Leadership and Project Management

PC Panama has a unique program that is spreading through the rest of the countries. Every volunteer has the chance to bring a counterpart to a Project Management and Leadership seminar. During this 4 day seminar, we covered topics such as:

objectives, values, strategies on the level of individuals, groups, communities, and institutions

Budgeting

How to form or re-form groups

How to organize meetings

The difference between problems and conflicts

How to resolve conflicts

How to write letters of presentation and solicitation

How to present to agencies and public speaking

 

 

We were split into colors. Every group had to present a flag that represented their vakues

 

 

 

Go team green!

 

Depending on who you choose from your community, this seminar can be a hit or miss. If you bring someone who already has leadership experience, the participant may not get much out of the seminar. PC recommends bringing someone who has the capacity of being a great leader but may just need a little encouragement.  I wanted to bring a woman because women – especially in the Comarca- do not leave the house often and will never have an opportunity like this. There is an abundant amount of male leaders in my community, almost to the amount that nothing gets done because there are too many cooks in the kitchen. There are woman who have showed leadership qualities but less so than men. I brought one of my best friends-Ermalinda. Ermalinda does not always participate in community gatherings due to large amounts of gossip that goes on, but we have talked about some great ideas that could help out the community-she is just afraid to speak out during meetings. During this seminar, she started off quiet and intimidated (and I can understand since she was surrounded by white people and latinos) but by the end of the seminar she could not shut up! She participated and made plenty of friends. We are planning on repeating some of the sessions in my site because I feel like there are leaders who could really benefit from the tips.

My favorite part of the seminar was the Cultural Night. This night consisted of song, dance, artisan, and clothing from all parts of Panama. Ermlinda brought chocolate and towels that she crotches. Her and I wore the traditional nagua dress and danced the Gwara with a few other members at the seminar.

Ermalinda and I rockin the naguas

Why PC ISNT for lovers

This is a blog post from my beloved friend, Sarah Edwards, who is serving in Cameroon. She wrote this post and with her permission I am reposting it on my blog because there is so much truth in it..

 I recently saw this article, “10 reasons why the Peace Corps is for lovers”. I though that it was cute but based on exception rather than the rules. Peace Corps is absolutely not a place to fall in love. Make strong friendships, yes. Looooooove? Hell no.
Here’s my reasoning:
1. Peace Corps is like high school… PCVs are only second in gossiping abilities to Cameroonians in my village. Kongosa is the pidgin work for gossip, and believe you me, it’s impossible to go through a day without hearing some kongosa. By the time that we move to our post we know or have a sense of at least most of the volunteers in the country…including who’s dating/casually seeing/having drama with who. Do you really want your name getting mixed up in that? Brings us to #2
2. Peace Corps incest. If one is only looking to be involved with other PCVs there’s more than a good chance that they will have gotten with someone else you know, or possible several someones. Small dating pool with a tendency for casual hookups, people. Tread carefully.
3. Peace Corps messes us up emotionally. The highs are higher, yes, but the lows seem so much lower. Trying to add the emotional turmoil of relationship dynamics to that already roiling stew of emotions? Good luck.
4. Distance difficulties. As PCVs we’re expected to spend most of our time in village, so even dating someone in the same country may mean that you only see them a few times a month if you’re lucky, or even as infrequently as every few months. The closer your LOVAH is to your post, the easier that would make the relationship…but then the harder it would be if it ending. Dating your postmate sounds like a recipe for disaster in my book, but I know it’s been done.
5. While there may be something exotic and romantic about the idea of dating a host-country national (HCN) there are a whole new set of problems that then have to be navigated. Do they see you as a walking green card? Can you communicate clearly enough to know that you’re both on the same page? How about the financial differences? While the PC paycheck is small, it’s still larger than that of many HCNs. Cultural differences may seem interesting and charming at first, but often prove insurmountable. Example: In Cameroon, the concept of monogamy is seen as more “flexible” than is standard in the US. Does not exactly make for easy relationships there.
6. Same sex relationships are a million times more difficult here. While looking at hetero-normative relationships there seem to be enough troubles, add into the idea that whole different battle is being fought around homosexuality in many of the Peace Corps countries. While in the US the fight is over the legality of marriage, in many of these places, its about the legality of the act. People have been killed for being gay here. For PCVs to be involved in same sex relationships a whole new level of danger is undertaken. If you ask me, love is love, but sadly it isn’t seen that way here.
7. The idea of someone who wants to take care of you when you’re sick is sweet, but in reality doesn’t pan out as well. We are all sick more often here than we ever were at home, and not in a cute,way. Add in the less frequent showers due to limited water and romantic feelings might die a slow, sad death.
8. Peace Corps is about growth. While for some it’s easy to grow alongside someone else, often these things are best faced in the discomfort of being alone.
I have seen some adorable PCV couples and some impressively successful PCV/HCN relationships, so clearly it’s possible. But if you ask me, Peace Corps is for friends, not for lovers. Who else would you be able to complain with if your relationship goes bad? Your friend. When you can’t hold down food in a spectacularly unattractive manner? When you’re wondering if that “Peace Corps 15″ is noticeable?
Call me a cynic, but I see that Peace Corps is a time for being alone, or for learning how to rely on friends. Because the chances of a friendship going sour are much like Cameroon’s chances at the last world cup: slim to none.

