Thanks for all your love and support

Thursday, December 16, 2010

COWS

Coming from a high school where I was constantly ridiculed by for being known as a "hick" and holding events like cow pie bingo, and then continueing at UC Davis, where I lived closer to the cows pen then my classes...you would think i would have had my fill of cows. 
Clearly not. Throughout the mountains where I live, there are various cows that roam the land.  But these aren't just ordinary cows, they're Panamanian gigante cows. Some are with horns, some have big humps on their back, and all constantly look angry. Naturally, they freak me out, considering I used to be scared that the chickens we're going to attack me all the time.  Recently, I've had some great encounters with these cows.

#1  Awhile back I was going on a long hike to another community by myself to meet new people.  During the hike I passed a Ngabe woman who I stopped to greet and talk to.  After discussing the weather and getting asked the usual questions (mostly: why aren't you married?, where are your kids?, how come you're so tall?, and why are they're brown speckled dots all over your face and arms?) She asked me if i was scared of cows.  Trying to be tough and not wanting to seem like a sissy gringa, I lied.  "no, no me molesta," I say.  She replies, "oh good...because there is a HUGE herd of them blocking the path up ahead...and you're wearing red, which makes them angry." As she turned to leave I interrupted her and shouted, "I lied!" I'm actually terrified of cows.  She laughed and then ran into the forest with her machete.  A few minutes later she returned with a freshly made spear (because everyone can make spears out of machetes)and said here, take this to protect you, you'll be fine.  And she went on her way.  So there I was, alone in the middle of a mountain range walking on a path holding a spear out in front of me waiting for something to charge.  As I turned the corner a few minutes later I indeed came across about 15 to 20 cows just hanging out.  With no way to pass them and no better idea of what to do I just started waving the spear around crazily and yelling.  Right then, the campesino who owned all the cows popped up from the other side and asked what i was doing. I'm sure my face immediately matched the color of my bright red shirt.  I said, oh you know...just dancing." Confused, he moved the cows for me and I awkwardly thanked him and continued up the mountian laughing at myself.  However, I still walked holding the spear straight out in front of me for the rest of the hike. 

#2 So I just recently moved to a new host familly.  For my first 3 months I'm living in 3 different host families in order to get to know more people.  My new family is incredibley sweet and welcomed me into their house by having a midnight meet and greet/induction ceromony with all the neighbors (which consisted of 20 Ngabes in a dark room sitting on a bench and staring at the the white girl sitting in front of them).  This family lives on a compound a good 30 to 40 minute hike away from the center of town and has quite possibly the best sunsets I have ever seen.  I love it.  I sleep in a bed that they made for me in their kitchen, which has no doors, which is somewhat common for Ngabe houses.  On my first night there, I went to bed and fell asleep immediately, exhausted from all the commotion of the induction.  A few hours later I woke up to some sort of crunching noise. Because we live in the mountains with no electricity for miles, it is pitch black at night, to a point where you cant see your hand in front of your face.  Just thinking it was a chicken, I turned over and went back to sleep.  Then the noise got louder.  So I fumbled for my head lamp, sat up, and flashed on the light to find 2 massive white cows standing right in front of me chewing on my mosquito net!  Thankfully my high-pitched girlish scream scared them just as much as they scared me, so they ran from the house...breaking part of the panka roof on their way out.  Of course word that Melidi is scared of cows spread like rapid fire around the compound and it has been a running joke for the past week. 

Often times I just feel that I'm in the Peace Corps simply to provide comic relief to the people in Cerro Banco.  I love it. If I can make someone laugh or smile during the day, I feel like thats a success.

In other news, as promised to many, here is my address in David where I can get mail.
Kayla Howard-Anderson
Cuerpo de Paz
Entrega General David- 0426
Provincia de Chiriqui
Republica de Panama 

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far and singing lots of Christmas carols.  I am currently teaching the 6th grade class how to sing jingle bells for Christmas.  It's still a work in progress. Until next time...

Paz,
Kayla/Melidi

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Whole New World...

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all!  I am so thankful for all of you who are taking the time out of your day to read this. It´s so refreshing to know that people are interested in what I´m doing here in Panama. Since I´ve last posted, I´ve finished training, met the president of Panama, swore-in, and have been living in Cerro Banco for the past month.

