blog

Training in a Gnobe village in Bocas del Toro

by

After spending the night at Lost and Found, we took the bus to another volunteer’s site in Bocas del Toro early the next morning.  K. lives in a Ngobe village of perhaps 500 people.  She arranged some training for the members of the water and health committees.  She lives in a comparatively large house on a slippery slope.  There is running water and she even has a flush toilet, one of few in the community, but her only electricity is what a single solar cell can produce and store in a car battery.  Many come to her house to get their cell phones and small batteries charged.

[nggallery id=6]

Another volunteer came later that day, her name is also K.  We prepared for the next day while children watched from the other side of the fence that enclosed the lower level porch.  One of them came right up to the fence and sneezed directly in my face as I was resting in the hammock.

K noted that when you live with Gnobes you often feel like you are living in a fish bowl.  She also has to lock her doors securely as people will take what they want.  They come from a comunal tradition where everything is shared.  But K. does not want to and can not just ‘share’ everything she owns.

Since it was early to bed after rice and beans it was early to rise but at least it was not rice and beans, though I have forgotten what.  Around 8 we walked or slid down the hill to the nearby school where we were having the training.  We were to start at 9 but true to form the people did not arrive until close to 10.

The training we gave them was in Project Management and Leadership, PML.  This is a basic training course in values,  setting goals, managing money and time the first morning, which is the part Peg and I did.   This was my second effort at this presentation and I think it was a bit better.

Department of Health and World Bank contribute to Santa Clara’s water system

by

On May 28th 2010, the water committee hosted a meeting for a representative of the Ministry of Health and private Spanish company.  The company is contracted by the Panamanian government to assist in water development projects.  The funds come in part from the government and in part from the World Bank.  The funds are used for initial installations as well as improvements.  Santa Clara has been chosen as an improvement project.

The original installation was done in the 1970’s.  Recently the community replaced 3″ pipes leading from the current water tank down into the community with new 4″ pipes that is also thicker.  Some of the older pipes were never buried and damage from cows, machetes, falling branches and the like were causing outages.  The new pipes were buried, with the labor or funds provided by the community.

This project replaces the current 3″ pipe from the source to the tank with 4″ pipe.  The pipe is also thicker (Schedule 40).

The community has to transport materials from the drop off point, where the road ends, to the work site.

The representative of the Department of Health Irving Yadriz said that the land access dispute must not prevent this work from continuing.  He brought a contract for the two landowners to sign, which allowed permanent access to the project workers at least without having to ask permission.

Currently these landowners receive water from the main line before the tank.  This is not allowable since they receive untreated water.  They said they would reexamine the area to locate a new tank so that all users get treated water.   They had made a math error in the budget so they will still come in way under the initial projection.

Meeting the Ambassador

by

In late May we met the volunteers in our province, Chiriqui for our quarterly meeting.  Joining us were Brian Riley, our country director and Barbara Stephenson, the U.S. Ambassador to Panama.

The Ambassador is very sharp.  Before joining the State Department in the 1970’s she obtained her PhD in Literature.   She is on top of all the issues and made some interesting comments about Panama.

Panama was her first posting abroad, in the 1970’s.  At that time, Panama had the best education system in all of Latin America.  Now, some 40 years later, is at or near the bottom of the heap.   Employers would like to come to Panama but they can not find enough employees who have high levels of skills.  Dell Computer, already in Panama, has over 100 positions for English speakers it has not been able to fill for more than a year.  Everyone is ‘taught’ English here from kindergarten on.   From experience Peg and I know they learn practically nothing.

On the positive side, the Panamanians have done a fabulous job of running the Canal, notwithstanding predictions to the contrary.

After our meeting, the volunteers went to Lost and Found, a rustic backpacker sort of inn on the opposite of Volcano Baru from Santa Clara.  It is nestled amongst the trees and is run in an old hippy kind of way, where you are on the honor system for food and beverage.  There are dorms and private rooms, and we enjoyed the dark and quiet night.

It was our last time to see some of the volunteers who completed their two year stint.   I’d become fond of M and K, and in fact I like all of them, but I had gotten to know them after spending almost a week in K’s village on the sea where we released sea turtle and dug clams which the beach restaurant later turned into stuffed patacones, made from platanos.

Activities in the first quarter

by

may 19, 2010

We have to file quarterly reports with the Peace Corp office.  This information is shared with Panamanian agencies and with PC in Washington.  Here’s the major portion of my submission.

1) Developed website for ADATA, the network of enironmental groups of the Chiriqui Highlands with a counterpart.  www.adataeng.megabyet.net

2) Helped a governmental agency (the local office of MIDA) remove viruses from their machine using a bootable anti-virus program.  Installed a linux system, Mint alongside their windows operating system.  They can choose which to use a start-up.  If they want to clear a usb device of viruses they can boot into Mint.  They do not have internet access and they use USB storage devices frequently, which transmits infections they get from internet cafes.  I left them a copy of the anti-virus program and offered to train them in its use as well as the Linux program.