“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.”

I would like to excuse my followers; this post will be long. It is a topic I have avoided writing about because it has been the most difficult and confusing part of my service thus far, a problem I have never had to worry about in my life: water. I have touched on the struggles that my community has with water (or better said, lack of water) but I have not updated followers with what I have done to try and help tackle the problem…so here it goes.

I organized a meeting to elect a water committee. Before the election, I tried to do team building exercises that explained the responsibilities of each role and what values make an effective group. However the participants were very unresponsive and just wanted to elect the committee. In retrospect, I now understand that many of them have never been asked to think about values or group organization, which is unfortunately why all of the groups that have existed in Santa Marta have failed. Feeling discouraged, I did as they wished and moved on with the voting- which was probably more frustrating than asking what values are. For as much as they complained about wanting to fix our water situation, it was amazing how many people did not want the responsibility. For almost an hour we shuffled through proposals of candidates and refusals and re-explaining what each position was before the acceptance. Finally, we elected a president, secretary, treasurer, fiscal, and 2 vocals.

 

swear in of our water committee!

I have been meeting with the water committee every two weeks to get them into the habit of maintaining organization, communication, and punctuality. We have studied the laws of the Ministry of Health (MINSA) in regards to what power the water committee has. We have also set a price to start charging community members for water. Every house needs to pay 50 cents per faucet and with these funds the committee can fix small problems in the system such as broken tubes. Ideally, the committee would raise enough money to construct an entirely new aqueduct, which is a huge goal and most communities don’t ever reach it before receiving aid from the government or an outside organization. Apart from that I have helped the committee in the process of receiving a Personaria Juridica which makes a group of people into a single legal entity that can be culpable for what happens with the aqueduct even after the roles of the individuals has changed & allows them to do things like open bank accounts under the name of this new entity rather than a single individual. We have also been trying to figure out some other legal issues. The current well is on someone’s property who currently does not live in the community. The committee needs permission from the owner before they can do anything action (build an aqueduct, reforest the area, ect). Until the owner comes to visit, which will apparently be for Christmas, we have no way of granting written permission. I had no idea that part of my job as a volunteer would be sorting through legal matters! These meetings with the water committee have been productive and we are learning a lot, however it’s not a physical object that the people are seeing. Unfortunately I have been told that I am not doing anything in the community because people are not seeing the construction of an aqueduct and are not seeing that instant gratification. No matter how many times I try to explain that I am not here to gift an aqueduct, and that the community is capable of helping itself, the people (especially in the Comarca) are just so used to freebies from the government that it takes away incentive from people to want to work for themselves or the greater good of the community. My job here can be really thankless.

