Peace Corps in Panama: Giving Back this Holiday Season

Dear Family & Friends,

As many of you know, I am currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Panama. For the past year I have been living in a small village with members of Panama’s largest indigenous group, the Ngäbe. My job as an Environmental Health Volunteer is to work with the local community to improve their access to clean water and effective sanitation systems. As a Peace Corps Volunteer I strive to leave a sustainable impact on my community, Bajo Cacicón, through empowerment and capacitation. Many of you have expressed interest in contributing to my Peace Corps work. I am now at the point in my service that it is easy for friends and family to get involved.

(If you have already heard my story and would like to contribute to my project, you can scroll down and follow the link at the bottom. If not, please read the story of my project that follows.)

My work thus far has focused on identifying my community’s strengths and weaknesses, their most urgent needs, and the challenges associated with the extreme poverty of the region. Using my Peace Corps training, community organizing skills, and much-improved Spanish, I have facilitated a variety of community meetings and discussions. Through this process the community was able to unite and determine their primary need of new latrines.

Currently without latrines, the people of Bajo Cacicón use Quebrada Plata, a nearby stream, to go to the bathroom. Quebrada Plata is also the sole place for bathing and washing, and the water is used for both cooking and drinking. This environmental and public health nightmare leaves the locals with regular bouts of e.coli, giardia, and amoebic dysentery. Children are the most at-risk group and suffer awful consequences due to the exposure of these pathogens. Bloated bellies and severe diarrhea are common symptoms among children and exacerbate malnutrition and other poverty-related health problems.

The people of Bajo Cacicón and I have developed a plan to solve this problem. We will build 46 latrines for families within the community to improve the health of over 300 people. Basic latrines will ensure that all dangerous pathogens are contained a safe-distance from Quebrada Plata and will no longer threaten the health of the community.

Because the Peace Corps seeks to empower and capacitate we are requiring each family to contribute 50% of the construction of their latrine. This contribution will be in the form of materials (supplying sand and wood) and labor (transporting purchased materials to the community and construction of the latrines). The easiest way for you to help the families of Bajo Cacicón is to send a donation for the purchase of required materials. The monetary cost of building a latrine for one family is $102.

I am asking each of you to consider the health and well being of a community that has been under-served by its country and is working hard to make positive changes. I feel fortunate to be living and working with the people of Bajo Cacicón. Please contribute the amount you are able and consider paying for at least one family to complete this project.

Children of my host family bathing in a stream

To donate, visit my Peace Corps website and use a credit or debit card to make a contribution. 100% of your donation will go directly to build latrines in Bajo Cacicón. Feel free to send me an email with questions or comments. I would love to hear from you. Also, please forward this email to anyone that might be interested in my project. Thank you for your time and consideration. Any amount you can give will significantly improve the lives of the children and adults of Bajo Cacicón.

Sincerely,

Scott Mortensen

(scottbmortensen@gmail.com)

In the land of Anteaters and Sloths

One perception all volunteers living in the Comarca quickly make is that Ngabe's like to kill nearly all living animals. This is hard to get used to, especially when it comes to the killing of endangered animals. To give credit where it's due, though, I must admit that most animals are killed for food. Iguana, paca, agouti, armadillo, peccary, "conejo pintado", river shrimp, squirrels and a whole host of birds are hunted with nothing more than slingshots and good dogs. All the animals are delicious (even iguana). Additionally, a friend of mine living on the Caribbean coast complains of people hunting endangered sea turtles.

Animals are also killed for prevention and, unfortunately, fun. We call that "por gusto" here. The hummingbird they killed was a lucky shot from a slingshot. The possum was killed because (i'm told) they kill chickens. In a land of such rampant and effective killing you can understand my surprise when I encountered animals as large as an anteater and a sloth.

The anteater was shown to me by my fourteen-year-old host brother, Cuchinto, after he nearly beat it to death with a stick. I was impressed with the first anteater I've ever seen -it reminded me of a wolverine or small bear because it was muscular and visibly strong. The family's two best hunting dogs encountered it slurping ants out of the ground and decided to attack. Bad idea. The anteater quickly slashed its sharp claws and nearly killed both dogs. I was upset to see the kids playing with the suffering animal when I asked Cuchinto, "why are you killing it?" "For revenge" he said.

Cuchinto on the left with his cousin playing with the anteater

More recently I was shown to a sloth inching it's way along a branch quite high in a tree. Cuchinto, determined to make things more exciting, climbed up and shook the sloths branch until it fell from the tree. The kids surrounded the sloth and picked him up by placing stick in his hands to grab onto, which he did (see picture). He seemed to be fine from the fall. The kids played with him for a while before he escaped up a tree. I asked, "you're not going to kill it?" "no", they said, "they don't bother anyone."

