After
the unfortunate events in my community, things have been slowly going back to
normal. It is now “pifa” season and people are in the farms harvesting this
delicious fruit. Pifa is a nutritious, high fiber fruit that tastes like a
cross between a potato and carrot. You boil them in salt water until they are
soft and serve in the morning with coffee, delicious!
The
summer vacation has ended which means that students are back in school but also
means I wrapped up my Eco-club. For our
last mini-project we made a welcome sign made of bottle caps (yay reusing). The
kids loved working on the sign and the community appreciates the warm welcome.
I also brought three kids from my
community (ages 12 to 15), to a 5 day camp about professionalism, leadership,
sexual health and goal-setting. All in all, there were about 45 kids and 12
facilitators who brought this amazing experience together for these young
people from rural Panama. For many of the kids it was the first time sleeping
away from home, (for kids from other provinces) the first time talking to
Ngäbes or Bugles (indigenous people), learning about sexual health and
prevention of STDs and pregnancy, how to make a goal and why goal setting is
important in our lives, etc. We had a really productive and fun time and on the
last night all 45 kids were crying because they did not want to leave the new
friends they had just made.
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| Go team blue! |
I
hosted a Leadership Seminar in my community. 20 participants received sessions
on group organization, time and money management, goal setting and problem
resolution. 2 Language and Cultural Facilitators from Peace Corps also came to
help out. After the seminar, I plan to do follow-up surveys to see if people
are applying what they have learned.
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| Untying the Human Knot |
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| Practicing POCA- a tool for problem solving |
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| Walking in someone else's shoes |
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| Every participant received a certificate |
The
legality of reforesting by our water well has still not been resolved, however
the eco-club continued to collect seeds and plant along the creek. The adults
also organized a clean-up along the path that leads to my community. They used
machetes to cut the long grass and we planted trees along the path.
Finally,
I have completed a year in Panama! As much of a struggle this year has been, I
have really reflected on how much I have achieved in my service and for my own
personal growth. I headed to Mid Service Training in Panama City for a required
1 year med and dental checkup (so don’t worry Mom, I am fine and healthy). After
the medical appointments, we reflected as a group on how work was going and
what challenges we faced. It was a great refresh and inspired me to chug along
for the next year. We also took advantage of our paid trip to the city and hit
some tourist attractions. We traveled to Panama Viejo, a preserved section of
the city with church and buildings from the 1600’s. We took advantage of the
delicious street vendor food, night-life, and artisan markets
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Panama Viejo
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| The newer areas of Panama |
