Ngabe Navidad

My town- my host family house is on the right

I've been thinking about relationships and connectedness lately. A Boston friend takes comfort in the fact that the same moon is shining over her loved ones on the other side of the world. I think of that sometimes. Of greater comfort is that the same God is Lord of all. And in this season we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, in the person of Jesus. The God of the Bible is not a distant creator who set the laws of the universe in motion and then left it alone, but a Person who desires to have relationships with his creatures just as we desire relationships with each other. We are invited, at Navidad (Christmas) to worship Jesus as King,  in a form as small and fragile as a human baby.

Baby blanket, stitched by Florentina, my host mom

My parents are a constant support for me, even offering to send me socks from the US as a Christmas present. (Thanks, but no thanks).  Sometimes I take their support for granted, but I am really blessed to have them. As well as all the extended family and friends that pray for me and read this blog.

Ken is the guy at home. We've been dating for nearly a year now, and long distance since August. Had I entered the Peace Corps in February 2011 as I was expecting to, we wouldn't be having long cell phone conversations. I'm grateful to be living in this age of cell phone and internet communication because otherwise, this connection would probably be impossible. While life as a Harvard grad student is very different from life in the campo, we try to share our experiences and pray through the events of the week. Distance has slowed down and changed the way we interact, but we've been growing in friendship.


My community is all about connections. My weekly trips to town have been my alone time- because in my community of Alto Nube my days are one continuous social interaction. That's a big change from my life in the states, which was often solitary and punctuated by social engagements.

We are starting to construct a house for me to live in & rent for the next 2 years, and to be used by any Volunteers that may come after me as well.  A large team of people- men, women, and children- have been working to transform trees and living materials into a house.  On our first work day we had 28 people, and we've had 3 work days so far. Our first task was to cut 20 large stalks of bamboo, each of which was cut into 2 sections of about 15 feet long for carrying.  We carried them somewhere between half a mile and a mile, on a muddy footpath on our shoulders. The 10 year old boys, accustomed to carrying water and firewood, surpassed me in strength! The next day the team went in search of posts and beams for the house: sturdy trunks of laurel and palm trees. Also, we harvested "penca", palm thatch. Meanwhile another team split the bamboo into strips to use as siding. The posts were buried in the ground, to form corners, windows, and a door. My house will be a 14 by 14 foot square, half of which (7 by 14 ft) will be enclosed in bamboo with a corrugated metal roof, and the other half an open air porch roofed with palm thatch. Labor and most of the materials for the house are being donated by the community, as well as a significant amount of food and firewood for our work parties.  I just show up to work and provide most of the food. The work is their gift of cooperation and of friendship. Another gift that I must receive with gratitude.



In my community itself, they're not throwing much of a Christmas party- there's not the resources this year to have a celebration as they sometimes do.  After talking with Ken about a subdued Christmas eating rice and beans ("ka ulire," sad times), I realized I'm in a position to invite people to celebrate. It'll be small scale- a homemade piñata and hopefully some games.  On Christmas day I'll be going to church.

Piñata construction

About a month ago I mentioned a little girl, Melissa, who was severely sick with pneumonia. She recently returned after over a month in the hospital and looks great. In times of need the whole extended family chips in to provide. Here she is (in the blue dress) with her mom and cousin.  Something to be thankful for, indeed.

Diciembre, esta pegando verano! (It´s turning summer!)

Tomorrow is Mother´s Day here in Panama!  And summer is just about here! It´s like I´m in a time warp… is this really December?

Florentina ( my host mom) and I successfully baked cornbread and chili on our fogon cookfire!  We used my recipes from the States. We used a small pot placed inside a larger, covered pot, to create a buffer of hot air around the baked goods.  This was the first time Flora has done any baking.  Some other communities make a coconut flavored yeast bread, but not here, it seems.

Here I am wearing my new nagwa dress, with friends Franklin and Marceliano.

We had a second community meeting on Nov 26. This time we included an additional half dozen houses located above the road which divides the community into Arriba and Abajo, Upper and Lower. The lower community is larger and it organized to bring me here, but the upper section is also interested in collaborating. We discussed my role here, their expectations, and shared some ideas. We had a good discussion that went on until it clouded over and the rains came (predictably) in the early afternoon. We shelved for a future meeting one of the activities I´d planned, making a seasonal calendar, but all in all it went very well with positive attitude and a great turnout of 28 adults.  In the coming weeks I´ll continue doing analysis activities with small groups and designing a house to house survey with some members of the community.  

presenting a community map done at the previous meeting

Ladies´side. In meetings people typically informally group by gender.

We are also making preparations to construct a house for me to live in for the remainder of my time here. As I write from town, my backpack is heavy with nails for the work! We will be tentatively starting construction with cutting the wood and bamboo for siding during the week before Christmas. The group is very motivated and I appreciate that so much!