More Gender and Development Work...

Training Trainers and Cloth Genitalia

(an article written for our Peace Corps Panama Newsletter)

“I am just dying to give this charla,” Rosalba pleaded desperately. “I feel like it’s inside me, and I just need to get it out!”  I paused to take in this remark for a moment. We were in the middle of a Project, Management, and Leadership training and my often indifferent student was suddenly spilling over with enthusiasm.  “HIV is soooo important”, she emphasized her words in the way only a determined 17 year-old can. “We have to teach more people, Natalie!”

“Ok”, I said still in shock, “I agree. Let’s make a plan.”

When I arrived in Panama, I had no prior experience teaching sexual health. I scoured the internet for videos of Peace Corps Volunteers and routinely came across clips of eager volunteers teaching a class of youngsters or a group of adults huddled under a shady tree with familiar diagrams of reproductive systems behind them. This is how I imagined a PCV, and yet, I could NOT imagine myself teaching The Birds and The Bees and proper condom use, especially in Spanish. It just seemed way beyond my skillset; I was convinced I lacked the KSAs.

Jump forward a year and a half later and you find me in front of a huge group of Gad Campers, adorning a lovely, hand-crafted felt penis with felt sexually-transmitted infections. “Yes, this one will burn a bit,” I explained in Spanish, and with a straight face (if you have seen these notorious felt genitals in Gad’s possession you will understand why this last part is a huge achievement). At the time, I was amazed by how cliché this moment seemed as far as “typical” Peace Corps experiences go. I also realized how far I’d come since the days of my pre-service insecurities. What I admittedly didn’t consider in that moment however, became far more important.  I didn’t think about the great and unexpected impact my boldness would have on my 2 campers.

Since Gender and Development Youth Camp concluded in January 2013, Rosalba and Oliver, both age 17, have partnered with Muchachas Guias to deliver HIV/AIDS presentations using Vida Sana, Pueblo Sano materials to two neighboring communities and their schools, with plans to cover even more territory in the near future. They have mobilized a group of their friends, family and their profesora to assist in these interactive trainings. They have organized transportation, and once when it proved unavailable, they walked 2 hours and crossed a river to give their presentation. With practice, they have overcome fits of giggles and learned how to successfully facilitate a sensitive topic to audiences young and old.

The moral of this story is profound. To make our work as volunteers sustainable, we need to think of every charla or even deep conversation with an attached lesson as an opportunity to become a Trainer or Trainers.  Sometimes we may not feel up for this challenge, and our insecurities about not being “experts” seem insurmountable. Despite this, we forge onward, we make grammatical mistakes, and we hope that some seed of knowledge sticks in fertile ground. I couldn’t be more proud of Rosalba and Oliver. I feel even prouder to be able to witness their accomplishments as young leaders and educators and share them with the Peace Corps Panama community.

 So the next time you think you can’t teach to train future trainers, remember this: you never know who you may empower to invoke personal behavioral change, and better yet, become a teacher to inspire others to do the same.  

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”                                                   – Henry Books Adams, American journalist, historian and academic.

 

More Obama and Baby Mamas

Election Night 2012 … in Panama (November 6, 2012)

Just me and my mountain view. It’s a foggy evening with a cool breeze and a slight drizzle inching its way in across my backyard valley. I have a newly adopted white dog at my feet and a curious cat trying to pounce at my typing fingers. The canine adoption was his idea, not mine. Good thing the rice in the bottom of the pot sufficed for all.

It’s an evening like any other, well in some senses. Today is Election Day in the United States. Many of my neighbors have asked me my political preferences, as if they couldn't guess. Republicans in Peace Corps are quite the minority. Unfortunately, a combination of distance and confusion as to my home of reference has left me without my absentee vote. Believe me, it feels pretty awful to be serving, representing and employed by the U.S. government and not be able to have a voice in a presidential election. Either way, I just pray whoever wins can live up to the performance of Martin Sheen in the West Wing. (don’t ask, I finally gave in and allowed myself to watch american tv shows on my computer at night and, in the world of a PCV, the 2001 series is quite addictive.)

In Panama, it’s a day like any other. Another one of my students is pregnant. That’s three this year. Three that have dropped out of school at the age of 15 or 16 to become young mothers. To be clear, I am not condemning young motherhood, nor am I assuming that these young women may not one day return to school to finish their studies. This scenario is actually not too uncommon in rural Panamanian families that support their daughters with 24/7 childcare to allow them to work and attend college. I can only be bothered by the facts; early pregnancy is a very real contributor to the poverty cycle, and that there will be difficult obstacles for these young ladies to finish high school or advance their education. I spoke with the girls’ teacher today about these heartbreaking realities and she referenced a seminar I did with two other volunteers in their class in July. She said she thought the lessons we taught would have sunk in. She looked away and shook her head regretfully.

The seminar we facilitated is called Elige Tu Vida* or Choose Your Life and focuses first on values and goal setting, and then moves into sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and information about the risks of early pregnancy. We even did a pretty thorough condom demonstration complete with a skit about all the ways NOT to open or store a condom (opening one with a machete is a big no-no by the way!). I can’t imagine a school in the states whose curriculum includes Christian religious education would also allow condom demonstrations. Panama, however, seems to take a more liberal or perhaps more realistic view on religious doctrine and social issues, such as HIV infections and teen pregnancy.

