Day 154

June 12, 2012

Community Analysis

I had my Community Analysis Meeting!!! The Community Analysis Meeting is the culmination of the first three months of a volunteer's service. In the first three months, volunteers are not suppose to start projects or really do any 'work'. We are, instead, suppose to get to know the area, work on gaining the trust of the town folk and figuring out what the community needs and what the folk would be willing to work on. Many volunteers go to site that do not have projects going--so these three months and this meeting are an opportunity to figure out what the rest of the two years will be spent doing. 

My day started off with a lot of rain, of course! My boss showed up at 9am, and we headed down to my new house (yay!) to chat about how I've been doing and what to expect for the rest of the day. My boss let me know that, since I'm in a site that hasn't had a volunteer in a long time, his expectations of making noticeable progress in the community are low. He thinks that most of my work in the first year will be in organizing people, getting people used to scheduling and going to meetings and planning, this kind of stuff. He was warning me that I shouldn't judge my success by how many projects I have going or how many people show up to my meetings. That being said, my community blew him away...

My meeting started at 2pm, and everyone showed up on time. We still didn't start till 30mins later because my boss just couldn't believe that everyone would show up on time. All of the environmental volunteers showed up along with 25 other community members and ANAM (Panama's EPA) representatives. And, on top of having a full house, people participated in the discussion and all of the comments/ideas dealt with an environmental need of the community. I have to say, my community made me very proud that day. 

Projects we discussed:

1) Improving the quality of water in one of the town aqueducts,

2) Starting an Iguana (endangered species in Panama) project,

3) Continue work on our organic coffee project,

4) Town trash clean up and education about trash management,

5) Environmental workshops in the school with Peace Corps and ANAM,

6) Recycling project.

Now, all that's left to do is get started! 

A couple of pictures from my presentation:

Downtown Loma Bonita

Rainy Season--Winter

Dry Season--Summer

Day 150

June 8, 2012

So, what has been going on these last couple of weeks…

Actually, been pretty busy, by my new Panamanian, Peace Corps’ standards. One of the teachers at my school started an aerobics group, so I along with several older ladies meet up everyday after school in the cafeteria and exercise. I have to admit that I do not have much experience with aerobics, so I am not a very good judge on the successfulness of the moves. I don’t I'm get too much more out of these exercise sessions other than entertainment, but they are definitely worth it.  Who would have thought that I would join the Peace Corps to live in another country working with the people of a small village and end up sweating to the oldies with a bunch of plump Panamanians? Gotta say, not what I expected—but I love it.

I also got sick, only lasted one day (thankfully). I called home to tell my loving mother that I was throwing up and didn’t feel good and needed some TLC. She told me that if I had to throw up in a latrine, at least it would probably speed the process up. Thanks mom! Plus the workers at my host family’s house very sweetly checked up on me frequently—asking repeatedly if I was sure that I wasn’t pregnant. One of the women in town told me I was sick because I ate pork and a mango the day before, and pork and mango never sit well together.  Who would have thought? Not this gringa!

ANAM also stopped by my community to do a presentation on organic compost. It was actually very successful. Around 20 community members showed up along with the group of environmental volunteers in the community. ANAM showed us how we can use leaves and kitchen scraps and paper to make compost. The people from my community were really interested, taking notes and everything. I was very proud.

I also went to my first regional meeting. We have four regional meetings a year, where all the volunteers from the region get together and talk about office stuff and most importantly hang out afterwards. I had a good time getting to know the twenty-something other volunteers on this half of the country. They seem like a fun group. We had a show and tell session where one volunteer sang a song about a dream he had, another volunteer showed us what she had been practicing in her house the last couple of months (the splits), I shared a very large avocado that I was gifted by my community guide, and we ended the night in style with a goat roast.

This past week has been relatively slow because school in Panama is out for a week, as we just finish our first trimester. Lots of families in Loma Bonita are taking advantage of the break and visiting family and friends. This is a major inconvenience for me because I have spent the last week walking miles around my community inviting no one to my community analysis meeting on Tuesday. But at least I’m getting my exercise in, since aerobics have been postponed during the break.

My meeting is quickly approaching and despite my two trips to the town near me, I am still not ready.  I want to use photos to present on a couple of themes (family, economy, education) that I have learned about in Loma Bonita and compare these themes, with pictures, to Atlanta. But I have not been able to find a place to print pictures. I will let you all know how it goes. After I present what I have learned in these three months, I will, with lots of help (hopefully) from my boss, lead a discussion about the needs and interest in possible environmental projects. Oh yeah, in Spanish, YIKES! Again, will let you know how that goes.

After the meeting, I will be able to move into my new house. While I am very grateful to my host family for having and feeding me these last three months, I am quite ready to move out on my own. After five months of living with host families, I am very excited to choose what I’m going to eat, how much I’m going to eat, when I’m going to eat—along with many other freedoms I have already forgotten exist.

Just to keep everybody updated, I already have two visitors lined up for the next couple of months—Jason in August and my dad in September. Don’t let the opportunity to visit a real live Peace Corps volunteer in the Wild, Wild East of Panama pass you by. I have an extra room, and I’ll even let you use my mosquito net!!! See you soon.

Day144

June 2, 2012

Some of the school kids singing at the church party, May 26th. 

The Senator's son and one of the teachers dancing a little tipica.

Geographical center of Panama!

Herding cattle down the Interamericana.

Organic compost presentation with ANAM (Panama's EPA) in Loma Bonita.