Harold and Kumar Visit Alex

To continue with the insanity (because hosting 35 Peace Corps people wasn’t enough):

Mom and Dad showed up on the last day of Tech Week!  They told me, upon arrival, that they decided to call their trip, “Harold and Kumar go to visit Alex” to properly express the road-trip-crazy-adventure nature that their vacation had already begun to take.

What was supposed to be a 9-ish-hour drive was more like 13 hours, thanks to a few confusing signs and a roadblock outside of the Comarca in which a large group of Ngӧbes were protesting the construction of a dam.  And that was just the beginning.

To their credit, Mom and Dad learned to adopt low expectations very quickly – they adapted very well to the best approach to life here – and decided that each day was a good day as long as it included: 1) a solid poop, 2) staying out of the slammer, and 3) a drink.  Based on those criteria, we had a very successful trip!

In addition, they masterfully took to heart the wisdom that, “The only 'plan' Pana-land allows us to make is how we plan to tell the story afterward.”  They learned more in their 10 days in Panama than I did in my first 3 months, it seems!  This post would probably be best written from their perspective, but at least I’ll share what we did while they were here.

Since Mom and Dad arrived as the final celebration of Tech Week was ending, they immediately had the opportunity (while exhausted from their plane flight, 13-hour drive, and handling communication in Spanish without a translator to accompany them) to meet all of the most important people in Quebrada Pastor, as well as my boss and fellow facilitators.  They did so gracefully before returning to my house to get some much-needed rest.

The following day, after finally sending off all of the Tech Week visitors, we took a tour of the tank and latrine projects that were built during the week.  At this point, I realized how perfectly-timed their visit was – after all, 90% of my work is walking around talking to people, which is something difficult to see and appreciate as a visitor, and they managed to arrive right after all of that work had finally produced tangible results!  How fun for me to show it all off!

We also spent some time chatting with Willy’s family and with Ángel.  I mediated the conversations as translator – a role I don’t often play – but we all discovered that some jokes are universal.

On Sunday, despite rain throughout the early morning, I decided it would be okay – if a bit muddy – to take Mom and Dad to Ema’s house.  After all, I wanted to check on the latrines up there, Ema’s family is one of my favorites in all of Quebrada Pastor, and it had an amazing view – all things I wanted to share with them.  I thought I had sufficiently described the journey – “It will probably take us two hours to hike up the hill,” – but that overly-succinct description failed to take into account the heat, the humidity, the slickness of the mud, the steepness of slope of the mountain, all of the climbs and descents that were part of the trek, crossing several streams before climbing up to the highest ridge – an elevation change of over 1000 feet.

Needless to say, it was a demanding hike.  About halfway up the hill, Mom and Dad had some doubts about my sanity in taking them on that adventure, but when they persevered to the top and were greeted by Ema and her family, ready with a big bowl of banana soup, they agreed that their tenacity paid off.  As always, Ema and her family were delightful hosts, and welcomed my parents as family.  Ema taught Mom how to make a mochila, just like my first lesson almost a year ago.

It was very special for me to share Quebrada Pastor – my home, my people, my work, the environment, the culture, the challenges, and the beauty – with my parents after having described it to them for the last year.  It was great for them to understand more completely all the things I had been talking about – now able to connect a face and a person and a place with all of the interactions I describe.  And it was cool for my people to get to meet my family, who they immediately accepted as a part of theirs.  That was perhaps the most wonderful thing about the whole experience, for me – that even though Mom and Dad were visitors, they got to experience campo life from my perspective, as members of the community.

Having survived the most challenging part of the trip, we left Quebrada Pastor to explore the rest of Panamá.  I managed to leave behind my work (knowing that there was still more to be done on the tanks, latrines, and aqueduct), and we all settled into the more vacation-oriented (but no less adventurous) portion of the trip.  This included Cerro Punta (in the Chiriqui cloud forest, the Comarca Kuna Yala (the coast and islands in northeast Panamá), the Panamá Canal and the City, and can all be narrated in the following pictures!

Ema teaching Mom to make a mochila

Ema and me

Alberto showing off the latrine foundation that they built during Tech Week

Mom and Dad hiked a long way to get that view!

In Cerro Punta at the Orchid Farm – called Finca Dracula – hunting for orchids!

Watch out for vampires!  Haha, Dad.

