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
All the Facilitators performing Follow the Surveying Trail
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