Kids

I love the kids in my community.  They are fun, respectful, and best of all...amazed by everything I do!  

My kids have been a huge factor in my understanding of Emberá culture and the development issues of Alto Playón.  Early on, the best way to become friendly with the parents was through their kids.  However, I found that playing and getting to know the kids helps me understand their parents, just as much as talking to them.  

For example, I go fishing with the kids.  They are great fishers and spear fishers!  It's in their genes and they learn from their parents. When they grow up they are masters at fishing, hunting, and farming because of everything that they have learned in their youth.

Similarly, growing up as a farmer in a rural community in the Comarca leaves you with a different interpretation of society.  I grew up in a different system than these kids, one with roads, stores, schools, public health, law enforcement. For all these reasons, I can understand concepts like organization and groups, more so than the kids can when they grow up.  

Furthermore, water and sanitation behavior is also intrenched from the start.  Changing a lifestyle is a huge responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly.  At no point would I want to come into my community and tell my community members what their needs are.  It's my responsibility, and more sustainable, to make sure that this is something they want and then proceed.  That's why Community Integration and Health Promotion have been the cornerstone of my service.

The challenge of the Peace Corps' Capacity Building approach is working with a way of life that has existed for a long time since before you got there. Spending time with the kids in my community has helped to give me an idea of life in the community. It allows me to ask questions about what the implications for the future about the change I'm trying to make. Understanding the kids is the best way to make development work in the community...and have fun at the same time.

Fishing

In the summer the river is very dry and makes it ideal for fishing and spear fishing.  It has become one of my favorite activities and has made this summer tons of fun.  If you are going to fish you usually leave during the mid morning, armed with your roll of fishing line, hook, and sinker.  The Chucunaque River is huge and has a ton of fish.  Almost every time you go out, you are guaranteed to catch something. 

For bait, you can dig out worms, net small sardines from the river, or look for river shrimp on the banks.  The river shrimp dig holes into the bank and you can use a spear to pull them out, or if you are a badass like Atilio, you use your hands.  I love the simplicity of using nothing but a hook, line, sinker, and fresh bait.  No fiberglass rod, rubber worms, or fancy metallic hooks.

One day I went down river with my friend Chicheme (nick-name which means corn drink) and his two sons.  As we floated down river, we would stop and fish.  He pulled out tons of river shrimp that we used for bait.  I am so amazed by how well they can do it; every time he went down he came back with one. I tried and caught nothing!  After a long day of fishing we found a place to camp on the riverbank.  We salted cooked the fish over an open fire and it was absolutely delicious!  No doubt, the act of fishing and working for the meal, made it that much more savory and satisfying. 

Another day, a group of about 15 of us went up river to spear fish.  The water is much clearer up river and makes it ideal for spear fishing.  However it also gets drier as you go further up, and at points we had to get out and push the boat.  It was so cool to see all the guys jump out with their spears and face masks, dive down for 1.5 minutes, and come back up with a fish.  Of course, even the 9 year olds come back up with fish.  They were specifically looking for a fish called Savalo, which could also be caught with a net.  As they caught the fish, the women cooked, and I was again treated to a delicious meal of fish and boiled plantain.  The day started at 8:30AM and we got back at 7:30PM.

These two trips made me think a lot about how humans learn to survive in their environment and the importance of its preservation.  The Emberá and other rural communities in Panamá (and across the world) live so close to the environment, and that relationship becomes clearer as you are sitting on the riverbank watching them dive.  Coming from a world where I bought all my food, I would live a harsh subsistence lifestyle until I reorient my relationship with food.  It’s so unfortunate to see Plastics and Styrofoam floating down the river.  It is so important that we educate and create infrastructure to allow ourselves to keep living off the land.

Composting Latrine with IOM

In January, myself, Health Committee President Atilio, and his brother Javier built a Composting Latrine through funds from a project with the International Organization for Migration.  The IOM is a UN Organization that has a 2-year project in the Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, Cemaco funded 100% by USAID.  The latrine was built as part of the Casa de Congreso Local, an office/meeting space.  Originally the IOM was going to build a Pit Latrine, but after my Health Promotion seminars the Dirigente (community leader) asked for a Composting Latrine.

At first, I wasn’t thrilled about the way the latrine was being introduced to the community.  In reality, this latrine won’t be used by any of the community members.  It is meant to be used by visitors when they come to the community.  The community and IOM were fine with this, but the idea bothered me.  Should we be prioritizing the sanitation needs of visitors to the community, or those who live there?

I stopped pressing for the latrine to go to a household, because that was simply not going to happen.  I realized that this could be turned into a useful step in terms of the community’s sanitation practice:

• The Dirigente asked IOM for a Composting Latrine, and would be able to do that with other organizations in the future.
•  I can train Atilio on how to build the latrine, who as Health Committee President can then train others.
•  People can see how the latrine is built, used, and maintained – even if only from observation

Atilio worked construction in Panamá City for 10 years, and is a very skilled worker.  Once I gave him the idea of what we wanted to build, he built it.  I only had to guide him on the basic design.  It was a lot of fun building together, and I learned a lot from him.  It also showed the community what they could do with the Peace Corps, if we work together.