December 2009

Paula´s family plus me and Dana.

Here is a letter from the student council president. The rest of the students wrote similar letters too and they are in the mail.



Hi Zariannar,
My name is Alexi Flores and I am 10 years old and in 3rd grade. I am behind in school because I could not go to school for a few years. My mom died a while ago. My dad, brothers and I were living far away in Cerro Algodón and there was no school. Now we live here in Laguna and my dad has a new woman. I now have half brothers and sisters. My family works well together and we all work hard.
I am the president of the student council here. We are a rural indigenous community in the comarca. Many of the things you guys wrote about in your letters were new to us, but the teacher and Chöti explained some of it. Everything we have, we get from nature. Our beds, houses and many things are found in nature. Roofs are made of grass and walls are made of tree branches. Materials are very expensive to buy. Companies from the outside come and bring us things like notebooks, pencils, books, games, boots, clothes and backpacks. Robert from the peace corps built latrines for us and helped build another classroom for the school. Before, our school was only one room, now we have two made of cement blocks and one of wood branches. We also have solar panels, so we can watch movies.
Students have to walk very far to go to school. Some walk 2 hours each direction, but we are used to walking a lot and carrying heavy things on out heads. I don´t have to walk much because the school is close to my house. There are two communities that go to the school: Laguna #1 and Laguna #2. The school is in Laguna #1 and I live there too. Laguna #2 is farther and they have to walk to get to school.
In my community, we have horses, dogs, cows, chickens and pigs. We plant corn, rice and beans. We have papaya, bananas, lemons, mangos, oranges, cacao (chocolate), pineapple, guanabana, nance, guava, sugarcane, chayote and coffee. We have a lake with fish and in summertime it dries up. When the rain returns, so does the lake. We have another lake where we put fish during the summer.
I like to play soccer, run, fish, hunt birds, rabbits and armadillos with my slingshot. They are all very tasty. Some of you asked if we have snakes. We do and they come to the community and we kill them. They bite people and animals. Animals usually die, but most people can be saved. The snakes we have here are the X (fer de lance). We also have yellow boas. We sell the boas to the Chinesse in San Félix for 75 dollars!
We don´t have stoves, but we do have fogoms, which are three rocks with a fire in the middle. The teachers make lots of interesting foods like pancakes, hamburgers and french fries. Chöti makes cakes. Chöti made a mud oven where we can make bread.
I am religious. I am a christian. God helps us eat rice, yuca, otoe and corn. The government doesn´t help us much and programs from other countries don´t get here. The government says there aren´t poor people anymore, but it´s not true. The teacher tells us that there are poor people in other countries too: Africa, India and even in the United States where people live in the street and don´t have a place to sleep. I have a house and a place to sleep. I eat rice and don´t live in the street.
You should learn to read and write in spanish so we can write more. Our comarca has a long and interesting history.
That´s all. I hope you like my letter. When you are big and president of the United States, you can help the poor villages of the world, including Panamá.
Your friend,
Alexis Flores Santo

I hope you enjoy the letters and drawings that you get (assuming it navigates the Panamanian mail service). The kids worked very hard to do it. I debated whether the letters some of them wrote were too much for 4th or 5th graders to read. Children talked about being hungry, violent domestic problems, as well as other important but sometimes depressing aspects of their lives. They also wrote about their lives in ways you can relate (pets, food, family). We left the good and the bad in the letters when we translated them (Dana helped quite a bit). Don´t take it as an attempt to make you feel guilty or sad. The whole goal is to understand other people.

Happy new year,

Chöti

Latrine Project up on Peace Corps Website

The surrounding communities have asked for a latrine project for my entire service. Organized by family groups, they will work together to build latrines in their groups. If you would like read more about the project and possibly donate, go to this website: www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=525-134

El Mes de Patria

November and December are a continuous stream of holidays. Independence from Columbia, Independence from Spain, Uprising of Los Santos, Mother´s Day (which is celebrated VERY differently here) as well as others are all packed into a one month period.

One of my closest friends in my community, Diocelina. Her, her brothers and sisters hang out\ bother me every day. Here, she is reciting a patriotic poem that she memorized for independence from Columbia day.

Emilia. She found some scissors and decided to cut her hair.

The school´s independence from Columbia ceremony. Pictured is Maestra Paz and Director Mario.

Reciting a poem.

A Kinder student reciting his poem.

Mrs. Paz´s class writing their letters.

An art project that Mrs. Paz´s class did

More art from Mrs. Paz´s class

The director´s 4th and 5th grade class

Things are going well.

Water seminars are done for now. Everything went great: participants learned a lot, had fun and are motivated to teach other community members. Government agencies have shown interest and may incorporate this into their water infrastructure work, maybe.

Latrine budget is in the paperwork phase but should be up on the Peace Corps website by Christmas. If anyone has money that they don´t want and would like to help out, check back later for the link.

School letters are all done. This month, I will have time to translate the 70 letters that the students wrote. The letters are great. Each kid worked very hard to try to explain their lives. I hope you like them. They should be done and delivered to Rutland, VT by the time school starts in January.