View from our cabin on Isla Aguja (Needle Island) in Comarca Kuna Yala

Panama Canal tour on a boat!

Tech Week: The Musical

The Insanity is over!  And nothing failed!  And actually, I was pleasantly surprised about a lot of things.  And everyone – the people of Quebrada Pastor, the trainees, my boss – were very happy about the results.

I haven’t been able to write for quite some time since it has been one event after another – Tech Week, followed immediately by my parents’ visit, followed by a senior project field trip to Quebrada Pastor, followed by facilitating training in the training community near Panamá City… So finally, as I take a short breath, I can try to describe – in the next few posts – some of what has happened in the last month-ish.

The preparations, as I had indicated, became increasingly hectic as July 19 – the day that the trainees arrived in Quebrada Pastor – approached.  The final week was a blur of meeting with project owners, trying to get the school on board, collecting money for the projects, inviting people to facilitators meetings, and then finally buying materials.

Then people started arriving.  First the 6 Facilitators – fellow Volunteers who had been helping me plan and prepare all along, who were responsible for giving each of the training sessions and leading each of the work groups – all of this in conjunction with the community leaders who were present and knowledgeable to help.  We held several meetings in the day before the Trainees arrived to get everyone on the same page, with some success.  Only thanks to these Facilitators – and my absolute trust in their competence and commitment to follow through on the philosophy of empowerment – was it possible to execute Tech Week the way I had envisioned it.

And finally, on Sunday, July 19, all 24 Trainees showed up, along with a number of Peace Corps office staff.  In all, there were up to 35 Peace Corps people in Quebrada Pastor.

Ángel pulled me aside a day or two into Tech Week to tell me that no one really believed it was going to happen.  35 Peace Corps in Quebrada Pastor?  That just sounds crazy.  Despite having talked about this for the last 3 months, it only became real for most of the community when it actually happened.  (Maybe they will all take me at my word next time?)

And then everything began!

Our accomplishments for the week – in terms of physical construction – included:

·         4 Latrine owners built a concrete latrine foundation (and a 5th finished after the Trainees left, without any help)

o   2 of the latrine foundations are located in a neighborhood that has never had latrines

·         4 Tank owners built a ferrocement rainwater catchment tank

o   2 of the tank owners plan to build additional ferrocement tanks of their own design, now that they know the technique and process

o   2 of the tanks were built at single-parent households

o   Other community members have started expressing interest in

·         6 repairs (replacing damaged pipe, replacing or adding valves to improve function) were made to the aqueduct that serves the school and the center of the community

o   4 more repairs pending

·         Additional survey data was collected for the school aqueduct, to add to what Willy and I had started

·         A pilot incinerator was built and tested

o   Capacity-building among the school maintenance workers for usage and maintenance pending

·         5 Tippy Taps were built among the afternoon student classes

More importantly, there were also several instances in which the leaders of Quebrada Pastor were the teachers, guides, and facilitators, which served my primary goal and philosophy of empowerment – that the members of the community had control over the work, provided their insight, and demonstrated how much they know.  It seemed to be good for the people of Quebrada Pastor, and it was a powerful message to the trainees, who told me how cool it was to get to work so closely with my people. Some of those opportunities included:

·         Each of the owners of the tank and latrine projects was involved in the construction of their project as the primary decision-makers and demonstrating resourcefulness as part of construction techniques.

·         Willy contributed his thoughts to the pit latrine charla.

·         Lucas co-facilitated the composting latrine charla, showing the trainees his composting latrine, how to use it, and how to build it.

·         Willy, Angel, and Bernardo helped groups with surveying, guiding them on the surveying lines and collecting useful data.

·         Rafael, Willy, Bernardo, and Dagoberto helped teach thermoforming and working with PVC pipe.

·         Angel, Alberto, and Enrique helped guide the aqueduct tour, teaching about the process of constructing an aqueduct.

·         Willy, Rafael, and Angel helped with aqueduct repairs, showing the trainees how to do repairs in the field, improvise – often in resourceful ways – and making decisions in the field.

·         Willy and his business partners gave a chocolate tour and guided a waterfall hike as a

·         Lucas helped make the incinerator, so he can potentially help build more in the future.

·         Willy and Lucas took charge of the party on the last day, receiving a food donation from the mayor of Changuinola, decorating the school, and organizing the event.

