As this is only the second time I have had access to internet in my twelve day career in Panama I thought I would take the time to post to my blog.
After a whirlwind trip to D.C. for the staging event for... Panama's 66th group of Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs!) the 21 Environmental Health (EH- Peace Corps LOVES acronyms so get used to it) and 27 Community Economic Development (CED) trainees boarded a plane for Panama City the afternoon of the 18th. For four days we participated in an intense schedule of spanish interviews, interviews with our sector director, lectures, more lectures, shots, paperwork, and more from sun-up to sun-down.
On the fourth day we were able to visit a current volunteer in her site. It was a wonderful experience. We had a gorgeous hike up a small mountain/large hill (depending on where your from) to examine an aqueduct for a community off approximately 250 people. The hike up was muddy and I was very happy to be the only trainee with boots (xtratufs of coarse). Then, on the hike down I was shocked to see that the volunteer we were visiting had xtratufs on! Needless to say I was so excited that I attempted to give her a boot high five and embarrassed myself a little- but for those who know about the glory of xtratufs it was completely appropriate. We finished off the day with a typical Panamanian lunch of piping hot chicken soup (sancocho) and rice in the middle of an unbearably hot day.
Our Assistant Training Director (ATD) gave a phenomenal lecture on development that rivaled the best lecures I got in college. In a nutshell, he explained the Peace Corps´ approach to development- "helping people help themselves." Capacitation, Empowerment, and Process are three words that we can´t hear enough. By empowering people and teaching relevant skills we can ensure a far more sustainable approach to development. Many agencies devoted to development will often throw projects at communities without prior investigation and post-project follow up. As a result most projects go un-used or mis-used (ie. storing rice in latrines). This paternalism effectively dis-empowers the community. PCVs are not allowed to start projects for the first three months of service. The goal during that period to get to know community members and begin to understand what they really need. The lecture clarified many things about the PC that I was unsure about and I felt a moment of elation and pride while listening to the lecture. I know there is nothing else I should be doing or want to be doing with my life right now.
One week ago, EH and CED split to our respective communities for ten weeks of training and host families. EH is in a small pueblo of a few hundred people approximately 1.5 hours from Panama City.
My experience with a host family has been an exciting and fulfilling experience even in one week. My family consists of three generations (grandma, daughter/her husband, son/his wife, two girls), a cute cat named Mingo that eats EVERYTHING, and ten chickens. Their yard if full of fruit trees, flowers and plants. My host mom told me she is excited about my hieght because I can pick cocoanuts for her. Undoubtedly, the biggest joy I experience every day is when the adorable six and seven year old girls with whom I live come running to hug me in the street on my way home from class. They call me tio Scott (uncle Scott). Their language is still much more advanced then mine but still less so than the rest of my host family which is nice.
Training consists of four hours of language sessions and four hours of technical sessions daily. After class many of us have been playing football, futbol, and frisbee (a fast favorite) with the local boys in the town; which has been a great way to integrate and get some much needed exercise- Panamanians eat a LOT of fried food.
We have other assignments, too. For example, today we used the public transport system to get to Panama City and visit various checkpoints throughout the city to improve our transportation skills. And this wednesday I am leaving to visit another volunteer in the NW part of the country in the Bocas del Toro region on the Carribbean sea by myself. Apparently my host has a pet monkey. I am very excited! I come back on Sunday, so talking to me on my birthday is unlikely but I will try find a phone.
I have to catch my bus home but you are all in my thoughts.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Training Address
All snail mail for the next ten weeks should be sent to the following address:
Scott Mortensen
Cuerpo de Paz/Panama
Edificio 104, 1 er Piso
Avenida Vicente Bonilla
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Corregimiento de Ancon
Panama, Republica de Panama
After training I will get a new address, which will be posted to this blog. I suggest numbering each letter you send if you plan on having relatively consistent communication. That will help me know if something got lost in the mail.
After a stressful couple days I finally feel ready to go, which is good because I leave in an hour. The goodbyes have already begun and I am not looking forward to spending the next twenty-seven months without my family, loved ones, and friends. Even still, my excitement level is still very high as I know I will make new friends and probably will be too busy to dwell on the longings of home.
I should have phone reception until 3pm Eastern Time on Wednesday if you want to talk to me. I would love to hear from anyone.
Scott Mortensen
Cuerpo de Paz/Panama
Edificio 104, 1 er Piso
Avenida Vicente Bonilla
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Corregimiento de Ancon
Panama, Republica de Panama
After training I will get a new address, which will be posted to this blog. I suggest numbering each letter you send if you plan on having relatively consistent communication. That will help me know if something got lost in the mail.
After a stressful couple days I finally feel ready to go, which is good because I leave in an hour. The goodbyes have already begun and I am not looking forward to spending the next twenty-seven months without my family, loved ones, and friends. Even still, my excitement level is still very high as I know I will make new friends and probably will be too busy to dwell on the longings of home.
I should have phone reception until 3pm Eastern Time on Wednesday if you want to talk to me. I would love to hear from anyone.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Pre-departure expectations (First blog!)
Greetings! As this is my first blog post ever I thought it would be wise to keep my own thoughts and feelings to a minimum until I understand how this whole process works. I thought that, instead, I would like to share some information about my position in the Peace Corps and quote some of the literature I have received from them as they try to prepare me for the next twenty-seven months. Or at least the next few weeks.
