Part of the Community and November 3

            My first three months are called Proyecto Amistad (Project Friendship), and during this time, I am not expected to do much Environmental Health work. Instead, I am supposed to complete a Community Analysis, which will legitimize my service and any projects by providing a basis, or an expressed community need and desire, for future work. Using “Participatory Analysis for Community Action” (PACA) tools, I will begin my analysis after Thanksgiving, when I hope to get a variety of supplies as our group is meeting up in David. I will hold several meetings to create community maps, daily activities schedules, a seasonal calendar, and a priority ranking (or needs assessment). The Community Analysis also involves a questionnaire given to PCVs by Peace Corps-Panama. The questionnaire includes questions about community organization, water, sanitation, and health, and all of these questions require community input. In between various meetings I will be visiting houses to discuss Family, Religion, Education, Economics, Health, Organization, Politics, and Preparedness (FREEHOPP). After the Community Diagnosis/Analysis, I will continue with participatory meetings, and during these meetings, the community will identify strengths and weaknesses within the community and analyze weaknesses by looking at the cause and effect. These steps after the community diagnosis can help develop a plan for the rest of my service. I would hopefully complete these steps during the time that we are working on the latrine project to assess whether we should continue with more latrines, aqueduct, or whatever.

In the meantime, I’m simply working on cultural integration. As required by Peace Corps-Panama, I am staying with a host family for my first three months in site. In the first few weeks my tactic for cultural integration has been to do whatever work my host mom or the community is doing. For instance, I have gone to the stream to wash my clothes twice, and I have attended the Methodist Church services on Sundays even though they last for three hours. I have also gone to the finca, or the plot of farmland, with host family to collect vegetables for them to sell in Bocas, and I have worked my way up to carrying four pumpkin-like vegetables in a woven purse with the strap across my head. With the community, I carried slats of wood for the house for a preacher whenever he comes, and I helped to clean up and decorate the community in preparation for the November 3 celebrations. Otherwise, a lot of people like to visit my host family and occasionally, I visit other houses to talk with the families. Probably one of the biggest ways to meet people was taking pictures on November 3. EVERYONE wanted their photo taken, so I took over 350 photos in one day. If they want the photo printed, they must pay a quarter (I am following protocol from previous volunteers), so I have quite a job ahead of me. I realize I still have quite a ways to go, but so far the community and I are happy to take our time with everything.

November 3 all of Panama celebrates their Separation from Colombia and my community is no exception. At 4:45 am I was woken up by the drumline that traveled around the community and played beneath my room because we’re in a house with high enough stilts. All in good fun! Then, the children had a parade from the dock up to the school. For several months a group of 14 kids from the primary school have been practicing choreographed traditional Panamanian dances, or baile tipico. The girls wore polleras, which consist of very full, brightly colored skirts and a matching top. To accompany the polleras, they each wore gold jewelry (fake in this case) and tembleques, which are beautiful hair pieces (typically pearly white) in the shapes of flowers or butterflies (as far as I noticed). The boys wore black pants with a white guayavera, which is a traditional button-down shirt with stripes made of doubled over fabric (I am a big fan of this shirt!). The boys also wore the traditional Panamanian sombrero pintado (painted hat) that flips up in the front along with a small woven purse, the chacra. Beautifully dressed, the dancers performed several very impressive traditional dances.

The day continued with recitations of poetry, competitions, and dancing. The poetry recited expressed their patriotism, love, and appreciation for the flag. Competitions included school children and events that you would find at a Field Day in the US. Also, they had their equivalent of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” but it was “Touch the Chicken that is Tied to a Pole in the Middle of the Field.” Then, the dancing competitions began. I was paired with Gregorio, the President of Padres de Familia and organizer of the November 3 events. To paint a better picture of the hilarity of the scene, Gregorio is in his mid-30s with at least 5 children and is about as tall as my shoulder, or maybe even my chin. This was an elimination dance competition, so after four salsa, bachata, and merengue dances, during which the community thoroughly enjoyed watching the Gringa dance, Gregorio and I won. I got a perfume and sore legs as my prize.

Well, I think this entry is long enough… Oops! But, I had to make up for the month delay!

Difficulties, But Reasons to Laugh

October 20 I officially became a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Panama. The ceremony was in the Ambassador’s Residence in Panama City, and we had a lot of Peace Corps Staff and the Volunteers who helped with training come to the ceremony and then dinner afterwards. Dressed nicely and eating good food, the night was a great way to celebrate the completion of two months of Peace Corps training.

After a few days of relaxation, I arrived in my site, Valle Escondido, on October 23. First, I was happy to get the chance to use the internet in the tourist city, Bocas, to wish Graeme a happy 2^nd birthday! Now, I would say that the first week in site is the most difficult week I have experienced here. Unlike the other weeks during training when we were staying with host families, I was there to stay without the ability to fall back on a conversation in English with other trainees or a guaranteed good meal. Instead, homesickness hit hard and hunger hit equally hard when my jar of peanut butter ran out. With time and new jars of peanut butter, the homesickness and hunger have mostly subsided. At the same time, cultural integration is a continuous process as I am trying to balance my need for personal space and their cultural interpretation of someone alone in their room as being sad. I simply also have to make a more concerted effort to visit many houses instead of only conversing with the families with whom I feel comfortable.

Peace Corps technically allows us two personal mental health days per month to leave our site. I took advantage of this after two weeks in site and I went to Bocas for night. I simply talked with friends and family. It was refreshing to have electricity, internet, and something to eat other than rice. But, I have to admit the importance of being able to share similar experiences from halfway around the world with Brad in Madagascar on a daily basis. This communication and shared understanding has been immensely helpful. For instance, one night I woke up at 2 am because I felt something on my hair and then on my shoulder. I brushed it away and switched it on my flashlight to find a cockroach INSIDE my mosquito net. I then spent the next half hour trying to kill it before I finally succeeded. Halfway around the world, Brad has woken up to a rat scurrying around his house and also to a broken roof that leaked heavy rains onto his bed. Basically, we just have to laugh at some of our ridiculous experiences.

Another experience to laugh at was my last trip to Bocas. When I was trying to get to Bocas on the 7^th I was told that the boat was going to leave at 7 am. Now, in what developing world setting does a boat that says it’s leaving at 7 am leave at 6 am??? Only in Valle Escondido! But, that’s fine because another boat happened to be leaving at 9 am…after slaughtering a cow. So, my boat companion was a dead, skinned cow on top of some banana leaves, and the best part was when the boat slowed down in the middle of the bay so the man in front could chuck the cowhide overboard. I guess it’s biodegradable?!?

Going to break up today's entry, because it is suuuper long!