Just after falling from the tree the sloth grabbed a stick Cuchinto put into his lap

A few days after this encounter I returned home from a hike to a neighboring community and found a rotting sloth carcass in the middle of the path. At home, Cuchinto's twelve-year-old brother, Pepo, asked if I saw the dead sloth. I nodded. He puffed his chest and bragged that he had killed it. "Why?" I asked. "I don't know. Por gusto," he replied.

Happy 11/11/11.

A Year of Perceptions

Exactly one year ago today I hiked to my site in the middle of the rainiest month of the year to officially start my Peace Corps service. Many accomplishments, numerous challenges, and countless invaluable experiences have made the last year immensely rewarding. I find myself closer to my neighbors, closer to the land we live on, and closer to fellow volunteers (they are a wonderful support system). Now, on my way to celebrate our "one year" with the rest of group 66 at a resort on the Caribbean coast, I have been trying to think of a blog post to commemorate the past year. I've decided to pick ten perceptions that shed light on the Ngäbe "experience":

(In no particular order)

1. Toughness is Valued. Whether it's brothers hitting or slapping one another or a mom remarking "How pretty" to her sons scraped-up chest after he slid down a palm tree shirtless, pushing through pain is expected and taught from a very young age.

2. Physical Abuse is Present. I've heard many stories but I have personally only witnessed Lela grab a twig to whip the children when they misbehave -especially when they are whining or crying. I also hear parents make threats, saying, "Be careful, I'll hit you."

3. Voice Inflection Tells as much as Words. Speaking here seems more exciting and interesting than back home with ups and downs, highs and lows, and drawn-out syllables. The more time I spend here I realize it really is an art to speak with such excitement. Lela is the grand-master at this. She says things like "It was HARRRRD" or "I went faaaaaarrrrrrrr" and her audience knows just exactly how hard it was or far she went by the emphasis she places on certain words. I love talking this way.

4. Non-Verbal Communication is Commonly-Used. People make animal sounds (especially chicken and dog), whistle, and hand gesture to communicate. The fewer words the better. It is not uncommon to have entire conversations with only hand-gestures because there is a sign for just about everything. Popular signs replace "lets go", "want to eat?", "the car is full", "no", "what's up?", "why?", and many other phrases or questions. This practice is especially fun to watch when two grand-masters go at it and volunteers take a lot of pride in perfecting this delicate skill.

5. Gender Roles are clearly Defined. This is true in most rural and poor parts of the world. Female roles include: tend to the children, harvest food, haul water from the river, wash clothing, cook, and make artisanry such as nagwas and chakras (traditional dress and bags, respectively). Male roles involve building structures, hauling wood for cooking fires, slashing and burning, planting, and harvesting food. Attending meetings and visiting people are not gender specific. Children are expected to do what they are told, which usually includes roles from both genders.

6. Children help a lot. The importance of contributing is also taught and learned at a very young age. Everyone contributes and works hard. My favorite example is the five-year-old, Luiz. He hikes uphill forty-five minutes to school every day, hikes home, and then is expected to retrieve water, serve food to visitors, burn trash (which he loves), and help his mom harvest food.

7. Grandparents Help with Childcare. Not only does Lela watch her grandchildren for weeks at a time but Lela's children expect it, they don't provide any material or monetary assistance to offset food costs, and Lela and her family are more than happy to have the company. Right now, two grand-daughters have been living with Lela for three weeks while their mom (Lela's daughter) nears the end of her third pregnancy.

8. People are Shyer Away from their Homes. This is to be expected to a certain degree in any culture but the transformation here is drastic. I can laugh and share food with someone in their home but when I cross them in a path near another home or near other people it is as if they don't know me. I have paid careful attention and I know it's not just me; they do it to each other, too. It doesn't matter if they are cousins or siblings either. Some people are not shy but most are.

9. Killing everything is Popular. Animals are not only killed for food. Hummingbirds, anteaters, sloths, and possums are all killed and not eaten. There are probably more than fifteen different types of wild animals that are hunted and eaten here, though. I have eaten most of them and they are all delicious. The reality that some of the animals are endangered is difficult to accept and a hard subject to breach.

10. This Place is P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-V-E. Generous amounts of rain and sun can transform a cleared plot of land into an impassable green wall taller than me in a short amount of time. Landscapes change drastically over time as man battles nature to plant crops. Also, animals and humans procreate like it's their job. My host dad, Samuel, has fourteen living children with two wives and we had six dogs but two died.