3)  I wrote a wiki article about Santa Clara. I will translate it into Spanish and publish it after review.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara,_Chiriqui,_Panama#Santa_Clara.2C_a_small_town_in_the_province_of_Chiriqui.2C_district_of_Renacimento

4) Translated for doctors, dentists and and an optomologist at
two events over three days.

5) Presented a portion of Project Management and Leadership at two seminars organized by volunteers.

6) Planned and partially implemented a project involving the importation of up to 200 refurbished computers into Panama.  Currently seeking Panamanian partner.

Land dispute and water rights issue

by

May 8, 2010

Lito’s confrontation

One of the problems facing Panamanians is the lack of land deeds. Most plots have conveyed within families but these days more are being conveyed outside the familiy. Therefore precise plots are necessary and are often lacking. The lack of registration also applies to easements, and this factored into a confrontation just the other day.

Our village, like many, obtain drinking water from sources originating at a higher elevation to take advantage of gravity to produce water pressure. There are very few holding tanks filled with electric pumps, an excellent choice in a country where electricity supplies are too often interrupted. When visitors from the Biological Corridor, part of ANAM, the enviromental agency, came to visit the other day they wanted to see the water font. To get there they need ingress through the land of the Aguilar family.

The visitors were refused entrance. There was a document signed in the 1970’s allowing the water committee to use the land but apparently there was never an easement granted. Thus the owners have to be forced to allow any access to the property until an easment is granted. This could take some time, and if there are any broken pipes or other problems, Santa Clara’s water supply is at risk.

Apparently the conflict turned ugly. Lito is very civic minded and energetic and perhaps is not always diplomatic. He seemed very upset when he told all this to Peg.

The mayor supported the landowner, for reasons I could not understand. But ANAM apparently has lawyers who work on these sorts of problems.

Presenting a training course near Penonome Panaman

by

May 4, 2010

One of the main tasks of CED (Community Economic Development, the part of Peace Corps Panama of which we are a part) is to provide training programs. The main offering is called PML, Program Management and Leadership. Volunteers sometimes offer this training in their communities. Peg and I responded to a request for training from a volunteer named Angela. She lives in a community near Penonome, about 7 1/2 hours from our community. I think she is perfectly capable of doing the training on her own but it is easier when you have help. In addition can present us as the ‘experts from afar.’

angleas place

We left on Sunday May 2 from our community with another volunteer whose boyfriend has a car. They gave us a ride to David, then we took the bus to Penonome and another to Angela’s community, the latter a small van about 20 years old with many non-essential parts missing, such as a muffler and door handles.

Angela’s is a community of about 700 people. It’s at an approximate altitude of 1200 meters, about the same as our community, and so it is much cooler than Penonome at sea level or thereabouts. Farming is the primary occupation. Angela works with the school teaching computer use, and has several English classes outside of school. She also works with a cooperative whose members are the focus of the training program.

Angela had already made some beautiful charts. She, Kate and Karen are famous among the volunteers for their ability to whip out some very nice presentations. Mostly we use newsprint but their’s are worthy of better material, perhaps some kind of board.

We went through her charts in preparation for the next day. I was doing my section for the first time, and to complicate matters further I missed a training where the whole course was presented, so I had to rely upon what I learned during pres-service training, now some six months in the past. Angela’s charts helped me prepare better. Peg had already done most of her presentation in our own community so she did not need to prepare as much.

The next morning we walked to the lower part of town where we were to meet. We got there early and no one was there. The president of the coop arrived around 9 with chairs, tables and a tripod for holding charts. We did not get started until around 10, chatting with the farmers as they arrived, neatly dressed wearing the typical straw hats of rural Panama, their smiles revealing worn and missing teeth, women in inexpensive but neat, very clean clothes and big, welcoming smiles. One elderly woman walked on the blacktop without shoes, her feet as strong looking as I have seen. I was soon very charmed by these simple appearing and friendly people. Not long after we began I realized the humble appearances and limited education masked significant levels of intelligence and experience. That would be the most striking thing of the day for me, other than how well Angela managed the event.
gary teaching at angelas
My bit took the first three, er, two hours since we did not start until 10. I talked about what they valued most, got some replies, then gave them a list and asked them to pick the top four. Amistad, friendship, got the most votes, but learning was right up there. I wondered whether they were saying that because they were attending a workshop and wanted to be complimentary of us. Latin Americans go out of their way to be kind and welcoming, sometimes stretching or even ignoring the truth to do so. But the topic came up in a different context later and the elderly woman without shoes talked about how she wanted to improve her life and the best way was to learn, so maybe I was being a bit too cynical.

campesinos at angelas

The part of the training we delivered is on the personal level versus the organizational or community level, so we did not talk much about their cooperative, which is an effort to bring down food costs by allowing members to take advantage of bulk prices. They are seeking funding for a larger building. As things stand, it is too tiny to do any good.