I spoke with a friend of the most recent of the expecting mothers to drop-out today. I asked her why, if this young lady is so intelligent and has so much potential, would she not protect herself from early pregnancy. The response I received was bleak. “She knew,” the friend remarked, “she didn't protect herself because the man asked her not to.” She told me the guy had told her it felt better that way (without a condom) in so many words.  I immediately felt sick to my stomach. I knew that based on statistics that this “muchacho” wouldn't stick around to support his girlfriend and her future child based on both their ages and lack of incomes. This situation would inevitably affect the likelihood that the mother would be able to rise above her circumstances and the poverty level.  Then, I had another thought. I had hoped that the education and empowerment we had tried to impart in the seminar would have made an impact. I guess I idealistically clung to the assumption that we, as volunteers, had made a difference.

Sitting with 3 of this girl’s female classmates who quietly read books with me in the school library amid the frequent buzzing of their cell phones signaling new texts from friends and boyfriends, I silently pondered; maybe we had made a difference. The young woman to my left loves horror novels and is a very talented artist. She has many hopeful ideas about what her future as a professional holds. Across the table sits the rowdy loud-mouth with the booming laughter who is determined to be a nurse. She says that no man will keep her from going dancing, and that she doesn't want to start a family until she turns 25. And finally, the girl seated on my right, the oldest of 6 brothers and sisters, has just enrolled in the university 2 hours from home. She will be studying accounting starting in February of next year and hopes to one day help her family run an eco-tourism business.  

These three young women give me hope. Even with so many obstacles stacked against them, they remain focused on personal successes, on studying hard, and they are all waiting to become mothers. They are a support to each other. Despite this glimpse of hope, I also wish I could do more to support them and reinforce these positive choices. Maybe just by being their friend, talking about their concerns, their dreams and modeling what a woman can achieve by not dropping out or having a baby too young I am doing a small part. I hope they know they have options. I hope they, and they alone, choose their life.   

One positive work-related development has been that we are currently planning an environmental youth leadership camp planned for next February based on the Project, Management and Leadership seminars Peace Corps Panama facilitates with each round of volunteers and their respective adult counterparts. My goal is to give participating youth the leadership skills and tools to help them form an effective environmental youth group. The youth group will not only engage in exciting conservation and experiential education, but will also build self-confidence and provide a sense of belonging among peers with shared values. The seminar will also involve adult community leaders who will act as mentors to these proactive teens throughout the camp and in future activities. With help from the students, I have written a grant to cover the costs of the seminar, and if selected, the seminar will be funded by USAID’s Small Project Assistance (SPA) program. This program provides small grants (usually under $5,000) for qualifying projects from Peace Corps Volunteers and their communities.  

If all goes according to plan, we will be holding the leadership camp in a beautiful mountain reserve in the heart of the Azuero Peninsula, a reserve famous for being the headwaters of the Rio La Villa, the most important river in the region. Farther down this same river sits our community, where the watershed is threatened by heavy deforestation. The environmental leadership seminar therefore will allow students to make connections about the conservation efforts occurring at different points along the river and be inspired to take action. It will also provide an impressive setting for recreation and bonding among group members. We hope to leave the seminar with completed mission and vision statements, as well as a plan of action to begin group activities towards concrete objectives.

It’s still raining and time feels to sluggishly crawl along. But in reality, my service is rushing by…

Here’s to hoping more states start turning blue on the tiny map on my cell phone screen…

Here’s to hoping we’re making a difference in Panama.

*Elige Tu Vida is an initiative of the Gender and Development (GAD) group of Peace Corps Panama, to learn more check us out on facebook or read about our work in the La Vaina Peace Corps Panama Newspaper available on the Friends of Peace Corps Panama website http://www.panamapcv.net/

Students learn proper condom use to prevent
 HIV infection and unwanted early pregnancy

making SMART goals for the future
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Sensitive)

The "Baby Game" teaches that being a teen daddy isn't so fun...
Watch out for that crazy gringa baby momma! 

fact of fiction - demystifying sexual health  myths

The Graduates of Elige Tu Vida Seminar from El Cedro

Too busy writing articles for our Panamanian Newsletter to blog...

Annual Healthy Women´s Artisan Seminar; achieving goals 1, 2, 3… and 4?
by Natalie Petrucci CEC 68 and GAD Secretary

In July 2012, the 2nd Annual  Healthy Women´s Artisan Seminar brought
talented women from across the Isthmus together for 4 days of
trainings, artisan practice, charlas on womens´ rights issues and
nutrition and much more! These ladies left empowered to be confident
saleswomen and group organizers. They also gained the tools and
knowledge to manage their business and improve the health and
wellbeing of their households. The fight to give the final
¨palabras¨of thanks and praise for the seminar amongst the
participants was a clear indication that the lessons had hit home and
everyone enjoyed their brief vacation from their material and spousal
commitments to the fullest.

