Goodbye Panama!

Today I have returned to the United States, my trip is now officially over. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience; I never could have anticipated how much I would learn, or how closely I would become intertwined with the community where I worked. There are many people and things that I will miss from Calobre, especially my host family. I will also miss the small things, knowing everyone in town, hearing ‘buenas’ (good day) from people as they walk by, sitting on the front porch and watching the night set in, running into my students around Calobre; these beloved aspects of small town Panamanian life will now be absent from me.

Coming to Panama I had several specific goals, but generally speaking there were two things I wanted to accomplish: having a positive impact on the community and learning about the developing world. In terms of my learning goals, I feel that I was very successful. Judging my impact on the community though is more difficult. With over 250 students and lacking the means, I am unable to thoroughly evaluate whether or not I have made a very significant difference in my students’ knowledge of the English language. Although I am hopeful, I think that I came to Calobre expecting much more success than might have been possible. I discovered though that I was able to have a positive influence not only by helping with English, but also just by being present. People were astounded that someone would come all the way from the United States to try and help them. The people of Calobre were very grateful for the time I shared with them, and over the two months I was there I realized that I had many other talents to give with them as well besides my knowledge of English. As I mentioned in a previous post, many of the kids do not learn about building positive self-esteem, and for some there is a shortage of good role models. Hopefully I have also been able to help them with in this way as well.

In terms of my learning outcomes, one of the most important things I have gained is a completely new concept of the developing world. First let me outline my previous perspective. The term ‘developing world’ in itself speaks volumes about some of our attitudes. By using the word ‘developing’, we assume that a country is in a state of motion, that it has yet to arrive somewhere that it ought to be. Frequently when thinking of the developing world we conjure up images of people who are very miserable. What I learned through this experience though is that although people in the developing world may have very different lives than us, that does not mean they are not content. Most of the people that I knew were very happy, despite not having a television, internet, or many other things that we consider necessary modern conveniences. That is not to say that there are not any problems, but we have ours too. I would like to add though that on a world standard Panama is a pretty well-off country, and my thoughts on this subject perhaps do not necessarily apply to those, for example, who do not even have enough food or water to live. Also, based on my observation I would say that there are indeed some things that we have which the people I lived with desire, such as adequate healthcare. This is a complicated issue, but my main point is that different does not mean worse. To think of the developing world as waiting to become like the developed world now seems ridiculous to me. I doubt that most of the countries which we label as ’developing’ will ever look exactly like the ’developed’ ones, no matter what policy is implemented or how much money is given to that end- but that’s okay. I think that it is important to connect with the people, to learn what they feel is important, and to help them how we can to attain success as they see it.

Now that I am home, the next logical question would be, what next? Although my trip has ended, my relationship with Calobre has not. In fact, a new journey has just begun. Now that I have a good sense of how I can help their community more, I intend to do so. At this time I am planning on setting up a non-profit corporation to help me achieve this goal. My most immediate project will be working on getting the school a proper kitchen, but other ideas on the horizon include water purification equipment for communities throughout the region, more books, and perhaps computers too. No matter which route I take, money will be a big impediment. I hope to deal with this through grants and fundraising. I would also greatly appreciate advice that anyone might have. These needs will also develop as I delve further into this mission.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me with this trip (too many people to name!), but most especially FSU and the Center for Leadership and Civic Education, without which none of this would be possible. Although I have written many words in this blog, there is so much more that I have to share. I hope to have the chance to do so in the near future.

The Land Before Time

The other day I visited a village about two hours outside of Calobre. It was the most ‘traditional’ that I have ever seen. The nearby town center was already remote, but this small village of about seventy homes was even further out. Amazingly there was electricity for lights, but that was the only aspect of the modern world present. All of the homes were huts constructed from mostly natural materials. Some used metal sheets to supplement the thatched roofs, and others even had small cinder-block appendages, but other than that this is how a village would have looked five hundred years ago. Some people had small animal pens to keep small livestock, or simply tied up a pig or two to a nearby tree. Chickens, as is true in all of Panama, generally roam free but sleep and feed by the house. All of the houses had the traditional materials used for preparing rice and corn. This includes a wooden bowl which has a tall base and holds corn that is then grinded with a very heavy piece of wooden, and a special bowl used for sifting the rice. Unfortunately I did not take notes to record the names of these tools. Rice and other goods are stored in the ‘attic space’ of the huts so that they stay dry and animals can’t get to them. In Calobre many times huts such as these are used as kitchens placed directly behind a cinderblock house, although these kitchen huts do not have walls, only roofs propped up by four wooden posts. In contrast, the huts in the village that I visited were completely enclosed in order to provide protection from the sun and animals. As such, the interior of the huts is very cool and people will spend most of their free time inside to keep cool; to accomodate this lifestyle hammocks and other furniture is also put inside rather than outside. Chairs, even the plastic ones which you might find on a US porch, are very expensive, relatively speaking. Where I live the price is not completely exclusive and chairs are found in abundance, however in this chair people more commonly used a long piece of wood propped up by two stumps as a bench instead. As I said beofre, all of this furniture is kept inside. In Calobre people spend a lot of time on their porches because they have roofs and are more comfortable, but in the village it was not so. Trash is commonly stored in a pit somewhere closeby the hut and burned as neccesary, which is also true for much of rural Panama. Visiting this village was a very interesting experience which I will always remember; during my visit I felt as though I had stepped through a time portal. Most startling was that this was an actual village with ‘real’ people, not some commercial set-up for tourists. Although the people who lived there are not considered indigenous, just ‘forgotten’, I gained some insight into what the lifestyle of the indigenous people of Panama might be like. Through conversation with people I have learned that there is a very strong ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality regarding the relationship between Panamanian society and the indigenous populations, who have land set aside for their exclusive use. Although I have had almost no contact with the indigenous population during my stay, their society is something I would like to explore in future trips.

