I have now been living in site for over 6 months, have developed a work plan for the next few months and have adjusted my living situation for the rest of my service. As a volunteer, I feel like I have become mentally stronger now that the rains have stopped. Since the rains ceased and it’s actually pleasant where I live, I’ve realized what a struggle it was to get through these first initial months. I’m a lot more comfortable now and I feel like I’m ready to face the real work challenges, not just the challenge of survival. With this, my Spanish has also improved, finally! I feel more confident with it, take the initiative to study on my own, and the community members, other volunteers and Peace Corps staff has also commented on my progress in the past 2 months. All in all, that fact alone has boosted my confidence and attitude while in site.
The other personal note is the progress of my new house which will turn a new leaf for me work wise and for my sanity. The original house of the previous volunteer is a small, 12 X 8 foot box that is really close to a large family house and very exposed to the community as a whole. In the house there is only room for a bed and stove. This was very difficult for me to live and sleep in for the time that I have been in the community. The new house however is on the other side of town, will have a large bedroom and a separate kitchen, an indoor space for bathing with rainwater, and a large patio with a solid railing for security. This new house will have more space for me to work, and is a bit more private so hopefully I’ll sleep better and be more relaxed. Also, I felt like I was living in someone else’s house. The first one never felt like home to me and that is important to me, especially for 2 years. This new house is all mine and I’m very proud of it. I think it will only be a positive addition to my mental sanity and productivity in site.
There is a problem with the community impact of my choice to move however, but I am determined to use it to my advantage. The community is divided into two family groups that live on two different hills in town and are separated geographically but also by their religious beliefs. I’m moving from the Pentecostal hill to the Methodist, and they aren’t exactly friends. My initial move I anticipated will upset the women on the Pentecostal side, however at the same time they understand that I need a bigger house for work and for a place to stay when my family and friends visit. I’m going to take this opportunity to explain to my community that Cuerpo de Paz is here for the entire community, not just one side of town. With my close relationships with both sides after the move, I think that I will be able to bring them together for meetings better than in the past because I will have more direct relationships with them from having the experience of living on both sides. I’m also going to make it very clear that no aqueduct work will be done without the contributions from both sides, equally. So, although it might flare up some competitiveness in the beginning about which family gets me on their side, I am very conscious of the situation and will use the leverage to smooth over family conflicts. After all, it is a Peace Corps goal to promote community unity.
Latrines: The latrine situation is the most frustrating thing I’ve come across in my service thus far. I have given a charla on how to use the latrine correctly, created incentives to cover and use the latrine like family photos, and I’ve told my community that we will not get any more funding for future projects as long as the first project is not complete, aka the latrines. I’ve had hours of conversation with each of the 8 individual families that received a latrine on why they do not like them and what I can do to help them. Basically they don’t like the concept of composting latrines. They tell me that they didn’t know they were getting composting latrines and wanted pit latrines. They think pit latrines are cleaner even though I have explained to them that they are not feasible due to the high water table of a coastal community and a pit latrine would fill with water and attract more disease and sickness. This will be an ongoing challenge to educate my community on the benefits of the latrines as oppose to using the rivers. My next approach includes another more serious and very visual health charla. I am also going to set up a system where I will offer English lessons when the latrines are finished. 4/8, the kids gets English lessons, 6/8 for the women, and when all 8 are complete the men can attend class. If that doesn’t work I will try something else. In any case, I’m not planning on building any more latrines in the near future due to the slow and uninterested response we received from the pilot project. A huge flaw to the project however is that the latrines were given to one family, aka the Pentecostal hill. If they were more spread out over the family units, or given to the motivated individuals, I think they would be in use by now. The one family sticks together and just does what their relatives are doing. In this case, not finishing the latrine with a casita or using it.
So because of this situation, and the dire need and want for water via an aqueduct, I feel that latrine research is out of the picture. I believe that Danny and Josephine did their research on latrine issues as well as Jessica but I want to take my work in the direction of water, as it is way more appropriate for the needs and interests of my community.
My work plans for the next following months are as follows. Right now in Panama City I am attempting to get a hold of topography maps of my community. In June, with these maps and contributions from all members of my town, we will have a meeting to discuss the initial pipe lines to all four sections of town and to discuss the location of the tank. Once the initial pipe locations are decided we will make a plan and form teams to survey with a water level over the course of the summer(July and August ideally). Within this meeting I also want to use a Peace Crops tool called PACO to let the community identify their water problem/situation. From here, I hope that they will come up with a plan themselves, with my guidance and help, about what is the best way to go about getting water to the community. Here, I hope to re-introduce the concept of rainwater collection because I think it will become apparent to the community within this meeting using a map that an aqueduct system to every individual house is not feasible based on the topography of the town.
The POCA system is one that I learned in training and then got reacquainted with during our project management seminar. It is a tool to identify community problems and possible solutions, comparing and contrasting the pros and cons for the possible solutions to the initial problem. The system is very user friendly and provides clear options to abstract problems. I’m really excited to use it at my meeting in June along with the help of Anayanci, the woman I brought to the seminar. She learned the technique there and can help prompt the community to answer my facilitator questions.
In the meantime I will be practicing my Spanish and game plan for this meeting which I think might last up to 3 hours. Hopefully, we will reach some decisions and have a short and long term plan for the summer and the next 6 months. There are some other side projects I’ve been looking into as well. I have a friend coming out to my site to meet with the artisan women in town to talk to them about tourist related Ngobe clothing to sell. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting English classes. I’m interested in holding a health charla series with other volunteers specifically in women’s health and AIDS/STD education since the community has expressed interest in learning more about both topics. I participate in community activities by cheering on my town’s baseball team at the games on the weekends and by going to the finca once in a while to help gather food. On the surfer beach on the other side of the bay I’m working with another volunteer to help build a latrine for tourists who come to enjoy the waves.
For now, that is my plan. I’m excited and nervous and hopeful. All the while I’m very happy and find joy in the day to day activities in my community. I’m lucky to be where I am and I’ve already learned so much about their lives and my own.
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