 

Meanwhile, I have been learning about various water systems here in Panama. I went to another volunteer’s site to participate in her water seminar. She works in the sector Environmental Health (EH) which is a sector of mostly engineers who work in water systems and sanitation (latrines and/or potable water). Las Ensenadas is a beautiful site off the peninsula that requires boat travel. In this water seminar, I did a presentation about reforestation and its importance in protecting watersheds. The community was very interested in the topic and seemed to learn quite a bit. The volunteer is working on rainwater catchment systems since her site is not well suited for aqueducts or wells. She is making catchment tanks out of something called Ferro cement. These tanks are made from chicken wire and have a light coat of cement around the wire. These tanks can be used to catch rainwater or for an aqueduct. PCVs use Ferro cement because it is cheaper, easier to build, and more applicable to rural communities than huge tanks made of pure cement. Apart from my presentation the seminar included the construction of these Ferro cement tanks, water pressure, distribution, gravity fed systems… I basically learned more engineering in two days than I ever had learned before. While rainwater catchment may not be most suitable in my community, it was still very helpful in learning about Ferro cement tanks and what options are available in bettering water systems.

Putting wire over a sand full of sack  to make the Ferro cement tank

Adding a  layer of cement

 

 

Finished project

Mock-aduct. Model to show gravity fed systems



Las Ensenadas

 

 

 

 I also had 2 EH volunteers visit me to help me “survey” the current water system in Santa Marta. Surveying consists of taking altitude and horizontal distance of all of the current tubes. We did this with something called a water-level. It’s a very easy tool to use and all that’s needed is two sticks and a clear hose connecting them. Instead of trying to explain it and possibly boring followers, email me if there are specific questions regarding the water level. We also calculated the flow rate of our well. In the month of November we calculated a rate of 216,000 gallons of water every day! This is quite a bit of water, however the flow changes throughout the dry and wet seasons. Our current plan is to measure the rate every month for at least a year to see the patterns of flow. With all of this information, an engineer can design a plan for an aqueduct: how big does the reserve tank need to be, what size the tubes need to be, where is the best place (altitude wise) for the tank, ect. But building an aqueduct is not cheap. Once they have assessed and designed a plan, many EH volunteers get grants from an organization called Water Lines. With all of the help I have gotten from EHers, and if I continue to get help in regards of the design, I personally am not applicable to apply for a Water Line grant simply because I am not an EH volunteer, which brings me to my next topic… my confidence in Peace Corps policy.

 

As a CEC volunteer, I do not belong in my site. Santa Marta needs an EH volunteer, an expert in water and sanitation. It is hard for me to promote environmental conservation when the people’s basic needs are not met. A strategy I have been using is making environmental themes more relevant to them. The problems of trash and reforestation is not just for helping the environment, but also addresses issues of health, water, and God’s will. But nonetheless, each sector has an Associate Peace Corps Director (ACPD) who is responsible for site development. Site development includes the APCD meeting with interested community members who want a volunteer but also entails checking the safety of the area, access to medical services, transportation limitations, and housing availability. During this meeting the APCD assesses the community’s needs. But I’ve now learned that site development is a rushed meeting with 4 or 5 members of the community which is not sufficient for an adequate assessment. Every sector gets a new group of volunteers ever year (usually 25 people, assuming there will be some Early Terminations). Because the APCD needs to fill these 25 “spots” within a few months, site development tends to be hasty. I am one of four CEC volunteers in Bocas del Toro/ Comarca Ngäbe area. This brings up several obstacles: 1. Agencies in this area are very familiar with agriculture and sanitation volunteers, so explaining our environmental goals is something rather new for them; 2. Sharing ideas and visiting other volunteers is a great resource, but with so few of us it has been difficult to do;  3. It is difficult to not feel isolated when I meet up with the rest of my group who are in Latino sites with running water, electricity, smart phones, 3 meals a day, and sometimes even internet and cable.

 

 PC Panama is also doing a new system of “clustering” Right now all sectors have volunteers spread throughout the country. But starting in 2015, each sector will only have volunteers in certain provinces. CEC is leaving the Bocas/ Ngäbe area (as I think they should) but this makes me feel like my service will be unsustainable. I can still have a follow up volunteer in the sectors of EH and SAS but any environmental focus may be lost once another volunteer arrives with a different (and perhaps more needed) focus. Although I am trying to be flexible in what my community needs, there is a limit to what I can and cannot do. I often feel discouraged about my work and what affect I will actually have on my community members. But to return to the theme of water, I hope to create a strong foundation within the committee so if an EH volunteer comes in as a follow up, there can be more focus on the physical construction of resolving our water problem.

Choose your life!