Even though all of these amazing things were happening during the week, I was so busy running around (sometimes actually literally running) trying to chase down people and materials and keep things kind-of-on-American-time that I was barely able to enjoy it.  Every evening was spent reviewing the day and preparing for the next day, every moment in between there was something to deal with.

However, Panamá did me the favor of – in its usual heavy-handed metaphorical style – reminding me to slow down.  At one point, I was rushing out of the fenced-in tank area while we were working on aqueduct repairs, trying to chase down a group, when I rammed my face – full-force, at top speed – into the barbed wire fence.  A little blood and embarrassment aside (fortunately it was the part of my forehead where I am accustomed to heading soccer balls – and not my eyes), I was fine.  And chose to take that as a lesson to slow down and try to appreciate all of the pleasant surprises along the way (mostly on the part of my community members).  For example:

·         Angel showed up every day to help out all of the construction groups – especially Elsa’s tank (since Elsa was busy making lunch for us every day!).

·         Willy helped with decorations, all of the aqueduct-related work, and showed up to share his perspective in a number of charlas.

·         Lucas agreed at the last minute to give the composting latrine charla when the original plan fell through.

·         Every single host family showed up to claim their Trainee – and I have heard nothing but wonderful reflections on the host family experience.

·         Efraim showed up every day to follow Jonathan, the Trainee staying at his house, wanting to help with whatever Jonathan was working on.

·         A number of community members and leaders who had not indicated that they would help facilitated actually showed up to help – especially for the pipe repair charla and the aqueduct tour.

·         Even though they had me convinced (all the way to the last day!) that it wasn’t going to work out, the owners of the projects did manage to pay the money in full for their tanks and latrines.

·         The first night, 10 Trainees were sent up the hill to Ema’s house to help with two latrines – and they were treated like family for the giant sleepover they had up there – a special experience for everyone.

·         A number of people unexpectedly and generously helped with various preparation tasks – moving materials, cutting surveying sticks, building the incinerator – which made everything easier.

·         The cooks did an amazing job despite confusion with food purchasing – and even suggested some meals that were way more delicious than we had originally planned.

And there was plenty more to grateful for – it just took a moment to breathe and look around to realize that everyone was contributing their best effort to achieve all that we did.  It was an ambitious agenda – and the people of Quebrada Pastor, the Facilitators, the Trainees, and the Peace Corps staff all rose to the occasion.

Granted, I realized during this high-stress week that I still have a long way to go in learning patience and flexibility (if only to be happier in the moment of the stress), but I have come a long way, too.  No complaints – we really did achieve some remarkable things!

Pictures:

Hobbes expresses how I was feeling – exhausted and hardly able to think anymore (also not especially helpful)

Proud tank owners

Talking with the Trainees during lunch at Celio’s house – a 1.5-hour hike – prior to touring an aqueduct

Igniting the pilot Incinerator

Charlas in the school

School Tipico dance performance

After the waterfall hike with Heidy Organic Chocolate Tours (Willy’s company)

With Ángel and his brother Ernesto

Thanking everyone who helped (a ridiculously long speech!)

Performance of the WASH Theater group

So, wait.  Why “Tech Week: The Musical”?

In an attempt to keep things fun (a few moments of levity amid the stress, for me, anyway), we themed the entire week as Tech Week: The Musical.  To give an idea of how this played out, the following are the themes for each day, with the songs to which we made up new lyrics (which hint at what we were doing each day):

Monday: Mulan

We'll Make Volunteers Out of You

A Counterpart Worth Fighting For

Tuesday: Wizard of Bocas

Amoebas and Dengue and Lesh, Oh My!

Follow the Surveying Trail / We're Off to Do a Survey

Wednesday: MC Poppins

It's-So-Easy-And-So-Helpful-Thermoforming-Tubos

It's So Fun to Work Today with MC

Let's Go Glue a Pipe!

Just a Spoonful of Cloro Makes the Parasites Dies Down

Thursday: Lion King

Can You Feel the Smoke Tonight

I Just Can't Wait to Be Clean

Ma Ta Medente

Friday: Willy Wonka

Oompa Loompa – School Charlas – It's Going to Be Awkward

Oompa Loompa – We're Going on a Chocolate Tour

I would post the lyrics, but the songs really make more sense in context.  (But I promise the Facilitators enjoyed singing them!  And I’m pretty sure the Trainees were entertained.)

All the Facilitators performing Follow the Surveying Trail