Video of my House in Panamá

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Reviving a Criminally Neglected Blog

Happy New Year from Bahía Ballena!!!

My one new year’s resolution (hate them as I do) is to keep a better travel blog. Life in Peace Corps can tend to get so hectic and busy that literally every second of your time spent at a computer (which is only a couple of hours a week TOPS) is spent doing administrative paper work and responding to emails. However with the revival of my computer – dead to me since month two of my service but miraculously resurrected after my two-week holiday hiatus in the United States – I am able to write when motivation strikes rather than feeling forced to cram in a few witty remarks at the internet café while the girl next to me cranks (and sings along with) Bachata and Tipico music over loud speakers, and the guy on the other side of me watches porno in a not so discrete manner with a more than creepy look on his face (yes this is completely normal at a Panamanian internet café).

Anyways…enough of that. I’ll try to sum up my experience - including the highlights and lowlights - of the 120 sum odd days it’s been since I last put fingers to keyboard.

You say Ngöbe I say Ngäbe

My time has been spent living amongst a community of 600 indigenous Ngöbe. A group of people traditionally isolated in family compounds in a hunter-gatherer society. Since the Spanish came to Panama in the 16^th century, the Ngöbe have been continually marginalized and their bloodlines and culture have largely died off. They survive today, not as hunter-gatherers, but as subsistent farmers…due largely to previous over-hunting and rapid depletion of surrounding animal populations. Whatever knowledge the culture once possessed with regard to farming has since died off do to urbanization of surrounding areas and the easy access to cheap consumer goods. However, this life produces an unsustainable reliance on the nearby urban economy and leads them further and further away from sustainable land harvesting practices.

The majority of the folks in my community speak a traditional dialect called Ngöbere as their first language and have only learned Spanish through government-funded education programs, and thus have a relatively narrow vocabulary and only a tenuous grasp of grammar and conjugation. Ngöbere sounds, as my mother so accurately described after hearing me say a few phrases, like a combination between French and Chinese. In other words…little if any similarity to Spanish.

Progressing forward, the issue of language is somewhat of a catch-22 for them. The majority of my community members realize that Ngöbere is not spoken by the outside world (although some have asked me if it’s spoken in the United States which leads to an interesting conversation). They understand that in order to assimilate they need to communicate with the dominant Hispanic culture in Panamá. Without this assimilation they remain isolated from the resources possessed by said culture. HOWEVER, the Ngöbe in Bahía Ballena are understandably frightened of losing their language and the small pieces of culture that they have left (i.e. artisanal work, traditional dress). So any move towards Hispanic culture is a move towards potential prosperity, but a move away from all that makes them unique.

This catch-22 is represented perfectly in their interactions with me. They want to learn from me, and converse with me…but they often only want to do it in Ngöbere. Even my relatively fluent Spanish is a disappointment.

This presents the most overarching of the many difficult cultural challenges I’ve had to try and overcome because try as I may Ngöbere largely remains a mystery to me!

While attempting not to duplicate information noted in previously blog entries, here are some other examples of Ngöbe culture that make it unique: 

• There is no word for “Thank You” or “You’re Welcome.”
• There are no words for the days of the week, and until western culture permeated, the general consensus is that there were no real descriptors of time (i.e. days of the week, months of the year).
• The words for “love” and “pain” are the same as well as the words for “first” and “last.”
• There is no concept of ownership, which leads to constant requests and sometimes demands to use what is someone else’s. There is also no real concept of value, and thus a computer would be treated with the same flippancy as a broken piece of plastic.
• It is extremely undesirable to give or receive bad news. Because of this people often either just won´t do it, or they will say the exact opposite of what is true. Example: saying that you will 100% attend a meeting that is to commence the next day, then never showing up, and when confronted about it later, admit that you had a conflict all along.
• Aside from frequent fits of laughter (often times directed at me), the Ngöbe do not outwardly express emotions. Even if they are presented with extremely good or extremely bad information the usual reaction is a blank stare. Thus when they interact with someone such as myself, with a number of different facial expressions, they often laugh hysterically. 

Standard Ngobe picture - zero facial expression & hands firmly at side

• Traditional Food: boiled bananas and plantains, peach-palm (which tastes like pumpkin only so dry that you WILL choke on it if you do not have an accompanying drink), root vegetables that all taste identically like unseasoned potatoes but all have different names, and white rice – nothing with taste and very little source of protein outside of the occasional piece of (completely plain) grilled chicken.
• The Ngöbe put even the most prolific of teeny-bopper gossip-queens to shame, engaging in what is known as “bochinche.” Bochinche is gossip that is often treated as complete truth, no matter how ridiculous. Example: “Did you hear that Pedro turns into a wolf at night? It’s true! Evanglina told me yesterday that she saw him, and he was eating chickens." 
• The one exception to the lack of emotional expression is when there is a death. The grieving process consists of staying up all night drinking Cacao (chocolate water), crying, and recounting stories of the recently deceased.

Every day I learn something new, and am either baffled or impressed by the very unique nature of the Ngöbe in Bahía Ballena.

Highlights and Lowlights of my First 6 Months:

Highlight: my community analysis. After 3 months of painstakingly acquire information about the community and culture with regard to education, religion, politics, health, economics, organizations, and family, I delivered a 3-hour presentation to about 40 members of the community in Spanish. I was helped with presentations by a few community men and women. The highest of highlights was seeing a few women (who traditionally are seen and not heard in public) overcome a tremendous amount of nerves and self-consciousness to talk about their lives in front of a room of people. A huge breakthrough.

