Charlas and canasta

I suppose it's time for me to update my loyal audience. Although, I don't know why you guys remain loyal. I'm probably the worst blogger in the short and varied history of blogging. Ah, well. I don't expect to be good at everything, and I more than achieve that low bar, I should say. Let's all celebrate mediocrity!

So, since arriving back in Panama from the holiday jaunt in the States (of which I've included the traditional family photo with the addition of Jeepers, on my lap, my parent's new dog), I've begun my health seminar, had increased interest is basket selling (of which I posted some new, beautiful photos), and finally met with my water committee again. Although, that was really on the sly. They happened to be meeting, and I happened upon them and invited myself. Gotta work with what I get. I did get them to invite me to a meeting with the community next week. So that's something.

The health charlas have been going well. This week we were going to do nutrition, but a woman from my community passed away last week, and the service is all weekend. Instead of trying to compete with that, I postponed it until next weekend. I have to notify people of that, but I'm pretty sure they've already figured it out. I'm getting really into the charlas. They're fun for me because I get to engage them in a different way. Surprisingly, the part of the class where they talk the most is at the end. They come up to me and ask all the questions that they were too embarrassed to ask during the class. So, I've added that as part of the class. It's "sit and talk" time, where we drink our juice or coffee and eat our chips or cookies and discuss the class. We'll see how it goes when I give the nutrition charla next week. This seminar has sparked my interest in medicine, in an interesting turn of events. I don't know how I got from theater to medicine. Life is an interesting, winding road...

Alright, for the baskets that I promised. The first is by a woman named Tereza. It has the big, bright flowers on it. It's about a ten inch diameter, really solid workmanship. Gorgeous piece. I swear, if I had the money, I'd live in a house made of baskets. Every time I see a new one, I want to buy it!


The next one is by a woman name Laira. It's beautiful, and it's OVAL shaped, which is very uncommon. The work is also really exquisite. Once again, a basket I'd love to buy.

This next basket is by a woman named Lulu. She's actually named Ubelia, but everyone calls her Lulu. It's smaller, but nice quality with an interesting jungle pattern to it. I like it a lot. Nice natural colors, too.

Alright, and the following are a different kind a basket, made from a material called nahuala (pronounced nah-wall-uh) that they use for more utilitarian purposes. I requested a few for friends that were interested in having them for their homes, but they've started gifting me baskets, so some of these were gifts to me that are just beautiful! They're a sturdier material, and the colors are all made from roots, fruits, or mud. The women that made these are named Laira (same as above), Elvira and Diesila.

And that's all I have for now. I'll post again in February when I'm further through my health charla with some more photos. Thanks for returning to read, especially when I neglect you. I've got some interesting stuff going on right now, so it'll more fun to blog, I think.

Oh, if you're interested in any of these baskets, email me (mpetersen84@gmail.com) and I'll let you know the price. I'll in the States again the first week of March, so I'm going to bring stuff back with me. Thanks for all your support!

Guess who has internet in her house!?

That's right, the school in my town has internet, and I get it in my house. I'm officially no longer in the Peace Corps. It doesn't matter that there are chickens walking around below my house and most of my neighbors walk around half-clad every day and survive on less than $8 a day, if I have internet in my house, I can't be a real volunteer, right?

So, it's been a LONG time since I've written. I realize that. I apologize to all two of my loyal readers for the embarrassingly long pause between blog posts, but I didn't really think that my mom would mind that much. Since last time I've written, not too much has actually happened in terms of work. I attended a couple seminars and volunteer gatherings (including a Thanksgiving celebration in the brisk Chiriquí--it got as cool as 50 degrees at night!) and then was in site the rest of the time planning a health seminar that I'm going to start giving in January after the holidays. The seminar is going to last ten weeks and touch on nutrition, childhood health, sex ed, cancer, heart attacks, diarrhea and common illnesses in Panamá. There are more things I'd love to talk about, but I'm trying to keep the seminar manageable so that I can conduct a pretest and post test. Wish me luck!

I'll be home for Christmas, getting in on the 22nd and sticking around until the 29th, and I will be bringing canasta home to sell. I have some really lovely, exquisite work to bring home actually for anyone who's interested.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year! I hope I get to see you when I'm home (whoever you are!) If I don't see you, I wish you the best for the holidays!

NEW POST! Yay!

There’s a path in front of my house that, when it rains, it becomes a muddy path, very disagreeable for people to tromp through. I normally wouldn’t bother mentioning my muddy path, except that something else happens on that path when it’s muddy. In my town, there lives a single duck. A white duck with a orange beak that has a very duck-like swaying waddle when he pasears around my town. He’s the sole occupant of that pathway when it is rainy, making his way past my house, turning around at the corner of my neighbors house, and returning to his house. Sometimes he makes two or three laps, but only when it’s raining, when he gets to enjoy the feeling of water in his feathers and mud under his orange, webbed feet. I became so accustomed to the chickens hiding during the rain, that I was surprised when I first noticed this duck. It’s funny, because when it’s dry and sunny, it’s a chicken’s world. Only when it’s raining does the duck reign king.

