Ti ka Begui (My name is Begui)

My group of 16 Environmental Health volunteers was sworn in on Thursday October 20th at the elegant and spacious home of the US Ambassador to Panama. The ceremony was pretty short and was attended mostly by Peace Corps staff, some other volunteers, as well as some representatives from the Panamanian government. The head of ANAM, the Panamanian environmental agency, was an honored guest. The Ambassador administered the oath- as a group we held up our right hands and swore to uphold the US Constitution and do the duties of a Peace Corps volunteer.  I and other volunteers have had two days to relax in Panama City prior to heading to our work sites on Sunday Oct 23.

My site, in the native language Kubabo, is in the first set of mountains facing south towards the Pacific ocean. From the village's ridgelines we can see broad plains dotted with farms and the distant ocean with islands on the horizon.  Around 120 people live in Kubabo. In general they are subsistence farmers, cultivating the steep slopes with rice, fruit trees, cacao, coffee, and root vegetables.  They may sell to outside if they have a good crop but generally they eat what they produce. Some members of the community work outside, or "afuera" in agriculture, housekeeping, or manual labor.  The people speak their language, Ngabere, at home, but are also fluent in Spanish. The women and girls wear homemade, brightly colored cotton dresses called nagwas. Some women make traditional style clothing to sell in town. The community is located near many services, but has no infrastructure within itself (no running water, electricity, or latrines).  Students attend a primary school a short walk away in one direction and a secondary school 20 minutes walk away in the other direction. In the large town with the high school, there's also a government run health center staffed by some passionate Ngobe nurses and a doctor, and the district government offices.  There are also several churches in the larger area that I would like to visit, both Catholic and Protestant. I have yet to discover what kind of Christian community there is here but I'm hoping for some fellowship.

The view from Kubabo

I will be just a 20 minute and 40 minute walk away from my two closest other volunteers: Winston who works in agriculture, and Erica, in my same Environmental Health group, who also keeps a blog (link on the side).   I'm excited about the opportunity to collaborate, both on Environmental Health projects and learning about agriculture. Our main focus will be on our respective communities. There are also other volunteers in the wider area. Several will be visiting our area in one week for a marching percussion band festival/ competition hosted by the high school, which should be both fun and loud.

The first 3 months in the community is called "Proyecto Amistad"- Project Friendship. It's a period of time to ask questions, visit around, participate in festivals and harvesting and whatever else is going on in the community, and to survey their health situation. During this time I hope to use a set of community analysis tools developed by the Peace Corps in order to learn more about the community.  During the first three months we are not to start any major projects- this time is meant to be the foundation on which successful projects and activities are built.

Francisca and Mindo pound homegrown rice to remove the husks.

Mindo shows off a bundle of rice while holding his rice harvesting blade. This rice is very flavorful and nutritious.

My site visit last week was good; the people were welcoming and excited to both work with me on health projects and teach me about their culture.  I'll tell a bit more about how this visit played out.  The Peace Corps hosted a one day conference for the new volunteers and a representative or guide from each of the community.  We talked about the work of the Peace Corps and our expectations for each other, as well as safety and security details. My guide, Chitoj, takes his responsibilities very seriously. He is my first counterpart, the Peace Corps term for an individual in the community with whom you work closely.  I hope to have others, too.The next day after the conference we set out for Kubabo. My site feels like a remote mountain village, but it's not that hard to get to. From San Felix, the large town on the highway, I just need to take a chiva (small, pickup truck bus).  The journey takes about an hour on a windy gravel road uphill. For how much stuff I brought, I was very glad that I didn't have a several hour long hike like some of my compañeros.

The Water Committee called a community meeting for me to introduce myself and for my guide to share the details of the conference. They also voted on a native nickname for me: "Begui."  (Most people in the community have both Latino and Ngabere names.)  The remaining days of my visit were spent visiting different homes in the community as well as the local offices and schools. 

home!

For the first few months, I'm staying with a host family: Chabi, a lady in her 50s whose kids are studying away from home. She has a great sense of humor. I look forward to a better Spanish level so I can capture everything she and the others say. She's also a great cook.  Her relatives dug a pit latrine out back for me to use (the only one in the community). There are also 7 neighbor children that live across the street (6 of them siblings), who like to come over and color with some crayons I brought. On another occasion,  kids showed me how to dance the hegi, a traditional line dance.  It is really fun to be with them. I'm working on learning the names of children as well as adults- it's going to take a while!  One challenge was that most of the time everyone talked in Ngabere. I definitely want to learn more of this! They were really happy that I was trying to speak it, fumbling as I was, and happy to teach me new words.

We are discussing holding a weekly English class for members of the community- there's a lot of interest, mostly from children and young adults. They do take English classes in school but have a long way to go towards holding a conversation.  I plan on doing this in order to build relationships; I'm not an expert teacher, especially of kids. But I think it'll be good from a friendship and cultural exchange point of view.

Well, I'm heading back to the community to live. I'm excited to spend more time with my new Ngabe friends.  I do think it'll be complex and challenging to find out more about what's really going on in the community and work with them to improve their own health- but that's why I'm there. 

I'm planning on checking email about every 10-14 days when I spend a day doing errands in town, so it remains a pretty good way of being in touch.  I also enjoy connecting by cell phone. Email me your number and I'll call you! And for those of you who are praying for me, thank you so much.  I was so encouraged to have a positive site visit. It'll take longer to understand the community and what God is doing there, but I hope to connect with other believers in the area soon.