Happy Holidays,

Chöti

School Letters

Thank you to the students of Rutland Intermediate School for writing letters to the school here in Laguna. The 60 kids that read the letters really enjoyed hearing about you. They aspecially loved seeing the photos you sent! Many things that they saw and read were very new and different, so it took a good deal of explaining. Just helping them to pronounce your names was quite a challenge!
Many of you wrote about video games that you play. I don´t think the students still know what they are.
Some of you talked about in your letters about your pets, which included rabbits. The students were surprised to know that people care for rabbits in the house (aspecially since they are eaten here).
One of you sent in a picture of an amusement park with a person in a Joker costume. A student pointed out to me that it was the devil.
Many things you talked about are unknown here: skateboards, skiing, snow, lacrosse as well as many others.
It was great for the kids to know that there are many more crazy gringos like me. It was also great to show the similarities between the American and Panamanian students.
I am getting the last of your letters responded to at the moment and translating the ones that have been written. You should have the letters ¨soon.¨

Here is an example letter from a 3rd grader:

Hi

Cody Perry

E.S.M. (in your hands. This is a common way to start a Panamanian letter)

My name is Alexis Flores

I live in the community of Laguna.

I am in 3rd grade.

I like to play soccer and other games.

My favorite food is rice with chicken.

My school is small and rural.

My house is made of grass and Wood.

In my house, there are 14 people.

My teacher is named Rosaura Paz.

My dad Works in the mountains, planting rice, corn, beans and yuca. In my house, I have a black dog named Perdida (Lost) and we play a lot.

In my community, we don´t have light (electricity) but in the school, there is a solar panel and in the evening, w ego to watch a movie there.

In the community, there are latrines and a wáter system. In the past, there wasn´t a water system, but Peace Corps helped us with this necesity (note: Peace Corps did not build their aqueduct).

I say goodbye to you with much love to my new friend,

Thanks

Alexis Flores

Mrs. Rosaura Paz's 2nd and 3rd grade class writing their letters

The school cafeteria

This is the school. No picture in Panamá is complete without a chicken.

Mrs. Paz's class

Again, thank you for writing.
Jatwoida,
Chöti

September 2009

Hey all,

Been very busy lately trying unsuccessfully to get communities together for water projects. It doesn´t seem like it will be able to happen, but there are always other things to keep me busy. Water seminars are going well and will most likely continue as long as we can find interested communities. Mud oven and stoves are picking up and a latrine project is in the works.

One year in and one year left. All throughout my first year, I have had some time to look at what I have been able to do, how I´ve changed and what I´ve learned. The new perspectives I´ve gained over this past year is incredible and I am very thankful for the opportunity to be where I am.

I´ve done back breaking days of work for a bowl or rice, learned two languages and learned a new lifestyle. I´ve also seen how hopelessly sad and difficult life can be for my community and been amazed at their ability to live very happy lives despite hunger and poverty. The first year has had enlightening moments where I feel like I am understanding myself and the world for the first time. It has also had moments where I feel helpless, lonely and stupid, and I only wished I had a clue how to make it a little better. I have no idea what the second year will bring, but I know I won´t regret the experience.

My brother just had a baby. His name is Oskar

Left to right (Einer, Basilia, Baby has no name yet, Emilia)

Maximo taking the sand out of the oven.

Left to right (Paula, Nienami, Dionesia, Amado=

Amado, Dionesia and Maestra Rosaura Paz putting on the insulation layer to the oven.

Amado making the inside layer pretty.

Stacking the mud around the sand mold.

Building the base.

Mixing the mud.

Girls in Laguna Abajo

Jatwoida,

Choti

June 2009

I organized a water committee seminar in my community.  We trained representatives from three communities how to maintain and manage their water systems.  This is the graduation photo.  Only one person is smiling in this picture.

Alicia, teaching Mariano how to thermoform PVC.

Water conservation exercise.  This was interesting.  I asked participants to see who can use less water to wash equal quantities of dishes.  Men don't really wash dishes here.  We had to draw straws to see who would do it.  Maximo (on the right) emerged victorious.

This is Chidigon, with his "secreto de vaca."  We were sitting having lunch at the water seminar.I noticed a small ball of fur in a small chacara around Chidigon's neck.  I asked him what he had in the chacara.  He said, in spanish, "it's a secret."  Confused, I asked him again, "Really, what's in the chacara."  He then explained that special cows have secrets.  He had a special cow that displayed special characteristics, and upon slaughtering it, he found a small fur ball in the stomach.  Me and other volunteers have wondered what it is for a while, but we still have no clue.  He carries his secret for good luck and is very lucky to have it.

Maximo, brushing up his accounting skills.

People actually paying attention.

Ese todo,

Chodi

Balsaria

Me, throwing the balsa

Balseria is a very special festival in the Ngabe culture. I have heard it started when one family would invite another during good harvest years. They would share their food or else it would go bad. Nowadays, it is a large gathering of people from all over. People come to drink, fight and compete with other communities. It´s also a good chance to put on some colorful clothing and that dead cat skin that never seems to go with any of your other outfits.
There are a few things to do at Balseria, which usually lasts for about four days (I could only stand it for about four hours). They drink Chicha Fuerte (strong juice). It´s usually made from corn, it tastes sweet but has LOTS of alcohol in it. People drink this for the whole time they are there and some get very drunk. While at Balseria, you can also fight. This is a good way to mangle your face and possibly win a wife! You can also throw the Balsa, which hurts much less than bare knuckle fighting, and is actually pretty fun. During the whole festival, people will be making as much noise as possible from homemade contraptions (anything from cow horns to PVC whistles to turtle shells).

They play a game, which I tried, where one man throws a balsa stick at another´s legs. I didn´t get hit too bad, but I saw some very nasty welts.

Men wear anything from a Nagua (the dress that only women wear, see above) to colorful hats (see above) to dried animal skins, usually cats.

Fist fighting is very common among men and women.

Man ready to throw the Balsa.

Once someone throws the balsa, people rush to grab it so they can be next to throw. Once you throw, the next person throws at you.

Churches are discouraging Balseria because of the drinking, but it is an important part of their culture. Despite the gruesome violence of it, I am glad I went.