Government Help

Although I’ve talked about many of the problems I’ve observed here, there are also many good efforts being made by the government, particularly with the schools. One of the biggest health problems many of the kids have is malnutrition. Those who live in town do relatively well. Diets here consist mostly of rice, beans, and corn-based foods, which are generally served with some type of meat; however children who live further out from town and are poorer do not get even this much. For them meat is a luxury, meaning many are deficient of protein. The majority of their meals will consist of something to do with corn which provides calories but not nutrition. Furthermore, they probably are infected with parisites from contaminated water, which steal the little nutrition they may have. In order to combat this issue, the government provides a nutritive drink called La Crema, along with packs of nutritive cookies every day. There are volunteers at the school who prepare La Crema, which only requires mixing the vitamin powder with boiling water, and distributing the cookies. In addition, once a week the students receive an extra vitamin tablet with La Crema. Other important aid provided includes a monthly unit of flouride and vaccinations during flu season which are administered in the school as needed.

One of the future needs of the school which I hope to address is getting them a proper kitchen. I wish the internet connection were strong enough to upload the photos so you could see what kind of conditions the food is stored and prepared in. There is only one small room with bare concrete floor, little light, and a few wobbly tables and benches to serve about six hundred students every day between the elementary and secondary school. The actual ‘kitchen’ is actual out back, and is typical of rural Panama. It is outdoors with a metal roof, supported by four posts. There are two concrete blocks which rocks are set on to prop up a very large cooking pot, and a fire is made beneath with wood which is stored nearby. Given the fact that the school doesn’t do too much cooking right now, they can get by. Beginning this month though the school is going to start receiving shipments of food supplies every 3 months in order to provide lunches for the students. This is a remarkable opportunity. Right now students have to bring their own food (if they have it), or purchase unhealthy snacks during recess (if they have any money) if they’re going to eat. For many though neither of these are realistic options. Can you imagine how a six-year-old is supposed to concentrate in class after walking two-and-a-half hours to school and get through the day without any food? Clearly providing lunches is fundamental to providing a good education as well as promoting the students’ overall health. Given their current kitchen though, this will be a difficult task. This is something I hope to help them with in the future.

Healthcare

Yesterday I visited Calobre’s health center. The building is relatively large for a rural center, with about fifteen rooms or so in the shape of the letter ‘U’. The structure though is about fifty years old, and the government has neglected to update it. The staff have been forced to put their own money into the health center in order to ensure that it has the bare minimums. For example, its location results in several inches of flooding whenever it rains. A roof had to be put over the central area, along with drains, etc to help solve the problem. Also, there were no bathrooms before, although the doctors recently paid to have them built. Electricity is another new feature at the health center, again compliments of the staff who paid for it out of pocket. Needless to say, the health center hardly resembles anything you’d find in the US. Although there are hospitals in the cities, the nicest ones can only be afforded by very wealthy Panamanians, and most of their customers are tourists. The hospitals for the general public in the cities are definitely better of than the rural health centers, although I am sure they have many problems of their own.

Here in the district of Calobre believe it or not this is the main health center, and it has two doctors. The surrounding communties generally have small health centers of their own, but are only used on occasion (maybe once a year?) when the doctors from the main health center can make it out there. If you don’t live in the main town of Calobre and you have a health issue, your only option is to walk for hours to get to the main health center and wait to be seen, hopefully. All in all, the two doctors are responsible for the thirteen thousand people who live in Calobre.

Nature

Something that I feel I have neglected to talk about is people’s relationship with nature here. First I would like to say that for the most part, my thoughts on this matter mostly apply only to rural communities rather than the cities. In the United States, our relationship with the natural world is one of dominance. Except for the occasional natural disaster, our daily lives are not greatly affected by nature. With the help of cars, umbrellas, electricity, and air conditioning, our society doesn’t have to give much thought about the weather or our environment. Sure, if you’re planning a trip to the beach and it rains that is upsetting, but its not going to prevent you from getting to a hospital or your school. Also, our home life in relation to nature is binary. We have a house with walls, windows, and doors that prevent anything from entering, and roofs that protect us from rain. We have companies that spray for bugs, and many other conveniences which completely seperate us in our homes from the natural world.