As a facilitator, I felt like the seminar had a greater impact than
its intended goals of improving health and business practices of a
group of Panama´s  talented artisans.  To process these ponderings, I
began to reflect  on how we volunteers had achieved each of the 3
Goals of Peace Corps service.  Firstly, we had without a doubt
fulfilled goal number one, of meeting the need of trained men and
women. Our fabulous team of facilitadoras, including the last of a
dying breed of Community Economic Development Divas, impressed us all
with their abilities to make business planning and money management
trainings engaging and relevant for even the least confident
mathematician in the room. Through their efforts, I witnessed  a
woman master a calculator for the first time in order  to realize the
true monetary value of her work. Maybe it was all the estrogen in the
room, but seeing this woman succeed definitely brought a tear to my
eyes.
Beyond the business side of things, we were blessed with an expert
panel of SAS ladies who spoke on family nutrition and gardening, our
very own GAD Coordinator, Laura Geiken, presenting on early childhood
development, and a team of local allstar Panamanian professionals
covering  a range of topics, including domestic violence legal rights,
sexual health and family planning.   Goal 1: Check!

Next we have Goal 2, promoting understanding of Americans on the part
of Panamanians. While I feel we are almost constantly succeeding at
goal 2 by mearly being our goofy gringa selves, I did have the honor
of channeling my inner Billy Blanks (and ¨The Crew¨ in super tight
spandix) to lead morning Tae Bo classes to seal the deal. Morning
exercise was a great way to get the group pumped up and share a bit of
American culture. Plus, the women really enjoyed seeing how high they
could kick in a paruma or nagua. Get it sisters!  Goal 2: Check . As
for goal number 3, this very article, as well as the countless stories
we share with loved ones back home about events like the Healthy Women
Artisan Seminar are examples of how we can open the eyes of Americans
to the reality, beauty, and hardship that exists in everyday life in
Panama. Goal 3: Check Again.

While I felt warm and fuzzy about all this goal achieving, I left the
Artisan Seminar thinking that for my two women from the Herrera
province, the significance of the seminar fell into a completely
different category all together. So what impact could be greater than
the 3 holy Goals of Peace Corps?  In an attempt to articulate this
sensation, I am proposing a new, nebulously worded  4th Peace Corps
Goal,  that could go something like this:

4.      Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples served on
the part of the peoples served.

If your reaction is something along the lines of ¨Hugh?¨ let me
explain. When our buss pulled into San Felix, my two Herrerana
artisans pointed at a Nogbe woman with stares and a hushed voice ¨Mire
a la india.¨ In their defense these women rarely leave our small
prominately Latino province and with the innocence of children, tend
to point out things that are novel or different to them (it happened
many times in the trip). Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to
educate. ¨Those women are not Indias, they are Nogbe, their dresses
are called naguas and they maintain their cultural identity and
traditions by wearing them, etc, ect.¨

No matter the attempts to rid racial or cultural stereotypes however,
words from a norteamericana do very little to change stigmas or
attitudes. For my two women, being among a Latina minority for the
first time in their lives  was the most powerful lesson learned from
the seminar. I watched them grow from being obviously timid to showing
outward signs of affection and frienship towards women from Bocas,
Darien, Colon and the Comarcas.  One stood up to speak about domestic
violence and how all of us women of Panama  need to band together in
the fight and support one another. Another left stitching
traditionally Nogbe ¨dientes¨on her handcrafts and sewing a canasta
Embera style.

By the last day, I watched my two ladies exchange hugs and cell phone
numbers with their fellow artisans, but most importantly,  that
¨India, ¨ who on day 2 became that ¨Indigena,¨ progressed to be simply
called, my friend Selina, or my friend Isabell.  And while they didn´t
sign up to be painted with jagua, I can attest to their attitude
change and growth as individuals, understanding more about their own
people from different parts of the country and seeing them as equals.
Afterall  we are all devoted mothers, daughters, sisters and in this
case, healthy empowered artisans.


Reference : Peace Corps Website
The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need
for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of
the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part
of Americans.

To the tune of "Flash Gordon" theme song by Queen... "Trash! Ahhhh She saved every piece of trash!"

La Feria de Reciclaje, from May 18, 2012 - photo credits by Emily Ure

“Reducir, Reutilizar, Reciclar” could be heard from small enthusiastic voices chanting in unison from across the school courtyard as myself and 4 of my colleges took over the school day at the Gregorio Gonzalez elementary to plant a seed of awareness. This same morning, Thursday, May 17^th, marked World Recycling Day, and my first attempt to initiate a school program/project in my Peace Corps community. Though chaotic and somewhat pieced together the night before the event, the recycling fair went off without a hitch and nearly according to schedule. Another noteworthy first was staring in a play in Spanish as the pollution fighting superhero Carla Conservacion (“Contra la Contaminacion!”) as she conquered her arch nemesis Senor Basura. The kids and teachers were pretty stoked to say the very least!

