Saturday, May 30, 2009

Por fin: Back home in the tropics!



(Memorial day party at the lake near Charlotte)

(College of Charleston)

(Rodeo Beach, CA)
I just returned from a 3 week trip to the beautiful USA - land of cold wheat beers, hot showers (or running water for that matter) and crunchy organic peanut butter with no hydrogenated oils.

I’m exactly at the mid-point of my service. 1 year down and 1 year to go in Panama. Hard to believe how fast the time goes. It felt like a good time to reconnect with friends and family and try to figure out what my next step will be after Panama. I visited friends in San Francisco, went to the wedding of my dearest friends, Maria and Shawn in Wilmington, NC, reminisced in my old college town of Charleston, SC, and saw my family in Charlotte, NC for Memorial Day weekend. It was so wonderful be back and be exposed to all the changes since I’ve been gone. For better and/or worse, the States feel different. The mood has shifted. We’re at a low point, but Obamamania is strong and there is hope for the future.

Although it was great to visit the States, 3 weeks is a long time to be away from the kind of work we do as volunteers. So much is based on having strong relationships with community members and it is so easy to disconnect yourself from the challenges in Cerro Iglesias with all of the distracting comforts of the USA. I feel an overwhelming responsibility (that borders on guilt) to my community, however, and am eager to get back to site and start working again. I dearly miss my hammock and the peace of my little house with a view, but most of all, I miss the companionship of the people in my community. We have lots of on-going and upcoming projects, so I am excited to roll up my sleeves, put on my mud boots and get dirty again!

Here are a few upcoming projects:

Bees- The bees need to be moved from behind the elementary school. We have Africanized bees here, which are quite aggressive and potentially very dangerous. We are going to move them and split the colonies at the same time. Since none of us actually have any hands-on experience doing this, we are taking extra precaution and doing lots of research so that we don’t mess anything up or create a disaster. We are receiving a donation of 10 brood boxes from a private company here and are very grateful to Maliverns of Davíd for their generous contribution.

Latrines- A nearby community wants to build about 30-40 latrines for families that do not have them. While back in the States, I realized that many people have no idea what a latrine is. Basically, it’s like an outhouse, only more rustic. There are no septic systems here. There are a few types of latrines, but the most common and cheapest is a 10 ft hole dug in the ground with a cement floor and cement toilet seat on top with a little privacy wall built around it. This is going to be a huge project that might take several months to plan and complete. Don’t be surprised if I ask for your financial support out there. Latrines (and education on how and why to use them) are a vital component for improving overall community health and decreasing infant and child mortality rates. Why? I don’t want to get to deep into it, but without latrines, people do their business in the rivers and streams. That is typically where they get their drinking water as well. You get the point. Much more on this topic another day.

School gardens- Thanks to the generous donation from a US nonprofit, Seed Programs Inc. and a family friend, Mr. Eadie of Davidson, NC, volunteers all over Panama will have access to various different vegetable seeds that can be used for home and /or family garden projects. I plan to work with the primary school in Cerro Iglesias to teach the students about nutrition, organic soil building and how to cultivate vegetables such as squash, kale, and tomatoes.

For now, I am delighted to be back in Panama - land of Noah’s Arc rainstorms, a sweet and watery substance called coffee, and copious bowls of white rice.
(I saw all of my favorites back in the US:)
(Lovely Maria on her wedding day!)


(Iyi and Mego: Cerro Iglesias' most famous inhabitants)
(Arden: my first visitor in Panama, she toughed it out with me in those first few rough days)

(Mai: from CHS to NYC and now in the Bay Area, no one gives better life advice!)
(Laura and I talk a walk down memory lane in Charleston)

(Kasey and Lauren: High school friends become like sisters after all these years)