Here in Calobre though everything is completely different. People’s home life in relation to nature is more of a continuum. You have a house, generally with windows made of cinderblock with holes and doors with gaps that let in bugs and maybe even an occasional bird. The floors are of dirt or bare concrete which is coated with dirt. People also spend a lot of time on their porches or in their yard where they are even more integrated with nature. When it rains, rivers rise and the mud worsens. Ofentimes, especially if there is not a bridge over your river, this means that you cannot travel. For example, I have a kindergarden student who has to cross a river to get to school, alone. Even a small amount of rain will mean that it is to high for him to cross and going to school that day is out. Students like him generally miss a lot of school and fall behind their classmates. Also, many people cannot afford umbrellas so they must wait in a building until the rain stops to go anywhere. The environment may affect every aspecct of someone’s life, even to the extent of what job they will have and what foods they eat, as well as the availability of electricity and other key resources like clean water.

Catching Up

This has been a very interesting last week so far. Unfortunately there are still only three working computers with internet in this town of three thousand people, so it is very difficult to get online. That being the case I have had to type up several blog entries and upload them at once, so I’m sorry for putting up so much info all in one day!

I believe that earlier I mentioned that the water at the school is possibly contaminated. The reason being that their septic tank is leaking and causing all sorts of problems. Luckily I have parasite medication given to me by the doctor I worked with last week. Although this has been going on for about three weeks now, this past Monday there was a meeting with some of the parents to discuss what to do. Since the water might not be safe to drink and the bathrooms are out of order, the parents decided to take their kids out of school until the problem is fixed. This was after the first class period had began (which on Monday I have off) and when I came out of the computer lab where I was working I saw a huge migration of children who were headed home. The students who live very far away stayed for most of the day but ended up leaving by recess. The next day many students ended up coming, but again left early. Today no one showed up, not even the majority of the teachers! I am disappointed that my last week had to be this way because I was looking forward to working with the students one last time and saying goodbye, but it looks like that won’t be possible. I guess I’ll just have to come back!

This week has also been interesting because a large team from the US Air Force have come to Calobre for six weeks to provide dental care. I only found out on Sunday when I stumbled across a mountain of equipment waiting silently in one of the community’s multipurpose rooms. The next day it seemed as though an invasion was taking place with so many people in uniform walking around such a small town! Apparently this takes place in a different South/Central American community each year which I think is great. Although many communities at least will be visited by a doctor perhaps once a year, no one ever gets to see a dentist.

Now that I’ve caught you up on this week, let me go into a little more detail about what I was up to last week. The same team that I originally came to Calobre with returned to work both in town and in the surrounding communities. Calobre is both a district of the Vergaus Province (like a county within a state) and the name of the main town center in the district. By main town center I mean it has two stores as opposed to one or none. It also has a health center with doctors from Monday through Friday whereas other towns in Calobre have a health center, but doctors only visit on occasion. Emergency care is simply non existent. Since many of these surrounding communities are in great need of help, even more so than where I am, our work focused on these areas. Each day we traveled to a different community where a pediatrician attended to the kids, we distributed supplies such as toothpaste, soap, etc, and we had fun activities for the people, amongst other things. This was a great experience, and it was really nice to travel around about since I have mainly stayed in town during my serviceship.

The Friday preceding last week was one of the most important days of my whole stay here. Part of what I paid for along with the books to start the library was a day of teacher training and special educational activities for the students of fifth and sixth grade. These two grades have collectively been reading a book called ”Tú Tienes Sangre de Campeon” (You Have Champion’s Blood) over the past several weeks. This book talks about values such as working together, not stealing, etc, and self esteem, lessons which are greatly missed here. On Friday a team of educators from Panama City came to the school and spent the whole day reviewing the book through fun games and the like. I think the kids really enjoyed it, and I hope to continue this program in the future to motivate the students to continue reading. One of the activities asked the kids to think about what they wanted to be doing in the year 2030. They were given a bunch of magazines and paper and were asked to make a small poster illustrating their future job. Although this might sound like a mundane activity for students in the US, you have to understand how unique this is for students in rural Panama. First, they don’t really have the opportunity to do something out of the box like this. Second, there isn’t really much though given to the future, something which I think restrains their progress. It was great though to hear about the kids’ ideas, and also to help teach them about setting goals etc. While the kids were in another room, a different educator was working with the school’s teachers. Up until two or three years ago, all you needed to become a teacher in Panama was a high school education. Although there are many great, hard-working teachers here who I believe are going to ultimately play a huge role in Panama’s development, I will leave it up to your imagination to think about what are schools would be like if the teachers barely had a high school education. My point is that although having someone spend a day training the teachers may seem like nothing special, I cannot express in words how important it was. All in all Friday was ground breaking for Panamanian education. Rural school never have these kinds of opportunities, typically a luxury only afforded to schools in the cities. One day though is not enough, and there remains a long uphill battle to be fought if long-lasting changes are to be brought about that truly impact the future of Panama. This was a great first step though.

A Week Off

Unfortunately I have had a very difficult time getting on the internet this past week. My schedule never seemed to match up with the very limited opening hours of the internet center in town, the internet is broken at the school, and this week to make things worse only three of the eleven computers are actually working.

