Peace Corps Panama #nodaysoff: The Less Rainy Season

The end of January and into February brought the last weeks of the rainy season, well at least the rainier season. With the bad weather, I took some time to visit my neighboring Volunteers and help out with their charlas (informative presentations). My favorite charla was a soap making charla! Using oil, water, and lye, we taught the gente how to make soap on their own and explained that they could save nearly $.75 on every bar of soap if they made it themselves. It was a lot of fun and in a couple weeks we’ll have homemade soap!

We also had a huge meeting with our Diputado (he’s kind of like a mayor, but basically a political big shot). He came to have a meeting about the road being built by my community and the issues affecting the gente. It was packed with people from communities all along the road and lasted nearly 5 hours, but there was free lunch, so the gente stayed for the whole thing! I roamed around with my neighbor Volunteer talking to people and periodically listening in at the meeting. A lot of it was done in Ngabere, so afterwards I had to get the condensed translation from my gente.

In even more exciting news, my community has been getting their act together and organizing better. A couple weeks ago, the Representante (local representative) held a meeting to elect a new Water Committee. This is something I’ve been working towards for my entire service. My previous Water Committee was incomplete and completely dysfunctional: mismanaged aqueduct funds, broken tubes, no maintenance, and a general disinterest in their jobs. Because I did not want to end up in the middle of internal community conflict, I (after 3 failed attempts at elections) left the responsibility of reelecting the Committee to my gente. While they’re not very motivated or organized, the sudden threat from the Representante of losing project funds (and I like to think the year I spent hounding them to do something) spurred them into action. This meeting was attended by an adult from nearly every house in the community and while it was not the most democratic election I’ve ever seen, three hours later we walked away with a new Water Committee! This new group will be receiving funds from the Representante to develop a new water source, tank, and replace the tubes. My focus will be on training the new Committee in organization, group management, and technical aqueduct maintenance. This is a big step for Barranquilla towards improving the community’s access to water.

I also am helping Peace Corps identify new communities that are good candidates to receive a Volunteer. I spent a day hiking to Guabal, a community about 2.5 hours further up into the mountains. It’s a beautiful (but hilly) hike along a gravel road and from certain spots, you can see the ocean and other Volunteer’s communities. Along with some other Volunteers, we met with community leaders and evaluated their interest and feasibility to have a Volunteer.

This week, the WASH Volunteers will meet with the Heath Ministry to help gain better access to resources for the Ñokribo area. This is the area of the Comarca Ngabe Buglé in the Bocas del Toro Province that gets especially ignored by the government. The main area of the Comarca falls with the neighboring Chiriquí Province and Bocas Province does not work within the Comarca. This area should be supported by the Comarca Government Offices, but is farther away and in a different province, so often has access to fewer resources. It was a very productive meeting and will hopefully help gain better access for Ñokribo communities.

In the next few weeks, I will be working a lot with my new Water Committee and starting to work in the school. Vacation is finally over and my minions will be much busier now that classes are starting. And at the end of the month, Maya is coming to visit!! We have big plans and I’m so excited!