Campo Wisdom

I have to start with this headline on the front page of the Bocas bilingual paper “El Visitante / The Visitor”:

“IS IT SOMETHING IN THE WATER?  PANAMÁ RANKS HIGHEST IN HAPPINESS”

HAHAHAHAHA.  That irony is so awesome for an environmental health volunteer living in Bocas, already in her first month having suffered four different water-borne illnesses.  It must be something in the water.

The survey results are interesting, of course.  According to the metrics that the Gallup pollsters chose, Panama has the highest proportion of happy people in the world.  Living in Quebrada Pastor, I have to think about this a little bit.  The people here don’t have electricity or cars or even water and latrines – most of them – yet they do get to drink chocolate almost every day.  That’s about the only thing that can be found in the water – that isn’t water – that makes me happy.

Ángel, one of my community guides, shared an interesting thought with me.  I can’t remember what we were talking about on one of our long walks up and down the mountains of the community, but the subject of death came up.  He told me that they always celebrate when a person dies, and that no one is sad.  My reaction was, “Wow, that’s beautiful that they are able to celebrate a person’s life instead of mourning their death.”  Then he told me that when a baby is born, no one is happy; everyone is sad.  “Why is that?”  His response: “The baby is born into a life of suffering.  He has to work and suffer all his life.  After he dies, we celebrate because he doesn’t have to work anymore.”

This stunned me.  At first it struck me as an incredibly depressing way of looking at life.  But then I began to understand where this perspective comes from – and why it is so shocking in contrast to my perspective.  After all, I was born into a world of privilege; our culture celebrates life and cherishes it as a gift because we have the privilege to do so.  We – many of us in the United States – never have to experience the kind of suffering that comes with the severe poverty that exists in the communities where Peace Corps Volunteers work.

It also gave me an appreciation for the strong role of religion in my community – it becomes easier to see how faith in God can help people feel some sense of control in otherwise difficult – uncontrollable – conditions, and how God’s promise for the faithful is such a powerful message.

And, more rationally (perhaps cynically), it gave me an appreciation for the role that education can play – the ideas of family planning and sexual health education can be very powerful in giving people more choice and control in their lives.  Fewer babies, less suffering?  Seems like a reasonable result to me.

And yet, despite this, I return to the idea of happiness.  Much of life may be suffering, but the people in Quebrada Pastor still hope to improve their lives, to escape the vicious cycles of poverty, to meet their basic needs and achieve greater things.  Children I talk to want to be teachers, professors, and doctors.  There are parents who value the education of their children and do everything they can to ensure that their children have more opportunities than they did.  Willy, my host dad, talks about how he wants to have no more than two children because having a large family is irresponsible and uses too many resources.  He – and several other leaders in the community – talk about starting an ecotourism center in Quebrada Pastor to showcase their organic, sustainably-grown produce (especially cacao) and to generate additional income.  Most of the community indicates some understanding of the importance of clean water and proper sanitation to better health, and the need for the community to work together to achieve this.

And throughout Quebrada Pastor, I see people enjoying life, and the many gifts the world has to offer – the same views of the sea, the fruit off the trees, the waterfalls, the brightly-colored tiny frogs, and the beautiful flowers that strike me as some of the best parts of living here, they enjoy too.  And they talk and laugh with their families and neighbors (most of whom are also family), and tell jokes, and play games and sports, and have pipe dreams about getting $10 million and a helicopter, and take interest in the news in the world, and raise their children, and care for each other.

And now I’m appreciating life all over again.  Must be something in the water.

Pictures:

Map-making meeting – seemed to be a success, leading to some good discussion about the layout and boundaries of the community, the important places, and the unity within the community that the participants feel, despite living in spread-out sections divided by family.

Waterfalls!

Learning how to make bags for the first time – and I bought the pretty blue one sitting on my lap.  Has carried my laundry and limes.

Pollitos!

Taking family pictures – and I got to be included in a few

More waterfalls!  Every new hike through a different area, there are new discoveries.

View of Renacimiento, a neighboring community