This week the school is on vacation. This was unfortunate because originally the plan was for the vacation to take place after my departure, however things changed. Nevertheless this has not stopped me from keeping busy. The group that I came to Calobre with last summer very coincidentally came to spend a week here during this time, and I was able to do some volunteer work with them in the community. Also, I went back to the school one day to fix some issues with the computers that they were having. Despite being on “vacation” I have been having a great time and have learned even more this week. It looks as though right now I will not be able to log back on until Monday, but hopefully then I will be able to go into detail about this experience since my time right now is very limited. As I go into my last week here in Calobre I will be trying to take full advantage of every opportunity, and I can hardly believe my journey is nearly over!!

Read and Write

Every Tuesday and Thursday I work with La Casa Esparanza (a group of students who meet after school for special learning activities that have been selected because they are most at risk for dropping out). The child who I talked about in the 19th’s blog posts is one of the kids who attends this group. While the students were wrorking on an activity which required them to write, I notice that as usual, he was seated off to the side not doing anything. Outside of the normal classroom setting, where I am more constrained, I saw an opportunity. I spent about half an hour with him asking him some basic question about what he likes to do etc to get him more comfortable talking to me. After that we talked about the letters of the alphabet so I could find out what he has/has not learned. After a little coaxing, I had him writing some letters and taught him their names. Remember, this is the same child who supposedly is unable to learn how to read or write, and is not expected to do anything during class because he can’t learn. Today though I saw that he is indeed capable and with a little help coud catch up with his peers. In fact, he paid attention very well and was retaining information perhaps even better than his classmates. I’m presented with a dilemma though because I only have a very small amount of time to act. La Casa Esperanza only meets twice a week, next week the school is going on vacation, and the following week is my last. That’s not a whole lot of time to teach a kid to write, and I fear that if I don’t get things going with him that he will just fall through the cracks. This is a very sad situation. Because his family lives far from the school, he has missed a lot of class time. Because he’s missed class time, he’s fallen behind, and in this educational system that’s where he stays; all of this because his family doesn’t have enough money to live closer to the school. Right now he is in first grade, but in a few years, perhaps by even sixth grade, he may have to drop out of school in order to help his family earn money. At this point he would still be completely illiterate and have a very difficult life ahead of him, by about age eleven. With any luck, we will be able to provide him with a completely different future.

His story is about life chances. From the US perspective, we see the developing world as poor all around, but the truth is there is great variability of income level and standard of living within the developing world, just as in the US. Although Panamanian children on the whole are denied many of the opportunities afforded to most US children, some are much worse off than others, as in the case I have illustrated. But poverty isn’t limited to the developing world, and a great number of people in our own society are denied vital life chances that are key to success, just like the boy here in Panama. When we see images of the developing world, of Haiti after the earthquake and the like, it is clear that people living in the developing world do not have the same opporutnity that many of us have. Unfortunately for the poor in the US, it is much more difficult to see the injustices done to them when our vision is clouded by the extravegances of the material world and free-market ideology (which at the very least doesn’t always tell the WHOLE story).

I should note here that I am not trying to say that this is a simple question of the haves and the have-nots. I used to think that the problems of the developing world were a simple question of money, but one of the most important things I have learned in Panama is that it is so much more than that. The Panama Canal will help me illustrate what I am trying to get at. The Canal raises billions and billions of dollars for Panama, a country of only about 4 million people. Yet despite having such a large and regular source of income for a relatively small country, there is so much poverty and a widespread lack of basic resources in rurual areas. One has to ask, why is this so? Part of the reason is that here in Calobre, although there is a computer center with internet access, the kids use the internet to play games and not for educational purposes (nor do they study at home); its because of ”la hora Panameña” (Panama time) which allows you to be over an hour late without being considered late (imagine what its like trying to run a school or a hospital when its perfectly acceptable to be an hour late!); its also because a 25 hour work week is full time for some professions (ex teachers, who are very well-paid for Panama standards yet generally don’t really like to go the extra mile when they’re most needed). The simple fact of the matter is that many of these behaviours will limit how many goods and services can be produced, which in turn limits the material-standard of living. Whether this is good or bad, or what kind of balance a culture wants is for them to decide. Furthermore, just having the resources and material-goods is not enough, they must be cared for and utilized properly if they’re going to do any good.

One of the things I’ve accomplished in Calobre is that I’ve attained a much fuller understanding of the problems facing the developing world, their underlying causes, and what can be done to address them. Last summer when I was here I thought that helping Calobre was a simple matter of supplying key resources which they did not have because they couldn’t afford them. Now I see that this is a much more complicated issue. Coming to terms with this can be very frustrating because at times it seems as though I am completely powerless to help; luckily though everytime I have these doubts a glimmer of hope appears.

Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

There is a special education teacher at the school where I work, but her class is reserved for students who have severe learning and/or physical disabilities. Although this is a great first step, I feel that more needs to be done. Other students who may need extra help don’t receive it because they are mixed in with other students in the regular classes. Typically these students are given different activities to do, or a teacher will simply do work for them. One boy who I taught today in my first grade English class has yet to write a single word the whole time that I have been here (over one month!). I asked the other teachers about him and they explained that he cannot read or write, although his peers can. Before I had basically been told that he had some type of learning disability and consequently should be treated how I previously described for students in his situation. Today though I found out that he lives very far away from the school, perhaps more so than any other student. The further away someone lives from the center of town, generally the poorer they are; thus, he certainly isn’t being driven in his family’s car, but most walk to school by himself. As a result he is usually late, today by about two hours. They also told me that he missed out on a majority of kindergarden because of his predicament, which is why he never learned to read or write. But no one really knows if in fact he does have a learning disability. Nevertheless, he is being treated as though he does and no one expects him to read or write, so he doesn’t. I still have no idea wether or not he is fully capable of catching up with his peers, but because he is not learning and lives so far away I could easily imagine a situation where he is forced to drop out of school to help earn money for his family before learning how to read, write, or perform simple math. Unfortunately, I think this pattern is the norm in some areas.

Panamanian Birthday

Today I was lucky enough to turn 20 right here in Calobre, Panama. The other teachers at the school were kind enough to throw me a surprise birthday party at the end of the day, and my host family has other celebrations planned for me this weekend, which I am looking forward to. The best reward of all though was that today, for the first time in my five weeks here, I was pleasently surprised by the progress one of my classes is exhibiting. Not only did most of the students do well on a quiz based on material I have been teaching them for the past couple of weeks, but they have finally began to learn good classroom behavior. When I first arrived, students were accustomed to talking, copying, and running around during quizzes and tests. Today during the quiz, the kids stayed in their seats, actually raised their hand if they had a question, and did not copy each other. Seeing this kind of progress has been the best birthday present of all; its great to know that I’m actually having an impact!

Burning Books

Today I attended another meeting of the Reading Circle, a group a talked about earlier that uses the books I donated. The Reading Circle is a small group of select students from fifth and sixth grade who meet weekly to discuss a book that they are all reading together. The teachers hope to use these students as an example to motivate other students to read. Outside of their textbooks in class, students do not read at all. This is because of two things: one, the students don’t have books to read and two without books they are not accustomed to reading and have no desire to. The books I donated to start La Biblioteca Mis Primeros Pasos (My First Steps Library) helps to address the first problem by giving students books, but we are still working on the second part, which is very difficult and will likely only come about after several years of exposure. The kids who are in fifth and sixth grade now will probably not develop a strong level of literacy or a passion for reading, that’s the simple truth. But I think there is hope for some, especially the children in the younger grades who will no be exposed to literature at a younger age.

Its important to note that solving this problem is not a simple function of donating books though. A school could have all the books in the world, but if they’re not used probably they serve no purpose. This is a problem that I think plagues Panama, and probably the rest of the developing world. Last summer I was here with a group of doctors who were distributing medications to various patients here in Calobre. This type of resource, something which is immediately consumed under the supervision of an expert, will serve its purpose. But donated resources which are consumed over a long period of time are less likely to be well-used or taken care of, mostly because the people responsible for them may not have the expertise to do otherwise. Luckily in this school, the teachers have done a very good job of implementing the books into the curriculum, and I do believe that they will have their intended impact, but this is certianly a complicated process.

When I was with the Reading Circle, I couldn’t help but think about one of my favorite books, Fahrenheit 451. I told the kids about the book, of a future where fireman don’t put out fires, but instead burn books to prevent people from having them. In Fahrenheit 451 people don’t have books because of coercive powers. In many ways, the situation here in Calobre is very similar. Although someone isn’t coming and burning their books, there’s no need to, because they don’t have any in the first place, and there’s not really anything the people here can do about it. Fortunately, the predicament here is one that has a much more hopeful future.

The Whole Picture

A few posts back I talked about something I have noticed about the society here, that it is generally lacking in both possession and want of the excessive amount of material goods that we have. In turn this leads to more importance placed on other, more fundamental aspects of humanity, such as someone’s character, family, friends, etc. Although I find this to be true in many instances, I feel that I have not fully described everything that I have seen regarding this matter, and that I should add some more information in order to provide an accurate portrayal of society here.

First, the picture I painted of a people who have no care for excessive amounts of material goods and exhibit more virtuous inclinations is more pertinent to rural society, but even then this is not true for everyone. Other groups of people who are less likely to fit this description are people who have attained higher levels of education (meaning anything beyond high school level), those that live in more urbanized areas, and wealthier families (who generally live in the city too). The divide between the city and the country is very wide; we see the same thing in the US, but here it is even more so. Those who live in the cities here in Panama also tend to look down upon people in rural areas for lacking material goods. Generally speaking, Panamanian city-dwellers are very similar to their US counterparts, just poorer.

Second, just because people don’t want material goods does not mean they are completely free from all desire, nor does it mean that there is no hierarchy in society. Outside of material goods, there are plenty of things that people want which can prove counterproductive to leading a happy and succesful life. Additionally, you don’t need an excess of material goods to form a hiearchy around them, its just gauged differently. When I was living in London, you knew someone had money if they were being driven in a Rolls Royce; in Panama a high-end Toyota will do. Nevertheless, they both serve the same purpose.

It is refreshing to be in an environment where I am not completely bombarded by excessive amounts of material goods, where my attention can be more easily focused on things of greater importance. I cannot say though that I am totally removed from the material world or its effects on society. Earlier I have said that people of all backgrounds share many fundamental characteristics. This includes traits such as jealousy, hate, greed, etc. Luckily it also includes the good ones.

