3-Month Visit

The initial months in site are spent getting to know the community. However, aside from going out and meeting people, there are more formal tools that can be employed to gather information.

In this case, I called a meeting for Lado Oeste and Ladera separately to obtain and review information in a community setting. I presented the formal tool for analysis: the Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA). It consisted of engaging the community to think about and record certain aspects of their community. For example, drawing a map of the community and areas of interest. Other activities included determining and ranking community priorities in terms of priority and difficulty, as well as creating a seasonal calendar. But perhaps the activity people had the most fun with was coming up with the daily schedule.

Each gender split off into different groups and on a piece of paper, each group would jot down a general schedule for a typical day. But the real fun came when they jotted down the schedule they assumed the other gender did during the day.

Once complete each group presented their findings. In Lado Oeste, the men volunteered to go first, and provided a grossly exaggerated schedule. Magdiel, who had been visiting his family at the time, volunteered as the group's spokesman.

"A las 04:00 en la mañana" he started "levantamos y nos duchamos."

Everyone began laughing.

Magdiel continued: "A las 05:00, desayunamos. Y déspues, trabajamos en el campo hasta las seís."

The women, afterwards, presented their schedule for the men. Most notably, they recorded the men as waking up at 08:00 in the morning, not leaving to work until around 10:00a. After an hour of work, they come back for lunch and then work until around 4:00p. Then after dinner, the women joked, the men leave the house and go "al paseo" until returning at around midnight.

Then the men countered with what they thought the women's schedule looked like.

"A las 05:00" Magdiel began "Las mujeres entran al baño y hagan su higiene diario."

Immediately the women took issue with that. "Cómo puede ser que los hombres estén despiertos antes que las mujeres? Como van a desayunar?"

The rest of Magdiel's recitations were respectful and overall a good guess. In both communities, the men often found one crucial element was missing in their presumptions of the women's schedule:

"A las siete, acompaños los niños a la escuela" Yorleni of Ladera presented.

All the men had a palm to the forehead moment.

"Había una abertura en el horiario y pensabamos que ellas descansaban en ese tiempo." Roberto commented. "Nos olvidamos de los niños!"

This was, perhaps, an important lesson learned about the gender dynamics in the community, a result which would be shared in the debrief meeting held with PC Staff Martín.

Nevertheless, everyone said they had fun. I remember visiting community member Aurelia in the following days who was still chuckling about the event.

"Qué hora es?" She asked me.

"9:30" I responded.

"Mira, dijeron que se despiertan a las 4:00, pero mi esposo todavía está durmiendo adentro!"

November 14, 2019

I had left Lado Oeste that morning reminding my host family about the meeting of the day. I made my way to Ladera where the joint community session was to be held in order to meet (Peace Corps staff) Martín and G83 volunteer Tristan "Itoli" before the meeting. As I walked to the meeting area, members of Ladera came out to ask me when the meeting was.

"Hoy. Ahora." I told them. But the confusion wasn't isolated. I found this issue occurred with each house. As I discussed the situation with some neighbors, it seemed that Bernardino had called a meeting for the day prior. Bernardino had planned to get a meeting together to plan food and drink for the meeting this day. However, there was a typo regarding the meeting time on his note and so that meeting fell apart. Then, some people were confused what the first meeting was about and if that was THE meeting we were having. Martín and Itoli arrived, but the meeting was thus far unattended. Children were sent to the far corners of the community in a last-ditch effort to spread word about the meeting in progress.

Following a last minute change of venue (moving downhill 1 house) and a slight delay, the meeting was aweigh. But, there cannot truly be a meeting without food, or at least drink. So the "vaca" (money-collecting bag) was passed around and another kid as courier was sent to purchase ingredients. It ended up being enough for everyone to have a small plate of rice and chicken (not rice with chicken) as well as coffee.

After introducing and giving time for Tristan and Martín to present themselves, I called up representatives of the water committee (Bernardino and Cutilio) to speak. Once they were done, members of the community came up on an ad-hoc volunteer basis to present our findings from the previous use of PACA as well as to discuss lessons learned.