I don’t know why I mentioned that, except that it’s simple things like that that mark my time here. Again we’ve reached the beginning of orange season. When I started my service last year around this time, we were in the throes of orange season, and there were days when I would eat 10 or 12 oranges a day. I’d gorge, binge, indulge in oranges until my mouth tingled from the bite in the peel and my stomach was full and bloated with orange juice. Then I’d have one more. I’m sure I’ll do it again this year, too. Now I’ve had a year here, I’ve experienced all the fruit and vegetable seasons, I’ve seen every kind of bug, bird, monkey, and lizard that I can imagine, and there’s still so much I haven’t done or seen yet. Good thing I have another year left.

It’s been a very long while since I last wrote, which I had brought to my attention by my dear friend Catherine Basham. So here's my update.

In the last few months, since I've gotten back to Panama from Minnesota, I've been busy mostly training the new group of volunteers, group 66. I've been in and out of the city and in and out of my community trying to coordinate a Tech Week that took place two weeks ago (of which I've posted photos!). I had 21 trainees in my site for 10 days, living and working in and with my community. It went well, thankfully, but at times felt like mayhem. The trainees learned to build composting latrines, pit latrines, a tube bridge, tapstands and they learned how to fix breaks in a water system. At the end of the week, my community had a big despedida (a farewell party) for all the trainees and gave them all little presents. There was a piñata, some food, and some traditional Wounaan dances. By the time the despedida rolled around, I was exhausted. I just wanted everyone to leave so I could sleep for a week! Which is pretty much exactly what I did the following week!

I went to my friend Catherine's site for a little R&R, and we walked up to her toma (her water source) and incidentally swam is some clear pools and waterfalls. I have a tragic life, I know. I've thrown some pictures of that, as well, just to make you all jealous.

Now I'm back in the city, enjoying some city time, time with friends, medical appointments (okay, well I'm not really going to enjoy that part) and then some seminars. I've also added some more photos of my birthday, taken in Coclé, and some canasta by the ladies in my town. Enjoy!

Mi Vida

Above is a shot of my homestay mom Lucia's canasta. Beautiful design, colors and technique. She's selling it for between $150 and $200, but to give you an idea what they're worth in a gallery in the states, check out this link to Michael Smith Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. It's actually a fair trade gallery, but it'll give you a better idea of what this kind of high quality, indigenous art is worth on the private market. There's also a gallery called Rain Forest Baskets that showcases some lovely work, and is worth it just to look at the incredible photos of some massive baskets, but also has some really good information on the Wounaan people an the process of basket weaving.

Okay, that's enough for canasta for the time being. I pour myself into that particular project mostly because my women make my Peace Corps experience so rich. It's definitely helped to provide me with a sense of purpose and direction in my community at times when all my other efforts come to nothing. There are times when I just want to give up on everything related to water and sanitation and just work on this project, but the water and sanitation projects are so important and so vital to the health and wellness of the community, that I just can't give it up. Speaking of water and sanitation, I'll give you an update on what's going on with that.

IDAAN (the agency that provides potable water to communities of more than 10,000 people) has been working on this huge project in the Darién for almost 6 years, and they've finally finished it and are laying the connection tubes. I talked to a contractor that's laying the pipes, and he told me that they have projected completing the project by October, which means that my community would have totally potable water, 24/7 beginning in October. If they agree to the IDAAN contract.

Turns out that "if" is a big one. I had a conversation with my women's group about the possibility of having this water by October, and I anticipated modest resistance, but I was met with outright refusal to accept this water. Their reasoning was that they want "their" water (as in the water that passes through cattle grazing lands about a 3 hour walk from the community), and that they already have chlorination tanks, so why couldn't they just use those and let Arimae and La Lomita (the neighboring communities currently using the same aqueduct) have the IDAAN water? I understand their desire to keep control on their system, but it's essentially rooted in a fear that someone is going to cut them off if they're delinquent on their payment.

On top of that fear, there is also the more problematic issue of their limited understanding of water borne diseases, and the dangers that come with having contaminated water. They also have no idea what a parasite is, and what makes it different from bacteria or a virus, and, most importantly, what's so bad about having them floating around their system. There are definite health issues related to constant infections by amoebas, parasites and bacteria, especially in children. But a lot of the adults in my community have probably developed a pretty healthy resistance to the bugs floating through my system, so the difference for them would be pretty minimal. The difference for them would be availability of water (no one would have to run up to the house and fill all the buckets when water finally comes back in the pipes) and they wouldn't have to ration bathing and drinking water. Furthermore, they would have more time to do their own work, or things they want to work on because they wouldn't constantly have to have meetings and entreat people to go out and fix the line where it has various breaks and punctures. Man power, money, and time would all be saved if they switched over. Even after I made all these logical, totally brilliant and articulate arguments in favor of the other system, they were still pretty set against it. La lucha.

I'm in the city for the next five days. If you have time and want to Skype, let me know what time and I'll make some time to get a hold of people. Much love to all!