Paper Mache FSU

In addition to teaching English in the school, I work with two extra-curricular groups: la casa esperanza (House of Hope) and la clase de manualidades (crafts class).

The House of Hope program targets students who are likely to be forced to drop out of school later on in order to help provide income for their family. This program reaches out to these students at a young age to keep them motivated to stay in school, and at a minimum ensure that they have basic mathematical skills and an ability to read. The House of Hope meets every Tuesday and Thursday after school, and lasts for about two hours. Additionally, before starting, the students receive a meal provided by the school. Since the kids have already been in classes for several hours by the time they get to the House of Hope, the goal is to engage them in fun activities which enable them to learn at the same time in a more relaxed and less formal environment. I help run this program along with another teacher and the principal, and it has been a lot of fun.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school I attend a craft class. This is a great opportunity because it is open to the entire community, allowing me time to meet with new people and get a broader perspective of life here in Calobre. Furthermore, the activities and projects we work on are quite enjoyable, giving me something fun to do after school. This past Friday we tearing up newspapers for a project. As I was cutting up one page, the FSU logo caught my eye. As I ready further, I realized that I was in the process of chopping up an ad for an English program put on by the FSU campus in Panama city. The last place I expected to encounter anything FSU was in rural Calobre during a craft class, but there it is. Sadly the mangled ad now takes the form of a paper mache pear, situated next to other assorted faux fruits on a platter at the school. At least it looks pretty.

Other notes: Last night I discovered a scorpion in my room while sorting through my bags. A stark reminder that ”I’m not in Kansas anymore,” as the saying goes. After thoroughly searching the room several times for more killers on the loose, I finally felt safe. I also though it necessary though to block the space between the room’s door and the floor with my books so nothing else could get in. Special thanks go to Plato, Descartes, John Kennedy Toole, and the authors of ”Advanced Spanish Grammar.”

Futbol

I cannot believe that already nearly three weeks have passed here in Calobre. It certainly hasn’t been the easiest three weeks of my life, I have had to adapt in many ways which I did not previously anticipate, however through everything I have also learned more than I could have imagined.

Firstly, I knew that teaching a second language to young children would be hard work. I completely failed though to realize just how hard. At the end of every day I usually leave content, but there are definitely some very frustrating moments. In my planning I thought that the focus of my efforts would be on English education, whereas now I know that classroom management is half the job. Being in a new cultural environment has added to the difficulty of this realiztion. The same rules which are applied in a US classroom are largely absent here. Since Monday, after two weeks of observation, I began instituting three basic rules for the English class: 1) Raise your hand 2) Stay in your seat unless you have permission 3) Respect the teacher and your classmates. As an incentive, I have a system where students who demonstrate consistently good behaviour receive candy. This has worked remarkably. In just the first weeek of implemenation, the kids are following the rules, and hopefully ultimately learning more. At the same time though I have to try and keep the class fun so that the students are engaged. For example, we always play games which make use of the vocabulary/phrases they learn. As I continue to teach in the school, I hope that I can find the appropriate balance between enforcing good behaviour and promoting a fun and interactive learning environment. We shall see… So far though I think it has gone over fairly well. The students, despite now being subject to rules, still seem to enjoy the classes and have taken a liking to me. As I walk about town, I frequently hear shouts of ”teecher” from the students who see me passing by. It is nice to feel that I have become an integrated part of the community.

Today two other important things happened. First, I sat in on a meeting of a group of students chosen to be part of a special reading group called Circulo de las Lecturas (Roughly: Reading Circle). They choose books to read from the collection I donated and do special activites based on the readings, such as drawing pictures, etc. The hope is to not only engage these students, but encourage their classmates to read as well. Its great to see how the school has begun to use the books I’ve donated, and tomorrow they are unveiling the how collection to me, catalouged and shelved in their make-shift library, which I am really excited about (Future project: build a library building?).

Also today I played soccer with one of the sixth grade classes against the other. Unfortunately my team lost, although I was lucky just to make it through the whole game. I though I was going to collapse in the heat! And its not like back home where you’re hot for a while, but then retreat to the air conditioning. There is never an escape from the heat! Its all part of the experience.

Closing the Digital Gap

I am typing furiously as I am trying to check four days worth of email, update my blog, and check facebook, among a few other things within half an hour. The local government center here houses a room which has ten computers with internet connection. So far, this is where I have been coming to get on the internet since no other place within forty minutes has a connection. It is problematic though because the center does not keep to its hours. You never know if it will close early, if it opens at all. This is definitely causing me some headaches, but this is somewhat typical of Panama. Stores don’t carry necessary items or won’t be open, businesses don’t get back to you….the list goes on. I am certainly learning a lot about the developing world though in this process! Hopefully I will actually get the chance to delve more into this topic later this week, that is, if I can get online. Ironically, the computer center here says ”closing the digital gap” on the door. Although it hasn’t really accomplished its mission, it is certainly closing something- the entrance!