 

Every Peace Corps country has a Gender and Development (GAD) sector. This sector is devoted to empowering the youth and gender groups of the host country nationals. This year was the first year PCP put on a Men's Health and Finance Seminar. I sent a member of my community to this week long seminar and he returned to the community eager to show me what he had learned. Topics were covered from gender roles, self esteem and personal goals, finance tips, leadership roles and group conflict resolution. I am hoping he will be a counterpart for the reforestation project in my community, and I am encouraging him to use what he learned in upcoming reforestation meetings.

 

Furthermore, a popular workshop thru GAD is called “Elige tu vida” or “Choose your life”. A few volunteers in the surrounding area and myself planned this workshop in Bajo Cedro, a community about 15 minutes by bus from me. My community does not have a high school so several muchachos travel to Bajo Cedro after they finish elementary school. Even though I helped out in this workshop away from Santa Marta, I was still able to have an effect on the muchachos from my community.

Elige Tu Vida -Choose Your Life-  is a five-hour workshop designed to help young Panamanians critically think about their futures. Developed by Peace Corps Panama volunteers a few years back, ETV is broken into three main themes: self discovery, goal setting, and sexual health. Within each category are a series of fun charlas, or mini-discussions. During the self discovery section, kids identify their most important values and individual strengths.  My favorite activity in this portion is “Bucket Filling.” The charla talks about the power of words, the ability we each have to fill the tanks of one another and ourselves through positive affirmation and compliments. After writing three self-identified strengths, each kid writes and receives a note – a bucket filler- from three classmates. This is hard for some of the participants- I would say that compliment giving is not done frequently within the Comarca- but the smiles, the laughs, the fuller tanks is always one of the most heartwarming and fun moments of the day.

(Bucket Filling is actually something practiced within the volunteer community as well. At most training events, we make our own buckets – decorated envelopes- and are encouraged to leave notes to our amigos during the week.  At least half the bucket fillers are jokes, puns, and nonsense and the rest genuine sweet and short words of praise. I guess bucket filling as a nearly 23 year old might seem a bit silly, childish, and forced, but nearly all my PCV friends have that envelope kept somewhere in their house, taken out for reassurance and a chuckle in the moments of doubt, failure, and uncertainty. )

In part two, goal setting and future planning, we talk about the difference between dreams and goals (It doesn’t cost anything to dream) and help participants develop both short and long term goal plans. In this section we bring up different professions, talk about university opportunities, and encourage the students to think about what they can do now to better the likelihood of achieving their goals. I like ETV because it is realistic. Most of the particpants said they wished to pursue some sort of profession after going to college. But the reality of their futures is not as shiny- only 18% of Ngabes aged 15-19 study past sixth grade.

Though one of the goals of Elige Tu Vida is raising that dismal statistic, we are not naive to think a day of ETV will result in soaring graduation rates. But hopefully it has some impact.  These kids have genuinely never set goals, never written to-do lists, never thought hard about the road they’ll take to arrive to their future destination. The resources are limited- the nearest 10th grade is an hour and a half hike away, there is never enough money to pay for new uniforms of notebooks, they have no access to internet, resource books, or libraries. The have a fight ahead of them, a fight most kids in the United States don’t have, and we try to be realistic at this section. I hope deeply that the future will provide more opportunities and the kids WILL become teachers and engineers, but reassure them that it is okay to change plans. Sometimes life throws obstacles we can’t dodge. Sometimes they hit us hard and knock us off our feet and when we finally stand up again, we envision a different future. During this section we are adamant in encouraging continuing education, because education IS what will change the future, but also make sure to note that staying in the Comarca, working in agriculture doesn’t mean you are a failure.

The future planning section finished with without a doubt is the favorite charla of the day.. The Baby Game. In the Baby Game, we chose a participant (the most “muchacho” in the class) to help us out in acting out a fictional story. The scenario is as follows: each month, if the student maintains a GPA above 3.5 (on a 5 point scale) he receives an educational stipend of $50/month. (In reality, it’s actually $30/month.) He then has to pay half of it for transportation to and from his school. Once at school, he has to shell out cash for new notebooks, dictionaries, etc. At the end of the month, if he has leftover money (which at the beginning he always does), he gets to do a fun activity with his friends- go to a fiesta, buy phone minutes, etc. This portion is fun- he actually gets fake money, and we as volunteers make sure to ham up the interactions by playing over the top teachers, chiva drivers, and narrators.