With that concluded, I informed those present that I would be meeting with the water committee in the coming days regarding elevation surveying. As had been transmitted through a meeting with the CONADES earlier (courtesy of Tristan and volunteer Fé), there was a lot of money to be spent in the area. However, CONADES was still in need of certain data in order to begin funding and contracting procedures for the water system. What could be done in the meantime however, was to survey the land and provide that data to CONADES so as to speed things along.

Of course, such a task couldn't be done by the water committee alone and would require community labor. As such, the water committee would engage in fact-finding regarding the logistics of elevation surveying before organizing such an event.

Pictures (Photo Credit: Tristan Odekirk)

The Meeting Begins

Martín Gives Words

Bernardino and Samuel "Chingonblü" Present

the Seasonal Calendar of Ladera

Yorleni Presents Findings of the Daily Schedule

Group Photo

October Regional Meeting

October 21-24, 2019

Twice yearly, roughly a couple months after a new cohort begins service, the Peace Corps staff host Regional Meeting (RM). Ostensibly, it serves to reconnect volunteers in the field with what's going on in the office, providing volunteers with news and a chance to voice concerns. There are also optional language reinforcement classes.

In a way though, it's very much a mandatory vacation.

The night before, I was woken periodically by a downpour of rain from a passing storm. I knew what this would do, I had to deal with the consequences before.

As I walked out of Lado Oeste, I found myself a nice walking stick. I made it to the river which was elevated due to the rain. Terrestrial signs showed that the river had flown over the embankment last night. Suddenly, a wild Cutilio appeared. I asked him if he thought it was safe to cross and he said yes. He also reported that a woman had recently cut straight across.

I lifted up my backpack and tied my kra around the top so it wouldn't get wet in the river. Being set, I gripped my walking stick and stepped into the river. Cutilio asked if I needed help crossing, but my famous last words would have been along the lines of "Nah, I got this."

The drop off came quickly, after a few steps I was already waist deep. A couple of steps further and the water reached just below my chest. I held firm, but found I had trouble advancing. I held to my trusty walking stick which vibrated in the current. On the river bed, rocks under the direction of the current attempted to dislodge my feet. It was at this moment I noticed my pockets flowing in the current, with my wallet still inside. My phone was in my other pocket...

Eventually I got myself to advance forward. Fortunately, I had been at the deepest portion and soon the water dropped below my waist and I was on the other side.

I took out my phone which had begun malfunctioning through the ordeal. I removed the battery as the phone was overheating, on top of excessively vibrating and flashing its light.

I waved to Cutilio who took his leave back home. Resting my trusty walking stick along the riverbank, I continued along the trail. There two elderly women approached from the opposite direction. I gave a hearty kuin dekä, but seeing that I was soaked from the chest down they chuckled.

"Cruzaste solo?"

"Sí...?"

They gave off another laugh. "Acabamos de ver a tu amigo que también había cruzado el río solo y pensamos que [tú] no podías hacer lo mismo porque no eres tan fuerte."

I thanked them for the confidence boost before they, presumably, put me to shame crossing the river.

I met up with other volunteers in Curva del Río. There, Sean and I related over the our river crossing ordeal. Later in the day I would pay for a fonda meal with wet dollar bills.

Fortunately, the regional meeting was being held in Changuinola where I was eventually able to purchase a new phone, though $100 can be a lot on a Peace Corps budget. My old phone could not be salvaged.

Meetings

Before our meeting with staff, we as WASH members had a meeting set up with the Regional Health Coordinator of the Ministerio de Salud (MINSA). There we introduced ourselves and got to learn more about MINSA's work and how we might be able to coordinate with MINSA; through the regional office or via the smaller health posts and centers.

After that, staff meetings were held over the next 2-3 days for a few hours each day. Outside of that, were a couple of hours of Ngäbere language reinforcement where those of us who attended received numerous materials for self-study.

Counting in Ngäbere is a little complicated

Hotel

Staying in a hotel was a dramatic change from the campo. There was air conditioning, the beds were slightly more comfortable, there was running water and electricity, as well as a flush toilet. But above all, there was a hot shower. The water pressure was really high, but that was probably for the best as we all could have used a power wash.

Being a city, there were some super markets where you could buy cookies (of the Latin American variety) and other sweets. I'm a fan of Mamut myself, as well as the Arcoiris/Sponch! cookies. There were also fruit and vegetable stands where you could purchase those items that were uncommon in the region like mangoes, papayas, and avocados.