Two-way Street

I feel that when thinking of the developing world, most of the time people imagine the poor conditions that people live in, the widespread poverty, and maybe even what they can do to help. But not until coming here did I realize that I’ve never really thought about what the developing world can do for us.

This past week I was having a conversation with my host family when my host brother, Angel, commented that many people have plenty of money at the end of their life, but still die hungry. Clearly he wasn’t talking about physical hunger, which is common amongst the poor particularly in developing countries, but of another hunger which is so prevelant in the developing world despite its enormous wealth. Its a hunger that money can’t satiate. This wasn’t a particularly new idea to me, but nonetheless it made me realize that we can learn so much from the developing world. Here in rural Panama, people value those things which we in the developing world tend to forget, such as family, friends, balance, etc. Although they are poor in material objects, the people here are more commonly rich in spirit and generally have a more wholesome perspective on life. In the US it is easy to get caught up in the follies that money can buy, such as expensive cars, big houses, fancy clothes…the list goes on. This leads to a very narrow perspective on life in which material objects act as blinders which prevent us from seeing what is truly important. In Calobre, people don’t have those things. But what’s more, they would likely reject most of our possessions even if they had the ability to buy them, simply because they don’t have the same misplaced value for them.

I have just over five weeks left in Calobre, and I can now see that just as much as I can help the people here, they can help me. Its definitely a two-way street.

A Little Taste of Home…

I had to. I just couldn’t resist! This weekend I went with my host family to Santiago, the main city in the Veraguas province where Calobre is located, and spent Saturday in the shops and visiting their relatives. Families are very close knit in Panama. At the end of the day as we were driving home we passed by McDonald’s, and I had to stop in. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try McDonald’s in Santiago, Panama, just to see what it is like. Generally I look down upon the spread of McDonlad’s around the world as a negative consequence of America’s gobal dominance, resulting in the gradual homogenization and decay of cultures around the world. But on Saturday I set my principles aside and ordered a McDouble and small fry. I must say though that McDonald’s ability to be nearly the exact same all over the globe is quite a feat.

I don’t have too much else to say about Santiago since I didn’t go exploring, at least not on this trip. It was a breath of fresh air though to be in a densely populated area. In the town where I live there isn’t much: two stores, a small computer center which is closed on the weekend, dirt roads, and lots of chickens running around. Although Santiago could hardly be more different than London where I lived the previous five months, for a few hours they seemed quite similar. Today begins my second week working in the school, and already I have learned so much about the challenges a developing country faces. More to come on that this week.

El Colegio Tejada Library

I forgot to mention something else that happened today. The books that I purchased for the school (just over 500) have begun to be delivered to classrooms and implemented into the curriculum. It is amazing to finally have arrived at the end of a process that began so many months ago. Last August, at the same time that I started planning my two month trip to Calobre to teach English, I had an idea: why not also bring some books over that can be used in the school. Based on my previous experience, I knew that this was a resource the education system was severely lacking in Panama. At first I envisioned checking an extra bag full of books, and donating them to the school. But quickly I aspired to do more for the school. Before long, I was pursuing other grants and scholarships that could help´fund this project. By Frebruary I had secured the money and began getting in contact with possible sellers. After many phone calls and hours of planning, all of which was taking place while I was busy working in London and later traveling around Europe, adding to the difficulty of the task, I received an invoice for the books to be purchased. This was a great moment, but the job was still not done. I later had to arrange for the books’ transportation and method of payment. This would have been fairly easily done in the United States, but in Panama it presented many more challenges. All of this work to finally arrive at the day where I can see the kids actually reading the books and learning from them; it was definitely worth it. But my job is not done. Even after this purchase, the school could use several hundred more books. And there other schools in the area that need them too. And many other countries with the same problem. Alas, this job may never be completely finished, but I intend to keep on working at it.

La Reina

This whole week, small celebrations have been taking place to celebrate the school’s anniversary. There are also several competitions taking place. All of the different classes have chosen one team from the world cup, and have decorated their rooms accordingly with flags, colors, etc. Me and two other teachers have been chosen to judge the classrooms and decide which is the best. Unfortunately they told me that I can’t give special preference to the US-decorated classroom! Also, three girls, two from kindergarten and one from pre-k, have been trying to win the votes of the students this whole week in order to be elected queen of the school. Each day they have dressed up in princess costumes, and have chosen a unique color for the students to remember them by. They also made signs that were put up around the school that say things like, ”if you want to have a great anniversary week, vote for…” It has been a lot of fun! Today the students cast their ballots, and in a very democratic fashion they were counted in front of everyone during recess and the winner was announced. Afterwards, in a very undemocratic fashion, the students were rewarded by Celina, the winner, with sodas, candy, cookies, and more. Tomorrow is the last day of the anniversary week, and there will be many fun games, delicious food, and music, which I am greatly looking forward to. I was very lucky that my first week coincided with the school’s anniversary. Not only are the activities a lot of fun, but the students get lots of candy during recess from the teachers, who in turn offer it to me, which is very generous of them! Already today I probably had about twenty pieces, and will have many more tomorrow!