Peg and Angela were very helpful keeping me in order, as sometimes I lost the logical flow of the topics one from the next. Angela was very well prepared not only with the charts but also the handouts, not to mention all the meals.

At the end I decided to see if we could get them to arrive on time the next day. I told them if they were going to come at 10 then we would too. Peg noted that respect was an important value to them, and was it respectful of the people who came on time to arrive so late?

The next day we started at 9:20. I doubt they will continue to arrive on time for other events, but we will find out. More volunteers are coming next week to finish the training.

Some other observations:

The members live in the same area of the lower part of town. A school teacher is annoying Angela, being rather seductive. Angela’s house is very attractive. Unlike many here, it has a ceiling, so the metal roof does not show from inside and it stays cooler. Her kitchen is not accessible from the rest of the house. The house is in an orange orchard, a picturesque setting that costs her all of $50 a month. There are mango trees nearby, the fruit dropping to the ground. The people can not get enough for them to make harvesting worthwhile. There is supposedly a nearby location where you can see both oceans at once.

Medical translations

by

April 27, 2010

A team of Army Reserve (Southern Command) doctors, dentists, nurses and support staff flew to Panama last week to conduct free clinics in the Cocle Province, about 8 hours by bus from our house. Two weeks ago 4 or 5 other volunteers assisted in the translations. This past week there were fewer so I went then instead.

I worked with the optometrist and the dentists. The former needed assistance with the distance exams. The biggest challenge was hearing the people talk, as many of them spoke in very soft voices, mumble, or both. Some of them tried to tell me about their vision problems, thinking I needed to know, but the test told us what we were looking for.

Working with the dentists gave me a close up view of the dental problems here. As there are relatively few dentists and the vast majority of the people do not have the money to pay, most people do not get preventative care. On this trip the dentists could only do exams and extractions since they did not have a complete set-up so cleanings and fillings were out of the question.

I interviewed people as they came in to find out what the problems were. I looked in a lot of scary mouths. Decay is common, caused by a high sugar diet (causing type 2 diabetes as well) and lack of care, leading to large cavities, pain, and the loss of teeth.

There were many with serious bone loss for lack of brushing and regular cleanings, and no one here uses floss, all leading to plaque and the development of dental pockets where bacteria grow, eating away at the bone. This gum loss produces snaggly teeth that decay, break and just plain fall out for lack of anything to hold onto. I know all this because I inherited a proclivity for all of these problems.

On the last evening the mayor of Penonome gave a party for the soldiers, to which they invited us. A Panamanian woman invited me to dance with her, which was a lot of fun. We did a salsa of sorts, and then I danced with another woman and we did the merengue. They were both good dancers.

Appasac withdraws from the enviromental association.

by

April 22nd, 2010

Further developments have complicated the situation regarding our local agro-environmental group, APAASAC. Last week representatives of ADATA visited just after a meeting with EISA (Electron Investment SA), a company building one of the hydro-electric projects in the province.

Representatives from EISA, whose project is called the Pando-Monte-Lirio, were there to talk about the donations they are considering for projects in Santa Clara. These projects, proposed by the community, are submitted in writing and then reviewed by the company. Many local communities are participating.

The largest among those submitted in Santa Clara include a sum for replacing the water pipes. The regional government paid for a portion of the project, now completed, and this donation would finish the job. There is also a request for money to buy prizes for a raffle to support the newly reconstituted health committee, and a request to purchase some trash cans for locations where people congregate, two bus stops, a small shopping area and the central park. They also talked about the training programs they will be offering in self-esteem and various health topics, including sexuality. These donations are not a requirement of their contract but it is common for projects such as these to offer them.

Without much doubt the companies figure they will enjoy more support from the community. Especially In a charged environment like this one, they have to be thinking this way.

EISA was there also to talk about reforestation. They are legally required to plant 12 trees for every 1 they remove. Therefore they are looking for sources of trees to reforest the areas they clear to install the 10 foot diameter pipes to channel the river into the turbines. The reforestation is still under study to determine the number of trees and other aspects of the plan, they explained. Our group is interested in the project for the income and to insure the job is done properly.

ADATA representatives arrived just as the other meeting was ending. It was an icy moment – Adata parked their truck so as to prevent the EISA truck from leaving so I feared a confrontation. Adata and EISA had all met weeks before when EISA learned, if had not already, that at least some members of Adata opposed the projects. What I did not know at that point is that Demaris and Jorge were already working on getting written commitments from ADATA members.

