Kids and animals. One in the same.

Kids and animals. One in the same., originally uploaded by Sara of the Jungle!.

I´m famous!

Check out this article in Panama´s national newspaper La Prenza about the Peace Corps. Of all 170-some volunteers, the blogs of only two were mentioned, one of them being mine. The article is in Spanish but just scroll to the bottom where my name is mentioned. I´m famous!


LA LABOR DEL CUERPO DE PAZ.
Un esfuerzo genuino
949743Betty Brannan Jaénlaprensadc@aol.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Mientras que los publicistas de la Casa Blanca y del Palacio de las Garzas no descansan en su esfuerzo de rehacer la imagen de Jenna Bush –aquella hija traviesa de George W. Bush que pasó unos meses de paseo en Panamá y ahora nos la quieren vender como prácticamente una Madre Teresa–, hay unos jovencitos norteamericanos que llevan décadas de estar haciendo una labor mucho más abnegada y genuina en nuestro país, sin recibir el reconocimiento que merecen. Estos son los voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz, que sin ostentación y parampanadas nos regalan dos años de servicio social en condiciones duras e inapreciadas por los que (como yo) nunca hemos visto de cerca cómo es la pobreza rural en Panamá.
Lo de Jenna, por contraste, es puro marketing sin contenido. Recientemente fui a una librería aquí en Washington donde ella estaba haciendo una presentación de su libro, Ana’s Story [La historia de Ana] que supuestamente cuenta la historia de una joven panameña que sufre de sida (aunque la obra no contiene un solo dato que permita verificar la autenticidad del relato). Es un librito sencillo y con mucho espacio blanco en cada página, supuestamente destinado a lectores jóvenes; eso tiene la ventaja de no requerir mucho esfuerzo intelectual por parte de la autora y de permitir la venta del libro al por mayor a las escuelas. En la presentación a la que asistí, trajeron cientos de alumnos de las escuelas vecinas y era obvio que el libro les había sido distribuido de antemano. Para no tener que decir algo original, Jenna se limitó a leer brevemente del libro y mostrar un video preparado por UNICEF, sin aceptar preguntas. Ella eventualmente accedió a responder a algunas preguntas de los estudiantes –quienes preguntaron cosas triviales, como era de esperarse– pero no de adultos. Todo el evento me pareció una burla.
Mientras tanto, descubrí por internet los blogs de algunos voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz en Panamá, que me impresionaron muchísimo. Los invito, por ejemplo, a buscar www.rlittle.blogspot.com. Este joven ingeniero, Rob Little, trabaja con los ngöbes, viviendo como ellos (entre alacranes, gusanos, arañas y culebras), comiendo lo que ellos comen (arroz y bananos), y compartiendo su pobreza y marginalización en todas sus dimensiones. Él construye letrinas, ayuda con las cosechas, y trata de usar sus conocimientos como ingeniero para solucionar problemas. Ellos, en cambio, no comprenden porque este "gringo" carece de esposa y se han afanado bastante por buscarle una. Rob escribe de todo esto con mucha perspicacia y gran humor, de paso revelando un choque cultural casi inimaginable y un estilo de vida más que primitivo. Su blog tiene momentos divertidos –como cuando un gusano se le metió bajo la piel y su host mom [mama anfitriona] intentó curarlo con una medicina que claramente decía, en inglés, for use on cows only [solo para usar en vacas]– pero también tiene reflexiones sobrias sobre lo que ha aprendido de vivir entre estos indígenas. En cuanto a calidad de análisis y talento como escritor, la diferencia entre Rob Little y Jenna Bush es del cielo a la tierra, sin hablar de la diferencia en autenticidad de lo que Rob está haciendo comparado al paseo de Jenna.
También les recomiendo el blog en www.sarabethinpanama.blogspot.com. Sara también trabaja con los ngöbes, en el pueblito de Nudobti en Bocas del Toro. Ella está tratando de organizar una cooperativa de artesanías y otra para el cultivo de cacao pero también tiene entre manos varios proyectos de salud, que incluyen educación sexual e higiene elemental. Sobre estos últimos dos temas, prefiero no entrar en mucho detalle aquí, pero les diré que Sara describe sus experiencias y frustraciones con refrescante franqueza e inteligencia.
Rob y Sara son solo dos de los 174 voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz que están actualmente en Panamá, haciendo una labor valiosa pero invisible que ni siquiera se acaba con su partida del istmo. Hay una asociación de ex–voluntarios – "Peace Corps Panamá Friends" (www.panamapcv.net)– que publica un boletín cibernético y está planeando una reunión en Panamá en 2008 para celebrar los 45 años del Cuerpo de Paz en nuestro país. Además de que esta asociación apoya obras de caridad en Panamá, un grupo de ex–voluntarios se unió en 2003 para crear una organización llamada "Native Future" (www.nativefuture.org), dedicada al apoyo y la protección de los Wounaan en Darién.
Estos son esfuerzos que sí merecen nuestro aplauso. También nuestro agradecimiento.

http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2007/12/02/hoy/opinion/1192070.html

Panama's farmers resist hydroelectric projects

Please read this articles from the Miami Herald about the dam project near my community. Where the article was written from is about a 45 minute walk from my house and Ive even meet one of the men mentioned in the article. I have also meet the director of the company AES to ask him how he felt the project is handling the displacement of the people and if there were independent scientists doing inventories of the resources that will be effected in the watershed of this NATIONALLY protected park.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/257243.html#recent_comm

And if that site doesnt work, try this one:

http://burica.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/panama-people-resist-hydroelectric-projects/

And also this little audio slideshow that shows pictures of the area where I live so you can get a better idea of what its like:

http://www.miamiherald.com/static/multimedia/miami/panamadam/index.html

My sobrinto y hermanito.