Josefina and daughter Liska standing in front of the community presenting the Daily Activities Schedule portion of our Community Analysis

Lowlight: being present for three deaths in the community due either to dehydration or lung disease. The hardest of these being the death of an 8-year old child after contracting an intestinal parasite and failing to accurately hydrate. Hydration continues to be a challenge for many in the community – many failing to understand why they would drink water when there is coffee readily available. Lung disease is also rampant in women because of the hours they spend every day cooking over an open fire in an enclosed area filled with carcinogenic smoke.

Highlight: working with the women of the community to begin a project of raising chickens. The women of Ballena often struggle to be seen as valued members of the community, and this project gave them confidence and a sense of purpose. Whereas a previous chicken-raising project resulted in every single chicken dying within 2 weeks, this new project resulted in all 60 chickens surviving and being sold for $1.25 per pound…a huge influx of money for the community. They have since re-invested this money in new chickens and will continue to prosper.

Lowlight: the consistent visits I get at my house by children who say they do not have any food at their house and in their desperation come to me for a handout. I am unable to comply because of the precedent this sets. If I feed one child I will have the other 400 sum-odd children at my doorstep over the coming days expecting the same treatment. The hardest thing a Peace Corps volunteer can have to do is turn away a starving child.

Highlight: seeing the president of the local farmer’s cooperative nearly KILL himself trying to secure government aid to improve farms in the community, and securing two different government donations for a total of $64,000. His name is Humberto Palacio, and he is one of a kind around these parts.

Lowlight: meeting a child named Archimaedes who is 9 years old and has never been permitted to go to school. Despite being wonderfully well-spoken in both Spanish and Ngöbere, Archimaedes can not read or write, and knows very little about the world. He is not alone either…a number of the children in Ballena, whether they attend school or not, can not read or write. This is a continuing challenge for me as I attempt to do my best to educate them during my free time away from my primary project of agricultural assistance.

Highlight: it’s always appropriate to end on a high note. The biggest highlight for me has just been walking around the community on a daily basis. The amount of affection the members of my community have shown to a stranger is very humbling. From the moment I show myself in the community, to the moment I return home I am lavished with affection from dozens of smiling children, and dozens of adults eager to talk about their lives and what we can do together. The biggest breakthrough is that conversation no longer just consists about what I can do for them, but many ask about how I am doing, and how my family is doing back in the United States. This wasn’t always the case, but the longer I’ve lived here the more I am treated like a valued member of the community. Having a family come to my door recently and give me a fish from their daily catch (one that they could no doubt use themselves), may have been the nicest moment of my time here.

What’s next?

The New Sustainable Agriculture

Because of the aforementioned acquisition of government funds, this is a very exciting time in Ballena. This community needs resources for reforestation, nurseries, and storage units for coffee beans. They need to further market and productize their coffee, learn most sustainable farm management practices, and eliminate the coffee pest (“La Broca” Coffee-Borer Beetle), that is destroying their crops farm by farm at a rampant and exponentially increasing pace without using dangerous pesticides.

Receiving this money signifies that we will now be able to being forming a coalition to fulfill these needs and achieve these goals. This also means that for the next year I may be the busiest man in Bahía Ballena, likely giving trainings on a weekly basis.

GAD Camp

Every year, Peace Corps conducts a seminar for a few chosen youths (ages 12-18) in the various communities where volunteers live. In addition to sending two exceptional youth from Ballena, I have volunteered my services to help facilitate this seminar, which touches on many educational topics that the youths would never hope to learn about in their everyday lives (i.e. Sexual Education, How to Use a Computer, Personal Health and Nutrition, How to Set Life Goals, etc). The camp takes place over 3 days at the beginning of February.

Youth Class and Sports Program

My mother and a very close friend of hers did an extremely kind and admirable thing and took it upon themselves to donate some Spanish language books to the community ofBallena. The children of Ballena are currently out of school on their summer break (mid-December through mid-March), and because of this they are left to either work in the farms with their families or find ways to occupy themselves. Whereas summer break is a cause for celebration in the developed world, there are few if any activities for the youth of Ballena, and thus they spend most of their time restless and unstimulated. Thanks to these books, I can now begin a library out of my house. Every evening since returning from the states earlier this week my porch has been filled with eager minds ready to be read to. In the coming weeks I hope to expand on this reading program with a series of activities and a system that will reward consistent participants. To be continued! 

I have also begun organizing a sports camp that convenes pretty much daily and consists of baseball (played with a whiffle bat), soccer, and (slowly but surely) American Football (the game "500" mostly). We also have regular Yoga and P90x sessions on my porch.

P90x Core Synergistics on my porch....a favorite activity no doubt

A Brief Thank You

I want to take a minute to thank the people who have verbally supported me during my time here and continually reminded me why I initially chose to be here. Also I want to thank those of you who took the time to ask me questions about my experience during my recent R&R in the States. The more you show interest, the more it makes me feel as though what I am doing is relevant. Sometimes it can feel as though development work is simply a never-ending series of frustrations, but when others show unsolicited interest in the goals of this unorthodox life I abruptly chose to pursue in my late-20s it truly rejuvenates me.

So…THANK YOU! You know who you are!