 

In the second month we find out he has a girlfriend- which in this scenario I was the girlfriend.. His GPA drops, but it’s still high enough to receive the monthly stipend, and he continues through the cycle. As the months progress, his GPA continues to lower. We find out from the teacher he is spending more time with his girlfriend than in class, and we get to meet his lady friend with a surprise for the student.. A BABY! The reaction at this point is a deafening roar of laughter and disbelief. The baby mama is always hilarious and over the top (easy for me to do)  and the participants eat it up.

The cycle continues until eventually his GPA drops so low that he doesn’t receive the money, anything he has saved has gone to taking care of the baby, and to support the family he must drop out of school and work a menial, low-paying job chopping down the forest with a machete for ten hours a day. At the end, we review what the goal of the student was at the beginning of the dramatization, what changed, and the obstacles that prohibited him from achieving  it.

Me surprising my man with a baby!

 

After a discussion of the obstacles we then transition into more serious topics: HIV/AIDS, STI transmission, birth control, etc. First we start by quitar la pena, or throwing all our embarrassment out the window, by breaking up by sex and having each write down slang and dirty words for the other private parts. This is great, and more than anything, a great learning experience for the volunteers. These kids are creative! From that point on, we establish we are mature and only use the scientific names: vagina and penis.

Next, we dramatize how HIV weakens the body through an interactive “fight” activity, dispel myths on how HIV is spread, and mimic the transmission through an activity called Glitter HIV. In the game, without explaining why, we ask two students to wear socks on their right hand, a partner to hold each others hand, and two who keep their hands firmly in their pocket. We then simply say we are going to mingle and greet one another through a handshake. Unknowingly, one of the volunteers has started with glitter on their hand, and through the activity as hands are shook, the glitter is spread. At the end, we ask participants to look down and they are shocked by the red sparkles spattering their palms. We explain how one person started with glitter, or the STI, but as we shook hands ( representing sex) the glitter spread. Though not everyone shook the person’s hand who started with the glitter, almost everyone has it by the end. We then review the ABC’s of disease prevention: Absintencia (Abstinence), Bien Fiel (Being Loyal), and Condones (Condoms).  

The final activity of the day is without a doubt the one that gives students the most pena, or embarrassment. We perform a pretty funny skit of a young couple preparing to have sex for the first time, but completely clueless about using condoms. There’s a part where he opens it with a machete, asks if he can wash it after use and throw it on the roof to dry and reuse, and put it on the morning before the evening deed’s to be done. After consulting the advice of an older friend, we show correct condom use (from checking the expiration date to disposing it after use) and then break into partners to practice putting condoms. ( Some use bananas, we used finger pistol penises.) There is so much giggling, so much unwillingness to touch the condoms, but we break ‘em down eventually. Then we blow them up into balloons and finish with a game of condom balloon hot potato.

The day is dynamic, fun, and exhausting for participants and facilitators alike. This was my first Elige Tu Vida, but I would enjoy participating in more.. Like much of our work as Peace Corps Volunteers, it’s hard to say what impact we really have. I know that most of these kids will probably not go to college, many will drop out before the finish highschool to start, or because of, having children. But there’s always the glimmer of hope that one kid took what we said to heart, one kid will continue goal setting, continue school, continue making smart decisions. And for us, that one kid matters.

I will be participating in a GAD Summer Camp in February which is an extended version of ETV so stayed tuned!

  

Bajo Cedro 9th Grade Class and the PC team!

Birthdays, holidays, anniverseries and funerals...Oh my!

 

 

 

The month of October and November have been slow in regards to work, but busy because it is a time full of activities. It is a time of holidays, dance, games, and food. In other words this ex-vegetarian has seen more animals slaughtered these past 2 months than she’s ever seen in her life.

There has been 3 birthdays this month; one in particular I helped in the slaughtering of a pig. It’s quite the task and felt myself a little queasy at moments but I did learn a lot of new anatomical vocabulary in Spanish. In sharing my culture, I have been teaching families how to make brownies and “no bake” cookies.  There is an abundant amount of cacao here, but since most only sell the seeds, many do not take the time to enjoy the chocolate themselves!

 

Birthday Pork hanging from the patio



Mickey Mouse pinata! Unfortunately no one knew who he was...