Above all though, most time went to reconnecting with other volunteers (in the region) as well as meeting those volunteers who hailed from older groups and other sectors.

RL Visit

 September 28, 2019

After about a month of a new cohort's arrival in site, the Regional Leader (RL) schedules a day to visit each individual volunteer within their region. This is a means to check-in and offer support. The RL is a former volunteer that has extended service for an additional year. In Bocas del Toro and for the Ño Kribo region of the CNB, that person was Anna "Chona" of G81 SAS. Anyways, Chona was scheduled to visit me the 28th and would come up from Río del Sur which she was to be visiting the day prior. I volunteered to walk down early in the morning to help guide her to Lado Oeste.

I beat my alarm that morning to visit the latrine for a very comfortable pre-dawn session. Soon after, I made may way out for a pleasant morning-hike to Río del Sur. The hike consists of four (4) river crossings, and things get decidedly more feral somewhere after the second river crossing. Of course there are alternative paths that cut out some river crossings, or even all crossings. However, these paths are rougher and require more time to traverse.

Given that I had only been once before, I had to ask for directions to Andres' home upon arrival to the community. Andres was the host father and guide of volunteer Sean "Nidi", and his home was also where Anna had spent the night.

I went up to a random house to ask for directions in this town of over 500 people. They sent one of their kids to show me the way.

I was greeted by Andres and his wife. Soon after Sean and Chona came down to join us. For breakfast we had hojaldres and tuna. Though it should be mentioned that the hojaldres made in this household were the best I've had in all of Panamá. Though Sean is a comedic individual, he unfortunately had to be left behind. On this day, I had a meeting planned in Lado Oeste with members of both communities.

As we departed, Chona handed me an apple and a Snickers bar (a relatively expensive item in Panamá).

We returned a few minutes late for the meeting, but given that everyone shows up at least an hour late for meetings in rural Panamá, this was of no concern. We stopped by my host family's home for second breakfast of tejadas (basically, banana fries) and salchichas. This just so happened to be Anna's favorite meal. Her ability to understand and speak Ngäbere impressed my host family, and myself admittedly. It goes to show how much one can learn in the course of two years.

As people from Ladera started to trickle in, Cutilio blew a concha to signal the start of the meeting and we made our way down. The meeting went well, from what I could recall. In reality, it was just a meeting to plan meetings. The purpose of said future meetings would be to analyze the communities to understand available resources as well as to schedule future work projects. In addition, a member of the Peace Corps, Martín, would be visiting to review this analysis as well as to inspect and approve my future home-for-rent.

I ended the meeting by asking all those who I had yet to visit at their homes to set up a time for me to see them (if they so wished). Afterwards, Chona asked to see the house that was to be rented out to me. Felipe and Cutilio obliged.

At this point, Anna was ready to leave, but then Rosita pulled her aside and told her she wasn't leaving without her bocadillo (in Panamá, this just means an offering of food).

After all, it was Felipe's birthday so there was cake and arroz con pollo to be had. Anna figured that while she was staying, she might as well give me some paperwork to fill out.

With that, a Laderan guided her out so she could make her way to elsewhere. I then hiked up to my signal spot to see if I could remember what a Snickers tasted like.

Jametaka

 September 11, 2019

A quick note about the date: People were generally aware of the 9/11 attacks and knew about Osama Bin Laden. They were also aware of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyways, later in the day I decided to visit Emma who lived high up in the hills by Lado Oeste. I had previously passed by her home when I was taken to check out the intercommunity trails that run through the hills.

I met with her and her husband Enrique and got to know a bit about them. Most vividly, I remember Emma being annoyed with the word Öreba. Supposedly, it's the Ngäbe word for cacao. However she claims the name is improper and gave me 2 other names that she deemed appropriate for cacao. Ironically enough though, I don't remember the "true" names.

We also discussed chickens as she had a decent flock foraging around.

"Los pollos de campo son fuertes." She would tell me. "Las gallinas que compras en la tienda ponen más huevos, pero se enferman y no duran."

As the sun was setting I advised her I needed to get back. She then scooped up a small chicken, inspected it, then handed it to me as a gift.

