What a Great Start to 2013: University of Nevada-Reno in Valle Escondido

Wow, it's been a while...As every Peace Corps Panama Volunteer knows, November and December bring holiday after holiday, and in Panama, or at least in our communities, the holidays last for more than just one day and the extended holidays mean little to no work is going to get done. For Valle Escondido, composting latrine construction had been put completely on hold. The community needed a jump-start.

            Last May a group of Hydrogeology graduate students from the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) came to Valle Escondido as a service trip for their student group, Student Association for International Water Issues (SAIWI). The group, which I knew through a classmate at Notre Dame, had a wonderful time working with the community learning about life as a Peace Corps Volunteer and life in general in the developing world. The three students enjoyed the experience so much that they recommended a second group to come back during their Winter Break. From the same student organization came three more students interested in water resources and public health protection. Having fundraised the previous year to pay for flights and materials, the group arrived eager to work, to build two composting latrines, and to learn about Valle Escondido.

            Frankly, I started out worried because I had just arrived back at my site after a trip home to the States for Christmas and because New Year’s festivities in my site seemed to still be going strong three days later. I didn’t know if I would have gasoline, let alone a boat and boat driver, available to go pick up materials on Isla Colon, where the group was waiting for me. Luckily, in the late afternoon the tienda owner, Renato, was able to pick up more gasoline and transport materials back to the community.

            The following day my community had magically recuperated and together with the UNR group we broke ground on the first latrine of the trip. From day one the group worked hard to communicate in Spanish and to build relationships with my community members, and they did so flawlessly. By the third day, we had my counterpart, the obligatory worker on the part of the latrine owner, a third worker found by my counterpart, and three more young men that simply enjoyed working with this UNR group. With each increasing day the community fell more in love with the outgoing, charismatic group. Community members invited us to go swimming in the ocean, to visit their fincas, and to learn about the cacao process.

            Within four days we had the first latrine base built and plastered with the frame of the privacy structure in place. The afternoon of the fourth workday happened to fall on January 7, the day of the College Football National Championship between Alabama and Notre Dame. The entire group went to Isla Colon to watch the game. Although it turned out to be a sad day for Notre Dame fans, I was happy to be able to share the game watch with my dad. After a day of much needed rest for the group in Bocas we quickly started the second latrine. With an excess amount of workers, we divided duties so that some worked on ferrocement toilet seats, some finished another latrine that simply lacked the seats, and some continued working on the principal latrine. I primarily worked with the ferrocement seats and taught the group and community members the details of forming the seat shape, plastering the inside and outside of the seat, and making the urine diversion piece. On the other hand, Poli, my community counterpart, led the construction team at the principal latrine. Each member of the UNR group synched well with the community members and the assigned work. More importantly, younger community members, or the future community leaders, were freely giving their time and simultaneously learning both construction and project management skills.

            Peace Corps has three main goals: (1) to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, (2) to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served, and (3) to help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. This UNR SAIWI group did an impeccable job at achieving Peace Corps Goals 2 and 3. The effort they put into practicing Spanish, getting to know the names of everyone they met, and showing flexibility with food and work schedules demonstrated some of the best qualities Americans can portray here in Panama. My community members felt comfortable talking with each member of the SAIWI group and walked away from the experience with good memories and new friendships. Also walking away with new friendships, the group felt proud what they accomplished while working “shoulder to shoulder” with my community. They took away a better understanding of the developing world, international development work, and the strong sentiments felt by my community for them. The group took pieces of Panamanian and Ngabe culture back with them: photos of dancing tipico, balls of cacao, the traditional woven Ngabe bags (chakra), and memories of all the small children coloring in my house. Finally, the cultural sharing will continue because before leaving I set up e-mail and Facebook for their three closest friends in Valle Escondido.

            In the end, the trip resulted in three fully completed composting latrines, one Tippy-Tap presentation, new friendships, and three community members with Facebook. I’d say it was a pretty successful start to 2013, and I can only hope that the group members might add some of their own stories to my blog…