Expectations

Coming to Panama, I was lucky because I have traveled here before. Last year I visited Calobre for one week and worked in the community. This previous experience meant that when I returned on Saturday, I already knew people, was familiar with the area, and had a basic understanding of the culture. All of these factors helped me to comfortably settle in within just hours after arriving. In fact, I was expecting to feel much more alienated than I actually am. Last year I was with a group of people from a similar background to me who all spoke English. As such, despite being in a foreign country, there was always someone near to me that I could relate to on many levels. I knew that this time I would be alone, and thought that it would be more difficult to fit into the society here. Although at times I can’t understand what is being said because of comprehension problems or cultural references that I am not privy to, for the most part I have easily related to the local people.

The more I travel, the more I have realized that people, despite possessing many unique and important cultural distinctions, are fundamentally the same. Everyone has hopes and dreams, enjoys the company of friends, and experiences happiness and sadness. This is even more apparent when working with children. There is no difference in the compassionate and playful nature of children no matter what color their skin is or what language they speak. After spending time with the students in the school, it is hard to understand how adults can be so uncompassionate though in how they treat one another at times. Sadly this also seems to be true of people everywhere. Also, minority groups, or people who appear the ‘most different,’ receive the worst treatment because they are seen as outsiders who do not deserve the same level of respect and civility. If everyone experienced what I have in Calobre though, it would be clear that this is completely groundless. As I stated earlier, most people in fact have more in common than meets the eye. Furthermore, cultural differences do not have to separate us from one another. Instead they can be an immense source of learning and fun, something that makes life more interesting rather than a dull repetition of things we already know. With any luck, I will be able to share this point of view with others when I return, and also represent the US so that the people of Calobre learn this as well, as they have taught me.

Arrival and First Day at School

This past Saturday I arrived in Panama without any problems. Luckily all of my flights were on time, and both of my bags made it. I got in around mid-day, and was met by an old friend whose family I am staying with and a representative from the company that sold me the 500 books for the school I am working at. After a brief stop to pick up the books, I was driven to Calobre, the town where I am currently living. The further we got away from the city, the clearer it became that Panama is a developing country. By the time were reached the Veraguas province, where Calobre is located, the land was replete with the small houses made of bare cinderblock and slanted sheets of tin for roofs. I spent that evening and the next day finally meeting the people with whom I had been communicating by telephone with for the past months as I planned this trip.

Today was my first day working in the school. Although I had been to Calobre last year, I did not get to visit this school, so seeing it for the first time was quite an experience. In fact, it is in much better condition than I had imagined. Some of the schools in even more remote areas that I had previously seen in Panama were no more than cinderblock cubes. This school has several classrooms, bathrooms, an administrative office, and a special air conditioned room for special education students. That is not to say that the school, El Colegio Eligio Tejada, is a palace though. I spent the morning hours being introduced to the students then going through the normal routine. To start the day, the students congregate in the school yard for the raising of the Panamanian flag and sing the national anthem. One special student also gets to read the announcements for that day in front of the others. This week is special because the school’s anniversary is being celebrated, and several special events are taking place. This morning after announcements three girls were presented, dressed in special clothes and wearing sashes bearing their names. They are competing to be elected ‘La Reina,’ or the ‘Queen’ of the school for the anniversary. The students will vote Thursday. After all of this was done, classes began. Today I worked with two kindergarten classes, in addition to first and sixth grade. I was surprised by how well the students learned the information, although for their age we are only teaching basic phrases and sentences.

Currently there is only one teacher for English that is responsible for the entire school, and he is not able to teach English to all of the students in all the grades. The Principal hopes that during my stay here I will be able to work with the students that he can not get to by himself, which should be quite exciting. At the end of the day there was a special presentation put on for my arrival. The students sang and performed traditional Panamanian dances for me, which was a great introduction to their culture. Afterwards the Principal said a few welcoming words and there was an official presentation of the books that I bought for the school, which total 505 in all. The other teachers are very excited to have the books, and I can’t wait to see how they are implemented in the curriculum. I am very lucky because I will be able to see the impact that this donation has during my time at the school.

Headed to Panama!

So today I ran a ton of errands- stopped by the bank, got a haircut, shopped at wal mart, packed; the list goes on.  The last thing to do is to actually fly to Panama.  In just a few hours I will be on my way to Miami out of Tampa and then on to Panama City.  After arriving I will be driving to Calobre which is about four hours west of the city, so I should be in by around 6 pm EST.  It will certainly be a long day, but I am greatly looking forward to it!  My next entry will be the first from Panama…see you then!

First post, pre-departure

Although I have yet to arrive in Panama, this serviceship for me actually began last August when I began to plan the trip.  During the summer of 2009 I traveled to Calobre, Panama as part of a mission trip.  After this experience I yearned to return for an extended time period.  After many discussions with locals in Calobre, friends and colleagues in the US, and extensive planning, I am now finalizing preperations for my departure this Saturday, June 12.  For those of you who don’t know, I will be teaching English in a school in Calobre during my two month stay.  I will also be establishing a library at the same school, starting with about 500 books for grades K-5.  To get some more information on my background, visit my ‘About‘ page.   

Today I had some great news on this project, and found out that I will actually be driving from the airport to Calobre with the books which should be very exciting.  As for now I have to finish getting everything in order and actually start packing!