Recycling is a difficult concept and practice to grasp for many United States citizens, let alone a rural community lacking of ANY kind of waste management program. However, Panamanian agency and local NGO support have made it possible to realize a small scale school recycling program with the hopes of educating all community members about the 3 R’s. Luckily, the principles or reusing trash and reducing garbage produced are not so foreign, and represent everyday practices. Prime example; when I first got to my host family and went through my (inevitable) first jar of peanut butter in what is a shameful week and a half, I magically found the jar washed, dried, and filled with coffee the next day. Similarly, eating locally grown food significantly cuts down on the amount of plastic packaging that has to be brought into the pueblo. No complaints here!

The idea of recycling, however, or even separating and collecting trash, are completely new concepts here in El Cedro. In the last few days, as I attempted to hype up this Recycling Fair, I encountered questions from community members such as “will you burn the items collected to recycle?”, to which I responded “Well, no. The point is that we don’t want to burn trash and if we recycled we will have less to burn/ be saving resources and energy etc. etc.” I have to have patience and really take the time to explain things clearly. In our culture in the States, we are raised with recycling programs and “Don’t be a litter bug” campaigns.  Here, the only option is to burn or throw your wastes into the monte (aka, the wilderness behind your house).  No wonder trying to educate the community about better waste management practices is a slow and challenging process.

To quickly sum up the activities of our fair : The fair included 3 stations with slightly different topics that each classroom group visited for half an hour before cycling to the next activity. In one room we had a power point presentation given by Ruth from Azuero Earth Project (and a visiting University of Florida undergrad researcher who was such a pleasure to meet! GO GATORS!). The presentation focused on the importance of recycling and some shocking statistics about how long items such as plastic bags or bottles take to disintegrate in the environment. In Station two we presented a demonstration, commonly referred to as Pollution Soup in Peace Corps, where we polluted a clear water container with common contaminants such as oil, soap, trash and coffee grounds to represent human or animal feces. The kids progressively became more and more disgusted with the water quality and then were asked if they thought our local river and many creeks were also full of these same materials. Most of them got the point and agreed that it is VERY important to protect our water resources from pollution. The second part of this station was a recycling relay race, in which students raced to separate recyclables from trash and put items in the correct recycling tanks. Watching students hop with a green balloon between their knees to the tanks was a definite highlight! Lastly, our third class room activity consisted of a fun dinamica or ice breaker in which we demonstrated the effects of habitat destruction caused by pollution and burning on animal populations. We had all the students stand within a rope circle on the floor (their habitat) and gradually made the rope circle smaller and smaller with each environmentally unfriendly action. The kids realized how little space they had to live and some got kicked out of the circle, representing death in this case. We concluded this activity by having the kids make figurines of endangered animals of Panama with home-made play dough. They had a blast. The day concluded with a play we performed in the park and a park and school clean-up. Our park now has its first trash receptacle and is looking spiffy thanks to the work of many students’ thorough cleaning. Let’s see if they keep this up and remember to use the trash can/ recycling tanks tomorrow. Behavioral change is a lofty, but necessary goal to keep in mind.

Entonces… today I am feeling grateful and inspired. I am grateful for my friends, without whom, none of the success of the event would have been possible. On their own dime, they came to my community, got to work and forgave me for being super stressed by the whole thing. They truly had my back. I am equally thankful to Azuero Earth Project for being so easy to work with and so engaging for students and community members alike! Claro tengo que mencionar La ANAM también, que siempre me apoya tanto y viene a mis eventos. ¡Ustedes son fantásticos!

I feel inspired to get more involved. I want to continue cooking up crazy schemes to motivate and engage my community in the name of environmental education. Above all, I am inspired by my kids. Hearing their laughs as I pranced around the park in my green, trash bag chic, Carlita Conservacion costume brought an unforgettable sense of satisfaction. People are talking, people are learning, and we are making this happen!

This leaves me with a personal mantra of reflection. “Don’t be afraid to be unconventional, you only have 2 years, but the impact and friendships you make will seguir adelante (continue forward)!”

I hope to get some pictures of this event online as soon as possible!

Ending highlight of my day: When posed the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” to a group of lingering children on my door step by one of my fellow visiting volunteers, little Sugeries age 5 remarks “I want to be a Gringa like Natalia” Giving “Gringas” a good name; if that’s not a goal of Peace Corps accomplished, then I don’t know what is. Precious!

Look who's back to bloggin!

3 de mayo 2012

I just celebrated one year in Panama. I never really considered how my life would look a year into this experience, how my daily interactions would be, what my food or home would look like, what I would look like, even. Nada. It’s surprising how much and how little has changed. I imagine I won’t know the half of how I have changed until I return home and take a glimpse at myself next to “integrated” Americans. I know I don’t worry about the things I used to and here I worry about things that would have seemed a bit crazy a year ago. If it rains too hard, will anyone leave their porch to come to an environmental volunteer meeting on time (aka, an hour late at best)? If my horse won’t climb this hill, and it comes to a battle of wills, will I be able to drag him up behind me? If one of my eco-stove bricks cracks, how much cow poop mix will save it? Will I ever have enough phone credit to call my grandma?

Having my amazing family members and family friends visit in March, which was amazing by the way, really allowed me to see how I have changed personally. My values, patience, and ability to sit and listen to others have been dramatically enhanced. I can give time and space to a person or situation like never before. I can respect my elders and admire hard-work. I see humility, grace and wisdom in others on a daily basis. I would call all of this a positive influence. 