After asking Jorge to move the truck, which he did in a tongue in cheek sort of way, EISA departed. Demaris and Jorge came in. They said that they were not opposed to hydroelectric projects but they were opposed to the lack of an environmental impact study of all 12 or so projects on the river and the 90-10 rule which allows the company to take up to 90% of the water. This includes not just the river but the water basin, they explained. What might the impact be on water supplies for the human population, and the fauna and flora? This is unknown, but in an area highly dependent on agriculture, it is important to find out, they argued.

They then read the letter that all members of ADATA except APPASAC
had already signed.

Lito then said that he for one felt they had to accept the donations that benefited the community. His brother Anel said that they were all opposed to the mining projects, and remained committed to the environment. After all, he noted, they are one of few organic farmers in the area. He explained that they were not negotiating with EISA, just conversing with them, although that made it clear they would consider negotiating with them.

Demaris then read the letter of withdrawal from Adata they had prepared for APPASAC. She explained that they could not appear to be working against the hydroelectric projects and then having a member who is negotiating with them.

Much to my surprise Anel signed right then and there. As far as I knew there had been no meeting with APAASAC members, no vote taken and no notice of the pending event.

It was a sad moment, the consequences not considered with care as far as I can tell, with no moment given to questions of procedure. The moment gave me the feeling that had I done my job, it would have made a difference if not in the outcome, which is their’s to choose, but in the method.

Subsequently I discussed the situation with our sector director and as I thought, we must not participate in anything anyone is doing on any level with the hydro-electric projects now that the situation here is politicized. At our next meeting I will inform APPASAC.

My current projects

by

One main project is the importation of 200 refurbished computers into Panama. There are at least two non-profit organizations in the U.S. that accept donations and then ship to sites in the US and abroad. Both have worked with the Peace Corps before. Nephew Nic in fact worked with some of the computers one of the organizations sent to el Salvador. There are three of us working on the project together with our sector director. I investigated the organizations and wrote the proposal, which eventually became a one page proposal to several potential funders after the sector director worked it over. He did a very good job on his end.

Then another volunteer, who is an experienced fund raiser, will work on the proposal in greater detail and she and I will hash is out and present it to the sector director. A third volunteer will arrange whatever training we are going to provide to end users. This is a $25,000-30,000 project.

Here’s a bit of the proposal, which is still being developed:

“While rural Panamanians have increasing access to cellular technology, poverty greatly limits their access to computers. The Peace Corps proposes to help reduce the disparity between those who can take advantage of the benefits of the information age and those who cannot, by providing computers and training to the economically disadvantaged in third world countries.

While the Panamanian government has made scattered efforts to help youth enter the information age by providing computers and even satellite internet access in some schools, they do not support community groups. These are very important organizations in Panama, recognized by the national government and international organizations that fund projects in Panama.

Peace Corps has supported its declared computer initiative by importing computers to Latin American countries such as Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as many other nations. Now, Peace Corps volunteers living in the most under-served small communities in Panama have the opportunity to do the same, by providing refurbished computers to groups in up to 200 communities, with beneficiaries numbering into the thousands. As important as providing computers, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV’s) will train recipients in computer use.

Given the rapid progress of wireless technology in Panama, members of these groups may be able to afford access to the services the internet has made available. An additional important benefit will be overcoming the extremely limited postal service in Panama. Communicating via email will replace long bus trips and hand-delivery of paperwork.”

This wording may not end up in the final proposal but it gives you one view of the project. Peg greatly assisted in writing the proposal. We are on draft 6.

My second major project is helping Adata develop a web page. Adata is the network of environmental groups in the Tierras Altas of Chiriqui, Panama. You can see the pages now but the site is not nearly complete. It is in English and Spanish. The goal is to educate English and Spanish speaking public and funding agencies about the highly sensitive and important ecological zone.

ADATA as well as this site are published using WordPress. I had to learn how to use this program, which was difficult. I am working with a local on the ADATA site, so the project can sustain itself.

My third major project is a two weekend training program for area environmental groups. I plan to see funding from the Panamanian government. I am working with a local group to plan the program.

Side projects are working on agro-eco tourism in our host community, helping get the computers running for the school, attending meetings of our local agro-environmental group hoping to find a way to help them organizationally and I will be doing medical translations in mid-April. There will be more such projects as time goes on.

What a $100 a month means

by

He is somehow rather distinguished looking despite his weathered face, or maybe because of it, and certainly despite his clothing, clean but beat up. He comes around from time to time looking for something to eat. Our hostess always brings him something, or maybe gives him a cup of coffee. She has hired him to work on her small finca (farm). He finds work from other farmers too. Where he lives, I have no idea, nor how he gets food most days.

Until the government started monthly pensions just a few months ago, his income was unsteady at best and always low, earning at best the minimum wage of $9 a day. Now, at $100 per month, he will, as he puts it, never be poor again!