"Llévelo contigo, déle de comer, y cuando esté gorda, matalo y cómelo." She said, laughing.

"Oh, no sé si puedo hacer eso." I replied. "Si le da un pollo a un voluntario, probablamente va ser más como una mascota. Si lo cuido, no pienso que puedo comarlo."

"Ni comerás sus huevos?"

I looked at the chicken which managed to escape the kra she put it in. She eventually managed to lure it back over to her with rice, before getting a hold of the chicken again.

"Es una hembra?" I asked.

"Sí."

"Entonces, te traeré algunos pollitos cuando nazcan." With that, I held the young chicken in my hand and descended down the hill. At the time, her body was no bigger than a fist. When I returned to Juliana, she knew that the new chicken protocol involved securing them in a kra for an extended period of time. Otherwise, the chicken will try to run off in search of familiar territory.

Jametaka

Under Juliana's house, the chicken would grow. I would supply corn feed to supplement her outdoors diet. Chickens are actually scary beasts if you consider the point of view of the insect or small lizard. Like being chased by a dinosaur, really.

Much of the advice I received regarding chicken rearing would come from Juliana, who once tended a large flock before having Mei. As my chicken grew, she recommended I switch from normal chicken feed to pig feed as pellets are easier for larger chickens to eat.

I asked how it was one could distinguish (young) male chickens from females.

"Por como caminan y actúan." It was something you learned after raising chickens for a while. Though she did initially have some doubts about the gender of my chicken.

Jametaka In Biological Transition

Being at the bottom of the pecking order, she would instantly flee should any chicken come to challenge her over food. As such, I would have to place her in a coop-like structure so she could eat in peace. But this became problematic as she became harder and harder to catch. Luring failed as she stopped approaching food if I was nearby. Fortunately however, she would follow me (at a distance). This allowed me to walk a ways away from the other chickens and to place the food in a hidden area.

Her pacificity was why I chose to give her the ironic name of Jametaka, which means "fighter (f.)" in Ngäbere.

The "campo" chickens around are quite diverse coming in various colors and patterns. There are some that are devoid of plumage above the collar-bone. Others, like the one pictured below appear to have a set of hair and a beard.

Caption Not Needed

Jametaka however was identifiable as the only chicken in the community with feathers running down her legs. Juliana admitted she had never seen a chicken with plumy legs, but I did find a few examples in Ladera.

When I eventually moved into my own home, I decided not to bring Jametaka. The underside of my new home was bare, offering no perch or any place to eventually nest. Though my new home wasn't too far, it was beyond Jametaka's usual range. As such, I prepared to go each morning to Juliana's in order to provide feed. After a couple days, I woke up and Jametaka was at my door. This became a daily occurrence, with her coming by each morning and some afternoons for food before returning back to Juliana's.

Observing chickens for a time shattered my preconceived notions of their (lack of) intelligence. Jametaka proved adaptable to her circumstances in order to secure food and evade other chickens. Outside of Jametaka though, I noticed the chickens were quite sociable (at least with each other) and you'll notice that certain chickens like to group up with each other. To add it all up, when a raptor appears in the sky, a wave of chicken calls go out and the chickens immediately seek cover under the houses while the dogs work to keep the predator away. There was a lot of free time to be had, a lot of mine was spent just observing chickens go about their day.

Sometime in February, mating season occurred (Coincidence? I think not). Roosters made a re-appearance and Juliana informed me that Jametaka started making a certain noise indicative that she would begin to lay eggs.

Sure enough, she started laying eggs in a nest-box.

I asked about the particulars of egg-laying. Summarized, chickens go through cycles so each hen is capable of laying more than one batch. A rooster is necessary to produce fertilized eggs. Every day or so, a chicken will lay one egg before going about its day as normal. Once a chicken has laid all their eggs for the cycle (Around 15-20+), they will begin to sit on their eggs. I had thought previously that if the egg wasn't incubated, it would die. But until the hen begins to sit on the eggs, the chicken embryos will not develop. The fact that the hen begins incubation after all eggs have been laid is the reason they all end up hatching around the same time. Of course, a hen can't effectively sit on (or raise) all the eggs they lay. As such, you're doing a service by removing at least some of the eggs.

A Cluster of Jametaka's Eggs

Jametaka Laying an Egg