So personally I am very content. Sometimes I am lonely, but never alone. Sometimes I am frustrated that I can’t be “normal” or my interpretation of normal based on my cultural upbringing. It is difficult to have guy friends and sometimes people don’t take you seriously as a work partner because you are young and a woman. I have wished I could just take a night off and go out with my girlfriends in St. Petersburg and live the life I used to live without guilt or worry about how drinking a beer in public, or dancing too much would affect my image. Gossip is a plague of every small town. 

On the other hand, the thought of being at home and being in the places I used to frequent remind me of the sinking feeling I often felt in times where I wasn’t quite sure in which direction my life was leading. Unfulfillment, an absence of community, a total disconnect from something greater than myself and my head. I know that wherever the future takes me, I want to continue doing work I believe in 100%. I envision myself striving to improve the world, understand its people and spark social change. Call my American, but my work is very much tied to myself identity and worth.  

So what have I achieved (aka my community has achieved) as of late to make me feel so thankful and happy for my work in Panama? I will try to sum up major achievements in bullets, although it will be hard for me not to elaborate more. Maybe in a future post… (and apparently the pictures decided to add themselves here)

• We have started a semi-functioning environmental group in a community where groups come and go as fast as a good bowl of sancocho. 

• My eco-stove marketing tactics have reached an estimated 500+ people directly or indirectly through extensive flyering and nonchalant chats, patio to patio. 

• I saw transformational leadership occur at the Project Management Leadership Seminar Peace Corps professionals put on every year for volunteers and their work counterparts. My counterpart spoke in public (quite well actually) in front of an audience of 80 people for the first time in his 47 years of life. He also presented his artisan work, sold a few items, and received a HUGE boost in confidence from the experience. He started the week as my “brick-making guy” and ended it as my friend and teammate. He wants to plant trees along the watersheds of town and save us all from the ravages of excessive deforestation. 

• We (brick guy/friend) successfully organized a 4-day work junta in late March to make over 400 bricks for 20 Tower Eco-Stoves that conserve firewood and produce less smoke than the typical stove made of two cement blocks. The fact that 4-5 people went each day to work in the heat without being paid was incredible. But it was actually a ton of fun and a great environment to talk about THE ENVIRONMENT.  I also made an effort to invite women to participate (since they will be the ones benefitting the most from this improved cooking technology) and work side-by-side with the men and I. I took pictures and even showed them to other women who had doubts about their ability to do the work. “Hey if SHE can get ankle deep in a horse poop-dirt mix pool so can you” [think I Love Lucy and the grape squishing, but don’t worry dried horse poop doesn’t smell]

• We have now successfully built 9 stoves as part of the original pilot project group, one guy has made his own bricks and built 2-3 more and my stove-guy-friend is now getting contracts from other communities to build stoves for cash. CHING CHING! 

• I finally had the guts to be the lead on a stove build and taught people with WAAAAAYYYY more building experience how it’s done. I should really practice construction vocabulary a bit. 

• I have started my recycling education outreach efforts and have already had a few amazing classes in the school on such topics as renewable resources and nonrenewables, organic vs. nonorganic wastes, life cycles of different waste products, how long trash stays in the environment and the effects of certain everyday materials in our habitat, the 5R’s (reducir, reciclar, reutilizar, reparar, y rechezar – not sure what the last one means in English but it suggests that we should think about a product’s contents before we buy it and buy less plastic packaging if possible because it is harder to recycle).

• My kindergarteners are teaching their parents what we want to start recycling 

• I have wowed people with my recycled (well reutilized) artwork and jewelry. I am personally very proud of my Peace Corps themed milk carton clutch purse. 

• We have started seed collecting to reforest the most beautiful and most endangered wild area in town. My neighbors and friends told me it is best to plant fruit trees that give an abundance of shade because people will not cut them down for wood and they attract more birds and animals (REALLY?!!! YESSSSS!!!! ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS!) The best part was that the majority of the seed collectors are 4th grade girls. 

• My cat is pregnant and about to pop! Not an achievement but pretty interesting to watch her grow and grow!

• People are coming to ME with ideas

• I found two fantastic women to apply to a Healthy Women’s Artisan Seminar in July (hope they get accepted!)

• Gender and Development Youth camp has been rescheduled for June and I am going to be a facilitator! I will be co-presenting about self-esteem and self-image… goodness if only I could have a conversation with myself at any time in my life from age 12-20! I am sure being able to inspire young Panamanians will be very rewarding. 

• I have my very own house and am learning to cook. My specialties so far include a very mean vegetarian chow mein with Thai peanut sauce and a jalapeño cheddar tuna quesadilla. I also recently attempted a spinach, goat cheese, sundried tomato quesadilla (Ciccio’s inspired) while in the city and it was fabulous!

• I started a recycling initiative while working as a maintenance volunteer leader at the pool arena during the Special Olympics Caribbean and Latin American Games 2012. I taught local high school volunteers about our mission and got them involved. We saved about 50-60 large garbage bags of plastic water bottles from destinations that would have included: dirty landfills, the ocean and burning. True behavioral change was observed with our bosses (Bank CEOS from Bano General) were making the effort to separate the bottles from the trash and agreed to bring the materials to the center. Turns out their business also encourages recycling… but the difference is actually doing it!

