will be a lot of adjustments, but I think I'm as ready for it as I can be.

My host family for my first visit