Sunshine in the Comarca!

From April to July of this year the communities of Quebrada Plata, Quebrada Carrizo, and Quebrada Frijoles have accomplished a backbreaking amount of work. The measurable accomplishments are as follows:

• 46 completed latrines (at approximately $100 each)
• Improved sanitation for over 300 people (not including the school latrine we build which serves roughly 200 children).
• Improved health awareness and increased knowledge of healthy personal hygiene practices to over 40 community leaders and promoters.

These results sound good but knowing actually how good is hard if you don't live in poverty. This is because it relies on the more human -and as a result, less measurable- aspects of improved sanitation. I've lived here -in the poorest district of the poorest province of Panama- for two years and yet I can only partially empathize with the struggles my neighbors face. 

When I think about the immeasurable effects a latrine project might have here three memories are triggered. First, I think of the moms who, sick of their children being sick (and looking like miniature men with shoulders held back to accommodate their "beer bellies", which are instead filled with worms) not only paid $5 to join the project but broke traditional gender roles at numerous meetings by speaking out (normally the women listen patiently to the men). In an impressive display of solidarity, once one woman did this it set of a firestorm of competing female voices that all but drowned out the male ones. It was the males turn to listen, and they did. Project plans were changed -for the better I might add- on multiple occasions because of this.

I also think of the Ministry of Health worker who I witnessed tactlessly and shamelessly berate a group of Ngabe's for defecating in rivers and the jungle, completely oblivious to the social and historical realities of living in extreme poverty and being exposed to modern industrial society just a half century ago.

Lastly, I think of my two closest neighboring families which, between the two of them, have buried three children before they turned four years young. My hope is that this latrine project will help alleviate some of their unjust suffering.

Although I have suffered though debilitating bacterial infections and intestinal amoebas much like they have, I have access to sanitary, clean hospitals; most of my neighbors don't. They visit underfunded, under supplied, and understaffed health clinics; and these only under grave circumstances (they tend to use natural medicine first, although this trend is changing with the younger generation). And because intestinal "issues" tend to not fall under the "grave" category for anyone over three years old, gas, diarrhea, chronic upset stomach, distended bellies, malnutrition, a lack of energy, and an increased risk of getting sick as a result of a weakened immune system have become normal parts of life.

Samuel Salinas (left) and Martin Santo Pinto, the leaders of the latrine project, in front of Martin's new latrine

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Completing the project was a difficult and time consuming process because we could build only two concrete latrine floors per day. Once they were built, however, the families constructed their "little houses" as we say in Spanish, in quick fashion. (The excitement as we neared the end gave everyone a needed last boost to finish). Once they were done there was just one thing left to do... Celebrate!

The inauguration ceremony was held after all the latrines were completed. I purchased a large amount of food, asked some women to cook it (they got to keep the leftovers!), and on July 19th a group of fifty or so people met and listened to a series of speeches. Many spoke about how grateful they were for their latrines. Some explained how nice it was for someone to follow through on a promise (the government representatives here infamous for not following though). A few even said I would be in their hearts forever and that they hoped they would be in mine. I assured them they would. When it was my turn to address the group I spoke of the two year process we went through, congratulated them on their incredibly hard work, and thanked them for opening their homes to me and treating me like family. I finished, "back in early 2011 you decided a latrine project was your number one priority. Not that you have latrines you get to decide what your next priority is and take it on. In this slow way you can improve your lives step-by-step."

After all the speeches were given, we sat down and enjoyed rice with chicken and veggies, juice, bread, and coffee. We told each other stories and took breaks to snap photos (one woman wanted a picture with me to make her husband jealous. She was going to tell him, "see I don't need you, I have a gringo boyfriend"). Later, just before I left, a young guy I'd never met approached me and while shaking my hand proclaimed, "Choy, bueno, esa proyecto demoraba mucho pero siempre vale la pena. Estamos muy contento." ("Scott, well, this project took a long time but it was definitely worth the effort -we are very content."). 

"I couldn't agree more," I replied. And with that said I left and walked home in the rain watching -waiting- for the sun to peek through the clouds. Fleetingly, I was sure it did. But then a light bulb flickered in my head and I quit watching, for I now know that if you are patient enough the sun will always follow the rain.

Happy new latrine owners at the inauguration ceremony