• I danced like a fool and made spaghetti and meatballs out of play dough with some of the most inspiring and fun Special Olympian athletes from 15 or so different countries. The Special Olympics are such an outstanding organization and I encourage anyone who hasn’t been to a practice or a world event to find one locally and go and meet the athletes and their families. AMAZING PEOPLE! Seriously, I met one swimmer from Honduras that spoke 2 languages and was learning 2 more. He had graduated from school and studied computer science. He loves Lincoln Park and Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Special” really takes on a whole new meaning. Oh yeah, he also won a gold medal in swimming on an international level. NO BIG DEAL 

This is such a small highlight of events from life. I have chosen to focus on the work stuff, which is truly only part of the bigger picture of life. I hope everyone speaks with my family to hear their take on their trip! I also failed to mention how exciting Carnival (Panamanian Mardi Gras for 5 days) was with my fellow volunteers and new friends and that I am now scuba certified! My first dives in Isla Coiba national park included many 6ft sharks and sea turtles! Thanks to someone special for planning the trip and making our dream of diving a reality with me. 

I love you all at home and think of you constantly! 

XO y mucho cariño, 

Natalie 

Life Moves Faster...

Blog Update From  Jan 8th-20th, 2012

ECO STOVES!

CAMBUTAL, LOS SANTOS SEA TURTLE FIELD TRIP!

  

VIEWS FROM Cerro Peñón 

SOME EYE CANDY TO GET YOU ALL EXCITED ABOUT READING! 

Firstly, I would like to wish my dear friends Brittany and Kevin a very happy and special one year wedding anniversary! You two are an inspiration and a beautiful example of love between two very beautiful people inside and out! I am wishing you all the best and remembering such a fun time last year. Keep on rocking on you two!

Another milestone is that today marks one year since I learned that I had passed the medical portion of my Peace Corps application. I could not have pictured my life as it is today, and yet that seems like just yesterday. The weird part is, on January 8, 2011 I remember very clearly being surrounded with people I had known since kindergarten (Thanks to Britt and Kevs’ wedding) and loved sharing their company and catching up on our lives. Today I spent January 8, 2012 splashing away in the Rio La Villa and eating arroz con puerco while being surrounded by people I didn’t know 6 months and 4 days ago! Now they are like family, or extended family, but family just the same. I somehow fit into about 4 different families in this community, which is a big accomplishment considering there are really only 4 family names, give or take a few randoms that snuck in.

As of 4 days ago, I am now in my 6^th month in my site. SIX MONTHS. Where was I when SIX months passed by. What happened to me being able to say “estare en su comunidad por dos anos” now I have to say “I will be here 18 months” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Sorta triste if you ask me. Considering these last six months I racked my brain with planning and ideas for projects and wondering how the heck I will get started, suddenly everything is a bit overwhelming. I feel like work is finally taking off and every day I meet a new “hidden” counterpart. My conversations with people have taken a whole new level, whether we are talking about the United States, the culture of Panama, or the environment and how we can conserve El Cedro’s resources and natural beauty, people are opening up and we are really sharing. No more of this “going to rain today?” business. Wait. Who am I kidding? Guessing the weather will always be a good conversation no matter how much confianza I have with someone. It’s just la vida.

So… updates, I have already begun backtracking so I will continue in that direction. This past week, Jan 5^th, I had THE most successful work day as a Community Environmental Conservation volunteer. In my last update I described our November In-Service Training (IST) sessions. These trainings capacitate us, the volunteers, so that we can bring knowledge and technical skills back to our sites to train others. I decided to do one even better and lead my own jira, or seminar, for a group of my community members, modeled after the exact training I received during IST. I am lucky enough that Peace Corps sent us to the site of one of my closest volunteer, John’s  site to learn about a new eco-stove model  he is implementing in the community. The proximity allowed us easy access to the great activities going on in La Canoa, and an opportunity to learn from our environmentally-conscious neighbors.

So why the focus on improving stoves?  A stove, or fogón in rural Panama, usually consists of a wood-burning contraption consisting of three stones on the ground or more likely in El Cedro, a fire in between two cement blocks. The fogón is the focal point of the Panamanian kitchen or patio, and plays a strong role in local culture and food. Everyone in the household benefits from what this stove produces (yummy food) and nearly everyone, both male and females works to sustain it through the process of collecting, chopping and feeding wood into the fire. Unfortunately, nearly everyone is also receiving the negative impacts of this stove.  Traditional fogóns are not very efficient, due to their inability to trap in heat to cook rapidly and cleanly. Instead, they emit large amounts of smoke that the hardworking cooks, usually women, and nearby children are constantly inhaling. These fogóns also consume large amounts of wood, meaning that more trees are being cut down and more time is being spent looking for wood, usually by men, which can be very difficult in the rainy season. Traditional cooking models also have the unfortunate quality of being very dangerous, with women, children and even animals often suffering serious burns.  