 

The teachers decided to celebrate the school anniversary for the first time since the school’s history. Every class put on a presentation, sharing some aspect of Panama’s culture. There was dance, songs, and plays. Other schools from surrounding communities also attended and after the presentations the students played volleyball and baseball.  

November is a cluster of important holidays in Panama. I present a very short yet ”accurate” history. The Great Nation of Panama was founded in on November 3rd, 1903 when the occupants of a tiny isthmus said, "Hey, cut it out" to some Colombians. The Colombians were angry, and I'm sure put up a fight, but the end, the Panamanians won their independence. 4^th was put as Flag Day.. which was just another excuse to continue the celebration. Then, the province of Colon was like, "Hey, and us?" And so they named November 5^th Colon Day. 5 days later the province of Los Santos also wanted their own independence day. The 16^th of November the province of Bocas also wanted in on the fun.  Finally on November 28th, Panama finally won its independence from Spain..even though chronologically speaking, this happened way before the rest of the holidays.

So much pork

Everyone got to enjoy the food

2^nd of November was the killing of the cow and so began the eating. On the 3^rd of November the community saluted the flag and sung the national anthem. Then we ate more cow and I tried to persuade the community to dance (Ngäberes are known for being very shy). Ate more cow. 4^th of November the teachers and I finally got the students to dance.. which led to a 5 hour dance marathon. We took a break to eat the last bits of the cow, then the adults continued to dance throughout the night.

Before her dance presentation wearing traditional Latino dress 

Traditional Ngäbere dance

cooking with extra large tools



so much meat...

Carrying meat from the slaughter site

Saluting the flag

 

Unfortunately during this time of festivity, there was a tragedy. On the night of the 1^st , a lady died in a neighboring community from tuberculosis. I did not personally know her but many members of my community were affected. They invited me to go to the funeral on the following night. Traditionally, when someone dies participants of the funeral stay up all night with the body until he/she is buried the next morning. I stayed up until 3 am and unfortunately could not stay up any longer and found a community member to walk back with me. I woke up at 7 to attend the burial but was delighted to see that people were still animated to continue the traditional celebrations despite the loss. I would also like to admit that this was my first funeral in my entire life, a crazy time to experience it and I cannot compare it to any other funerals but it was beautiful seeing the community come together to celebrate the life of Maria.

 

The funeral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimate Frisbee for a Primitive culture

 

My readers that are family and friends know that I am an active person that enjoy sports and exercise, but it was something I was seriously lacking here in Panama. In site, I have tried to go running but our dirt road is full of unstable rocks and the abundance of mud I need to cross to even get to the road discouraged me. I used yoga podcasts for an early morning stress relief, but was still missing some intense cardio workout.

In my community, men and women play volleyball together and only men play soccer. The kids play baseball for physical education when the teachers bring equipment to play with. When I first arrived, I had a strong interest in playing volleyball. Everyone was very welcoming and was willing to teach me (I haven’t ever played much) but my interest didn’t last long. Ngäbe culture is very competitive and sportsmanship and encouragement are not practiced. When someone, or even myself, would make a mistake and send the ball flying in the other direction, my natural reaction would be to laugh it off. But I quickly became frustrated when people would scold each other, accusing they don’t know how to play and to get off the court. Of course there is trash talking between the teams, but even amongst members. When I would say encouraging words: “nice try, very good”, they would mockingly repeat it back to me. The day I realized I would not be playing volleyball anymore was when a grown man kept scolding a 12 year old girl year because she couldn’t cross the net. “Mas arriba, usa tu brazo, mas duro!” – ”higher, use your arm, harder”, he yelled. But did not take the time to show her how to do these things: what form is proper, how to hold your fists together, ect. After the 100^th time of him scolding her, I snapped. “Deja por favor. Ella es una niña y todavía está aprendiendo. Tiene que tener paciencia.” –“stop it please, she is a girl and is still learning. You have to be patient”. The court grew silent and he began speaking in Ngäbere to the others present, probably saying vulgarities.

In terms of soccer, I have never been a big soccer player and the only people who play are muchachos the ages of 12-25 who all want to date me. Avoiding that one.