Check out my little bro´ rocking the taxi driver with my white headed sobrinito de un añito. Precioso, digo yo.

The Panamanian government cares for its indigenous people and protected forests.......

Like I’ve described in past posts, there is a multinational corporation in the area where I work and live which is in the process of damming the River Changuinola, about a 45 minute walk from Nudobti. Now please keep in mind that this project is something that is supported by the Panamanian government, although the area is a nationally protected rainforest and it’s construction will significantly effect the biodiversity of its ecosystem, damage the nearby watershed and displace thousands of indigenous people and effect thier unique culture. They have already begun displacing people and houses have begun being constructed in my community (only a house - minus a farm to cultivate food and income for the families...) for some of the effected people by the company. Unfortunately, the whole project is being administered in an incredibly unsustainable and culturally insensitive way. The people, being uneducated, living in some of the most extreme poverity in Panama and situated in inaccessable and remote villages dont quite realize the severity of the situation and are receiving a small amount of money for their farms and to turn their heads to the issue.

Check out this website, and read a little bit more about it:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/panama_biosphere/

Check out this website

A Peace Corps friend of mine had a visitor from the states last year who is a professional photographer. All of the amazing photos he took were taken in Nudobti (where I live) and Valle de Risco (neighboring town), including my host familiy´s house (where I lived for 6 months of my young life) and some friends of mine in the community. Check out his website and click on ¨Galleries¨¨and then ¨Panama¨:

http://www.andrewlamoreaux.com/

Don´t throw fish bones to the dog!

So, I have been collecting Ngäbe myths. Certain things have become such common, excepted knowledge that I too have began too embrace, until I have a moment of clarity and think, ¨Wait a second, that goes against any sort of logic according to my traditional Western upbringing.....¨

- When you cut your hair you are to put the clippings under a tall tree so that your hair will grow back quickly and long. In my town you see little piles of hair under trees all the time.

- When you eat something with bones, you are to through the bones in the fire (there is an open fire in the center of every house in town) instead of out the window or to the dogs because if you do, the person who hunted or caught that animal will never be able to kill another one of them again. The first time I threw fish bones to the dog, the family I was with literally kicked me out of the house.

Traditional ¨kra¨ - made from kiga

- When a girl gets her period for the first time, she is secluded in a room or area of the house by herself and no one talks to her for three days, except for one woman elder. The woman bathes the girl everyday and takes her to the jungle to show her how to harvest fiddlehead ferns (this food represents the feminine strength of Ngäbe women). During those days the girl sits and makes a bag out of kiga (a natural fiber).

Henry hauling bananas

- Women wait between 6 months to a year to name their kids. All the kids in my town of that age range are simply called ¨chi¨, which in ngäbere means both ¨small¨ and ¨child.¨

Melina and some chiquillos

- Traditionally, Ngäbes were polygamous and most men of my grandparents generation had more than one wife. There are at least three men in my town that still have two wives that all live in the same house together with their montaña of kids.

- Apparently, the powers of the pregnant woman are both bad and good. For instance, if you have a cut or a blister, the best cure is for a woman who is with child to message here saliva into the wound to cure it and prevent infection. However, say you are sick with something and a pregnant woman visits your house, under any other circumstance it is expected that vistors should be gifted food, but if you gift a pregnant woman food, your ailment will become worse.

- If you are sick, you must cook and eat separate from the rest of the family and some also say that no one can even watch you eat.

- Sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws that are related by marriage never talk to each other (this is another one thats becoming out dated). Now normally, the adult children of one solo matriarch all live in the same house with their partners and their children. I´ve been in certian houses where none of the sister and brother-in-laws have ever talked to one another and don´t even know each other´s names even though they live, cook, sleep and eat together under one roof that have no walls and thus no private rooms.

- Women of the older generation file their front teeth to be serrated like the edge of a bread knife. I have gotten a million different reasons why, but I think it may be an aesthetics thing. For some reason these women are the most sought after (well, I guess in the past because very few of the modern generation do it).


I think I may have a million more, which are slipping my mind, other than the usual ¨hexes¨or ¨curses¨ that they put of one another when someone falls ill. Apparently, according to one woman, someone has put a curse on me before. Who really knows.

Check out all the pictures I´ve ever taken

So although it took me half of my Peace Corps service to do, I finally put all the photos that I have taken online. In one spot. For all to see. Check her out, although it may take you forever to review them all.

http://flickr.com/photos/84362300@N00/

Enjoy!