Eco-stoves, take many names and forms, can be hand-made or industrialized and can be found all around the work where steps are being taken to improve the cooking experience and reduce the demand on environmental resources for countless families who depend on firewood for all of their cooking needs.

The stove my community members and I learned about is called the Estufa Torre (Tower Stove) for it’s cool tower/castle looking shape.  The Estufa Torre is being developed by another CEC volunteer, Chris, who researched other rocket stoves and the fancy Eco-Justa stoves, to design an eco-stove that shared the same design and efficiency principles, but at a fraction of the price. Or better yet, potentially free.

How can this be possible? The answer is; the use of local materials and local labor. Many stove models are made of bricks, which while not extremely costly, are often difficult and expensive to transport. The Tower Stove eliminates this problem by using bricks made from local materials (clay, sand, dry grass) and using wooden molds that can be made at a low cost (about $50). Furthermore, when all of the labor is local, there is no technico (tech person) waiting for their paycheck. Instead, the very people who will eventually be enjoying their new efficient wood-burning cookstove will be becoming invested in the project, working shoulder to shoulder with Peace Corps volunteers and other community members, and gaining a huge sense of personal achievement and satisfaction. Not only will they feel good about using their new stove because of its health and environmental benefits, but they will ideally feel empowered and have learned a new skill. If their stove needs fixing in the future, they are there ready with the molds, materials and manpower to get the job done, hence eliminating the need for a “project” or “Peace Corps.” That’s the overall goal, working ourselves out of the job.

So, back to my super successful day… after talking up these stoves for over a month, I convinced 14 of my community members to spend an afternoon with me in La Canoa to learn about and actually MAKE a tower stove! While most left with clean hands, everyone was very involved in the learning process. A huge shout out THANK YOU to John and his main man Sergio as well as his community counterpart Santiago for making my job easy and enlightening all of us. We concluded with a tour of Santiago’s organic farm, worm fertilizer hub, compost latrine, and tree nursery in the works. While a bit overwhelming all at once, I think the training day really opened eyes to the possibilities and benefits of sustainable solutions, environmentally and health friendly alternatives to aspects of their every-day lives. The only part that may have fell on deaf ears was the suggestion to use urine as a fertilizer. I know that chemically it has its benefits, but my people laughing and making jokes sort of made me smile. “Humanure” is not for everyone sadly, at least without more education that it.

The other amazing part of the day was that my ANAM counterpart is helping us make progress in our struggle to re-protect Cerro Peñón, which is the beautiful wild area behind my house whose former protection status has run out, leaving it even more vulnerable to the threat of uncontrolled burning agricultural practices and endangered species hunters. I worked with a close friend and university students (studying tourism but leaning towards eco-tourism interest) to write a very convincing letter with pictures of our trip to Peñón to the regional head in charge of protection status. We also had every person who attended the training, as well as a few members of the neighboring community of La Canoa sign the request for further investigation into our favorite nature destination.  Don’t worry, I will try to put up some Peñón pictures as soon as I can get good internet again, but if you are hankering to see this spectacular view take a look at Maura’s recent facebook pictures from her trip to visit me. J

Soooo that takes us back to New Years and Christmas. To be brief I had two very special holidays in Panama with very incredible groups of people. A Gringa Christmas and a very Panamanian New Years. Christmas was honestly the first time I was really missing home, cool weather, best friends, an all sea-food dinner and of course festivities at Grandma’s (aka Dodeeo’s) house. Instead I spent Christmas Eve at a baile complete with Cantadera (think Panamanian sing-off or rap battle, note: It is my goal to master this art before I leave Panama! Dad, expect to help me out with this when you get here, although we may need a Spanish rhyming dictionary.) and tipico dancing. There were 6 Peace Corps volunteers and one JICA volunteer, which is our Japanese equivalent!  I was really excited to meet our JICA neighbor volunteer and learn about the work they are doing in Panama. Once again, I am truly amazing by how two sets of bilingual people can find their common language (in this case Spanish) to communicate. We spent the whole next day enjoying each other’s much missed company and making veggie black bean burgers. Such a random Christmas morning. By far the best part of Christmas day was when my friend Bianca received a marriage proposal at her local tienda by a deaf man via informal sign language. Him taking out his wallet to show us the ONE DOLLAR bills as part of the incentive to wed was hilarious. Oh Bianca! Just another day in the life of a female Peace Corps volunteer.

I was also lucky enough to spend New Year’s with some dear family friends at a full on eating and dancing fest! For a group of 10-15 people, we had 3 hams and a turkey, two bowls of potato salad and a pot of rice large enough to hold a washing machine! Strange image, but that’s the exact size, I swear. I am so lucky to have so many people here embrace me and invite me to their family events. I had a blast dancing, but unfortunately was in bed before the Smirnoff drinking grandma had quit the dance floor. Americans do not know how to party in my opinion! The same amazing woman was the first one up in the morning serving breakfast to the hungover crowd of men and cleaning incessantly. Panamanian women are something else!

And lastly, I would like to backtrack to November 30^th, 2011, a day that will live in infamy as the day I learned a very important lesson, well make that two important lessons, #1 ; you can never over-plan and #2; always bring a few barf bags on school field trips.