Despite the lack of sports I had for a while ..I didn’t give up. I decided to introduce Ultimate Frisbee. I also had never been a big Frisbee player BUT it seemed like the perfect sport to bring to my community because:

You don’t need expensive equipment. A Frisbee and some grass

Everyone can play- women, men, young, old.

I need exercise in my life  

A PC Panama Volunteer started the international organization Ultimate Without Borders and is becoming very popular here in Panama.

I now play with community members almost every afternoon. I also feel good being in charge. Since I know the rules and have the Frisbee, the kids are at my disposal and have to listen to me. For example, everyone is new at Frisbee, so I take the time to show them proper techniques- without yelling or harsh criticism. If someone messes up, we all laugh. If I hear negative put downs, they sit out. If I see hitting, they sit out. It may seem harsh but within a few afternoons, I heard my children saying positive comments and giving each other high fives.

I was planning on going to an Ultimate Without Borders coach training. Ultimate doesn’t only teach kids how to play but every “practice“ has some underlying message that ranges from self-esteem to teamwork. Unfortunately I was not able to attend due to a fairly serious skin infection. BUT I hope to be able to attend a training later in my service or just make them up on my own!

I do not currently have pictures of my kids playing Frisbee so for now I have this guy ...

 

 

 

Reconnection

 

 

After about 4 months in site, volunteers must attend a two week In Service Training (IST). The point of this training is to dive into more technical skills once the volunteers have an idea of what they will be doing in their communities. For example, as explained in my last post, my community is interested in Reforestation and Eco-stoves, so I paid particular attention to these sessions. IST was also a great time to reconnect with everyone in my group after not seeing them for almost 4 months!

The first week was in a conference building close to the beach. We (Teaching English and Environmental Conservation)  covered topics such as: medical, security, behavior change, culture and privilege, money, monitoring and reporting our work, and  grants. Most of this information was review, but it became more concrete since we had been in our communities for several months.  After long days in the building, we enjoyed ourselves at the beach.

 

 

The second week was sector based, so TE and CEC were split up again. CEC went to an area of the country called the Azuero. It is on the southern end of the country and is particularly known for their deforestation. The Azuero is filled with pastures but unfortunately the slash and burn method of making these pastures has caused dramatic erosion and a desert climate during the summer. Thankfully we had training during the rainy season so it was beautiful! The community was called La Pitaloza. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoga and the view in La Pitaloza

The first few days we worked on trash management. Our group had already learned how to make trash incinerators during Pre Service Training, but we were put to the test and all 24 of us had to help teach the community how to make them. We successfully split into groups to divide the work: importance of trash management, what is an incinerator, and the steps to build one.  I thought having a group of 24 leaders would be very difficult in leading a lesson, but we were able to successfully present our information. It was important that we allowed community members to participate and not just watch. This was also a great lesson on the do's and dont's of facilitation.

Putting the community to work

 

 

We learned about Eco-stoves and specifically how to construct them. We learned about 3 different types; each having their own advantages and costs to build. But all of them reduce the amount of firewood needed to cook and reduces the amount of smoke in the air.  

 



Making bricks for a Tower stoves. Ingredients: horse poo, sand, and dirt. All local and FREE resources!

Completed tower stove



Eco-Justa stove. Better for large cooking areas such school kitchen or community center. Most expensive because bricks are made in a factory but are extra sturdy. ANAM is willing to fund

Bliss stove. Also can use local ingredients but because of its odd shape, is not easy to repair if there are breaks.

 

We also learned about reforestation practices, which was appropriate for being in the deforested Azuero. Recap: reforestation is actually very broad and difficult to implement. Every region has its own trees and seeds. Making seed beds and nurseries are common practices, but many PCVs have trouble with communities remembering to take care of them. A method recommended by our reforestation representative was instead of building seed beds and nurseries (which may just be a failure) is to really get people to use less wood in their stoves, do not cut down more than what is needed, and leave large amounts of time in between cuttings so seeds can be naturally produced.

 

After that being said, we still learned a basic way of making a seed bed and a nursery. We also learned proper transplanting methods.

 

Some other topics covered in IST:

Recycling centers
Home Gardens

Teaching in the classroom

Making groups sustainable

 

Recycling center organized in a community several years ago and is still being used today

 

 

I have also successfully written my community analysis report! My first government written document, yay? If you would like a copy please email me at cledsall@gmail.com