The Basics: My official title is Environmental Health Extensionist. I will be working to bring potable water and sanitary systems to the community I am placed in. I will be leaving Anchorage the sixteenth of August for Washington D.C. The following day in Arlington all new PCV's for Panama will participate in a pre-departure orientation before our departure for Panama City on the eighteenth. There, we will begin ten weeks of training to prepare us for our service as volunteers (the last seven of which will be spent living with a host family).
Overview of Training Schedule: "Emphasis will be placed on language acquisition... and on building technical skills all the while integrating cross-cultural issues in preparation for your service. During training, your average workweek will be packed into 48 hours that are divided between language and technical training, work orientation, and another segment called 'core training.' Core areas incorporate Panamanian culture and history, Volunteer life, personal safety, community analysis, diversity and gender issues, and other specific topics related to your service."
For those wondering what the main objectives of my position are:
"-Project participants will train community promoters in methods to increase community participation, organization and capacity for sustainiable community development.
-Project participants will educate community members in methods to decrease water borne disease transmission at the household, community, and watershed levels.
-Project participants will train water committee members in methods to increase community capacity to operate, maintain, and manage potable water and sanitation systems.
-Project participants will construct, improve, or rehabilitate household and community potable water and sanitation."
Opportunities for secondary projects: "Having identified particular needs, some Volunteers engage in small scale and agricultural projects, some work with community artisans to market their goods, others train youth groups on life skills, and many work in secondary schools teaching English and Geography."
Location of Job: "Most Environmental Health Volunteers are assigned to one or two of the different indigenous groups: Kuna, Ngabe, Bugle, Wounaan, or Embera. Your site will be within 2-16 hours from Panama City. Transportation to and from your rural community will include the public bus system, bicycle, walking, and possibly horses or canoes. Some remote sites are 2-3 hours away through muddy, mountainous terrain with walking as the only option..."
Living Conditions: "The Majority of Environmental Health Volunteers are placed in the indigenous communities where living conditions are rustic. Most likely you will live in a wood or adobe huts with wood or dirt floors, many of the wooden houses are on stilts with palm-thatched roofs. As would be expected, services such as electricity, running and/or potable water, and sanitation systems may be rudimentary or non-existent. However, Peace Corps/Panama examines each site before selection to ensure that housing and living conditions are adequate as not to interfere with your work... Peace Corps/Panama requires that you live with a family during your first three months of service at your site, after which time you are free to live by yourself..."
Thank you very much for your interest in my upcoming service as a volunteer. I hope to hear from everyone as much as possible, so please write! Letters are preferrable, but any communication will be very welcome. If you have any questions about my service I will be in the country for a little more than a week, so please feel free to ask. I will try to keep this blog updated on a fairly regular basis, but I am expecting the unexpected so it would be foolish to promise anything.
Gosh this really got long.
The Basics: My official title is Environmental Health Extensionist. I will be working to bring potable water and sanitary systems to the community I am placed in. I will be leaving Anchorage the sixteenth of August for Washington D.C. The following day in Arlington all new PCV's for Panama will participate in a pre-departure orientation before our departure for Panama City on the eighteenth. There, we will begin ten weeks of training to prepare us for our service as volunteers (the last seven of which will be spent living with a host family).
Overview of Training Schedule: "Emphasis will be placed on language acquisition... and on building technical skills all the while integrating cross-cultural issues in preparation for your service. During training, your average workweek will be packed into 48 hours that are divided between language and technical training, work orientation, and another segment called 'core training.' Core areas incorporate Panamanian culture and history, Volunteer life, personal safety, community analysis, diversity and gender issues, and other specific topics related to your service."
For those wondering what the main objectives of my position are:
"-Project participants will train community promoters in methods to increase community participation, organization and capacity for sustainiable community development.
-Project participants will educate community members in methods to decrease water borne disease transmission at the household, community, and watershed levels.
-Project participants will train water committee members in methods to increase community capacity to operate, maintain, and manage potable water and sanitation systems.
-Project participants will construct, improve, or rehabilitate household and community potable water and sanitation."
Opportunities for secondary projects: "Having identified particular needs, some Volunteers engage in small scale and agricultural projects, some work with community artisans to market their goods, others train youth groups on life skills, and many work in secondary schools teaching English and Geography."
Location of Job: "Most Environmental Health Volunteers are assigned to one or two of the different indigenous groups: Kuna, Ngabe, Bugle, Wounaan, or Embera. Your site will be within 2-16 hours from Panama City. Transportation to and from your rural community will include the public bus system, bicycle, walking, and possibly horses or canoes. Some remote sites are 2-3 hours away through muddy, mountainous terrain with walking as the only option..."
Living Conditions: "The Majority of Environmental Health Volunteers are placed in the indigenous communities where living conditions are rustic. Most likely you will live in a wood or adobe huts with wood or dirt floors, many of the wooden houses are on stilts with palm-thatched roofs. As would be expected, services such as electricity, running and/or potable water, and sanitation systems may be rudimentary or non-existent. However, Peace Corps/Panama examines each site before selection to ensure that housing and living conditions are adequate as not to interfere with your work... Peace Corps/Panama requires that you live with a family during your first three months of service at your site, after which time you are free to live by yourself..."
Thank you very much for your interest in my upcoming service as a volunteer. I hope to hear from everyone as much as possible, so please write! Letters are preferrable, but any communication will be very welcome. If you have any questions about my service I will be in the country for a little more than a week, so please feel free to ask. I will try to keep this blog updated on a fairly regular basis, but I am expecting the unexpected so it would be foolish to promise anything.
Gosh this really got long.