I had been planning since August to take a trip down to the Azuero Peninsula coast to visit my friend and fellow CEC volunteer, Alyssa, and her spectacular site. Cambutal, Los Santos is one of the rare locations in the world where various species of endangered sea turtles come from around the globe to nest on its sandy beaches. The area is also unique in that it hosts an abundance of mangrove populations and an estuary habitat which hosts a vast array of interesting flora and fauna. It is also hands down one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen in Panama, an untouched beach stretching out between green hillsides.

So my sights were set on going to Cambutal, but of course, I didn’t just want to vacation, so I decided to organize a group of students to take along on an educational field trip to learn about Panama’s native sea turtle species and the work being down by community groups to protect their existence. I started working with the middle/high school teacher in my site to see if the idea would take off. In El Cedro, there are only 4 students enrolled in this mixed class that ranges from 7^th to 10^th grade. The class is made up of students who usually, for economic constraints, family reasons or preference decide not to travel to the large schools in the next towns over. They attend school for a few hours in the afternoon and the course structure and extra attention provides them with the benefit of being able to pass two grades per school year. I really felt like this age group would enjoy and be mature enough to take on a paseo, or field trip to Cambutal. My hope was that by learning about a different ecosystem and endangered turtle species, I could increase their awareness of environmental threats and concerns in our local area. This vision, and little else, actually proved to be a success!

So here is a list of the day’s events, and mostly why it became a nightmare:

• ·         After showing up at 6am, the “bus” that had been promised to us and organized by the maestra still had not shown up by 9am
• ·         One out of the 4 kids didn’t even bother to show up
• ·         I didn’t get my coffee.. totally selfish but still enough to make my day a bit worse
• ·         Our bus contact told us the bus was damaged and was left in Pananome… A LOOOONG WAY from El Cedro, but that he was working on sending a new bus
• ·         My maestro almost gave up and took the chiva out of town declaring the day a no-go.
• ·         After 4 hours of waiting outside the school transport arrives; the bus we were promised is one of those white (“child molester” for lack of a better description) vans with no windows or seats in the back.
• ·         The bus driver tells us he was just told to head over in the last half an hour, obviously we were lied to somewhere in the process when we were promised a bus by 8am at the latest.
• ·         The bus driver shows us some wooden benches he put in the back that will function as seats.
• ·         He also says don’t sit too close to the back window/door because kids could fall out.
• ·         The driver drives like a maniac over the hilly roads.
• ·         He also was not informed of our hope to be in Cambutal, which is at least 2.5 hours away, for more than an hour. He needs to be back by 4pm instead of 6pm as we had arranged.
• ·         FIFTEEN MINUTES INTO THE RIDE, 2/3rds of the group starts puking, a dark van with no windows and bad roads are a horrible cocktail of car-sick intensity.
• ·         The maestra starts to cry, she is afraid of vomit
• ·         We can’t decide if it’s better to drive with air conditioning that makes the throw-up smell linger or to go windows down and sweat out the nauseous kids in the back.
• ·         Both girls have filled their newly collected puke trash bags.
• ·         The maestro is looking along the highway for a lemon tree, she claims smelling a lemon will help the kids to not vomit, she is the one who actually needs the lemon.
• ·         The boy in the back is plastered against the door which looks like it will fly open at any minute, he looks hot and miserable, but is too polite to say anything.
• ·         I am about to cry! I planned for this, how is it going so so wrong?

So we get to Cambutal, and our entire beach day is narrowed down to about an hour and a half, including time for lunch. Luckily Alyssa is amazing and we decide to head straight to the beach for a tour of the turtle trails and the turtle egg nursery the local conservation group manages. The students and maestra immediately snap out of their bus ride from hell expressions and are so enthusiastic about everything we are experiencing at the playa. For the one 13 year old boy, it is his first time in his life stepping foot on a beach, seeing his face is an inspiration that this is worth every frustration and instance of car-sickness! The normally shy kids are really responsive to the educational activities Alyssa planned and are really interested in learning more about the turtles and their human predators. Towards the end of our short tour and lesson, we stumble upon what looks like a nesting site that has been dug up. Alyssa demonstrates for us the egg laying process and tells us about the egg poachers who come to the beach nightly in hoards to dig up recently laid eggs to sell illegally. Unfortunately, the small conservation group is the only party that actively tries to dissuade these poachers, and they really do not have any legal power nor influence. Alyssa’s tactic is to annoy the turtle momma-to-be (and awaiting turtle egg hunters) by shooting her flashlight beam in her eyes, hoping that she will come back to lay her eggs later when the poachers have left. She has an amazing sense of humor about these stories, but she was also very serious about the tragedy that takes place every night of nesting season. The kids went on to find a few more dug-up former nests, which really made the threat of hunters hit home. We went on to discuss the damage hunting and deforestation is doing to the biodiversity of our local ecosystem in El Cedro. Now hopefully these kids can teach their endangered-species hunting family and neighbors! One can dream.

So maybe the “Worst Field Trip Ever” turned out to be not so bad. It was educational and we did accomplish what we set out to do. We got transportation and lunch paid for from various donors. We got to go to the beach! Then they puked the whole way home. The End. J