Canasta

Here are some photos for everyone to amuse themselves with until I have time to pull together an actual blog post. These are all of the women in my town and their art wares. I've put some info about the canasta (baskets) in the photos for your better understanding. Let me know if you're interested in any of them, though, because they are all for sale.

Take care!

http://picasaweb.google.com/mpetersen84/Canasta?feat=directlink

(This link should get you there, but please tell me if it doesn't!)

Culturally shocked

I'm enjoying some much needed vacation time in Minnesota with my family through next Tuesday, and I have to say, Minnesota in the summer is much cooler than I remember it. There was one night when I slept under a quilt and comforter with socks, sweatpants, a tank top and a sweatshirt on. Pathetic, I know.

Other than the circulation problems, Minnesota is proving to be just what I needed after a really frustrating and difficult month. This month was plagued by inefficient and non-responsive agency (as in government ministries) employees, and a series of health emergencies in my community. As a result, I ended up feeling really useless, which only fed my negative productivity. My trip home could not have come at a better time! I'd like to outline the things I love most about coming back home after 10 months in Panama.

First of all, I'd like to comment on how polite Minnesota men are. I've not once been hissed at, catcalled, touched, provoked or hit on by a single man (which could also be construed as a major failure, but coming directly from Panama, it's refreshing). I went running the other day, and instead of having every car and truck honk at me while drivers and passengers lean out the windows and yell what, because I have my headphones on, I can only imagine are sweet nothings at me, people smiled and said "good morning". And it was a good morning. It was so pleasant, in fact, that I kept walking for another 45 minutes after I finished my run.

Food is my first love. My mom's refrigerator is always stocked with delicious food, restaurants have such a decadent array of food available, it's staggering, and there's always dessert. I've already eaten spaghetti and meatballs, brownies, ice cream, pizza, cobb salad, tuna, fruit salad (most of the fruits probably originated in Central America), pulled pork, gluten-free beer (several different kinds), and more delicious things that I can't remember. Oh yeah, now I remember: lemonade, rice krispy bars, muesli, and fudge. There's probably more.

Other things I love about America: sidewalks, crosswalks (that drivers adhere to), cool breezes, dogs on leashes, dogs that don't have bones showing, English, WiFi, family dinners, porches, bars (especially with outdoor seating), customer service, driving cars, shopping (or window shopping, in my case), yoga classes, and public radio.

Okay, now I have to do a list of things that I miss about Panama to even this out. I miss pasearing, hammocks, thatched roofs, my dog, Spanish, fresh mangoes, pineapples, and guanabana, salsa music, racataca outfits (think lots of spandex, glitter, sequins, animal prints and strategically placed tears), my fellow volunteers, my neighbors and home stay families, a sense of purpose and direction. I have to say, I don't have much to do in Minnesota, so it'll be nice to return to a place where I have a purpose and goals.

Here are some photos of when I went out and fixed a leak in the line with my water committee. I added captions this time, so I hope you know what's going on.

Back to Panama on Tuesday. Happy 4th of July to all!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

I decided that I needed to write a blog post, but once I sat down to do it, I couldn't think of anything to write. I'm going to make an effort, though, since it's been a while.

First, personally this has been a challenging week. My substitute grandmother (my real grandmother's identical twin sister) passed away on Wednesday. I was going to come home to visit this weekend, but her cancer was very advanced and moved too quickly. I love her, and am sorry that I didn't get to see her one more time. I'm also sorry that I can't be with my family right now. I love all of you and am looking forward to seeing you at the end of the month.

As far as work goes, I'm helping my water committee organize an election for a new water committee in the next week or so. Hopefully there will be a MINSA (Health Ministry) representative there, but frankly, I'm not holding my breath. If the vote actually happened and went even moderately well, I would be thrilled. My standards are pretty low for this particular group.

On the other end of the spectrum, my women's coop has arranged dates for a training to recieve their Personeria Juridica (legally establishes them as a group and makes government funding, as well as other types of funding, more accessable). During the meeting with IPACOOP (the agency that handles coops in Panama), we even convinced three more women in the community that were initially on the fence or leaning towards no, to join the group. It was a great meeting, and working with these women continues to be the joy of my service. If only I could figure out a way to replace the water committee with all my coop ladies...

I have a BUNCH of photos that I will, eventually, post. I might do it when I go home. Although, my school is supposed to be recieving internet (WIRELESS, no less) soon, so when that happens, I can post from my house. I didn't even know that this crazy newfangled technology existed! Next thing you know, they're going to figure out a machine that you can just throw food into and cook it in 1 minute and call it a microwave. Crazy, crazy world.

I am going to bring home a few of the best canasta (baskets) when I come home. They're little, but they're from the best artisans in my community, and they're beautiful. If you're interested, let me know and I can send some pictures.

That blog post came easier than I thought it would. Once I forced myself to start typing, it turns out I did have things to say.

One last thing: to all my family, I love you and miss you and will see you soon. Lori, my thoughts are with you. I'm sorry I could not be there, but I look forward to spending some time with you soon.