I live with a family of 13 kids for now, which is at times insane, but it´s been great learning the Ngabe family dynamics.  The women, who are typically extremely shy, finally started talking to me a few weeks in and now we can laugh at how terrible I am at weaving chacaras (traditional woven bags), pilaring rice, or using my machete.  For the next 2 months, I´ll be living with 2 different host families and then moving into my own house, which I am currently in the process of starting to build.  Yes, I am building my own house...who would have thought that would even be possible?

I´ve done so much, and sometimes it feels like so little, in the past month, it´s hard to sum things up. But here are a few things I´ve learned while living in The Bank
1. I LOVE BANANAS
-Ok, I always knew that. But little did I know that if you boil them while they are unripe and green you can eat like 9 or 10 of them for a meal, which I eat at least every other day flavored with Salt or Tang.  Also, banana tree leave are used for everything! paper towels, toilet paper, plates, bowls, tops to pans, and they make excellent make-shift umbrellas.
2.You can pretty much do anything you want, as long as you have your machete.
-This includes- making spears, digging holes, planting anything, killing snakes and other unwanted insects, mowing the lawn, and much more.  I never thought I would be a proud owner of a machete, but it definitely comes in handy.

3. Silence is Golden.
-Other than librarians, I think ngabes follow this rule more than anyone else. It´s extremely common here to pass the day going to another persons house to visit with them.  However, for about 80% of the time no one says anything, which is considered polite. The other day I ate dinner with 8 men after a work party, and for a half hour no one said a word.  For someone who loves to talk, this has been quite the adjustment.  But I´m definitely coming to enjoy just passing the time with someone in silence.  I think it means your comfortable with them.
4. "When a women thinks too much, she dies"
-My host dad told me this the other day and I thought it was kinda funny. At first the feminist in me was initially offended, and I protested.  Then I thought about it for a while and realized, yeah, when I think too much, I go crazy.  
5. You can kill 2 birds with one stone if you wash your clothes the same time you shower.
-Since there is currently no running water in my site, I bath in the nearest stream.  Although it´s refreshing, it´s not very private. So generally I wash the clothes that I´m wearing the same time I wash myself- it´s genious.
6.Skin infections, giardia, blisters, and barbed wire hurt.
 -Enough said.
7. It´s totally acceptable to have 7 cups of coffee a day.
 -If not coffee, then some sort of juice...possibly made from corn, banana, or pifa.  When people go visit friends around town, it is culturally appropriate to give them either something to eat or drink.  Although the people do not have much to give, they are very generous with that they do have. This is something I respect lots about this culture.

Although I have TONS more to say, I´ll keep this blog short and sweet as I will be blogging again in a few weeks.  Alsol I ´ve posted a few pictures on Facebook...so check it out. 
As always, thanks again for reading!

Paz,
Melidi

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Cerro Banco- Comarca Ngäbe Bugle

 Daria, Jedi, and I (she´s one of the tallest women in the community)
 Juanita making a Chacras (woven Comarca bag)
 Kids playing volleyball


Cerro Banco- or literally translated "Bank Hill"- is my new home away from home!!! After months of training, hour after hour of sitting on hard metal charis in a sweaty room with 20 other trainees, and learning how to mix cement or thermoform properly, I am finally in Panama for what I came here to do. Be a Peace Corps Volunteer!
I´ve know this for quite some time now and trained for it, but now that swear-in is arriving, it all seems surreal. But I´m so excited and anxious to begin.

I just got back from my first site visit to Cerro Banco and things got off to a shaky start.  All us trainees went to a conference and a community guide from each of our sites was supposed to come and meet us there so we could have a mini seminar and then each go our separate ways with our guide.  However, due to many reasons, my guide could not come, along with 2 other trainees.

Due to the change of plans, my super-awsome PC training director, Juan, drove the 3 of us personally out to our sites to meet our guides.  Foustino, my community guide, met me in Oma, which is half an hour North of San Felix of the Pan-American highway.  From Oma, Cerro Banco is about an hour and a half hike into the mountains (or 2 hours with a heavy pack).  Hiking through these green mountains was incredible. We got to a clearing and I was literally surrounded my mountains on all sides. I felt like the Latina or Indigenous Fraulein Maria and wanted to burst out singing the hills are alive with the sound of music, but I figured I should probably tone my enthusiasum a bit down before I scare the ngäbes.

Once I got to my site I was overwhelmed with emotions.  In general, the Environmental Health sector in Panama has the most poor and rural sites in all of Latin America.  The Comarca definitely falls under this category.  Before going to my site, I was informed that Cerro Banco has no running water, (except for one faucet at the school that works approx 2 days a week) no electricity, and no sanitation facilities (so no latrines orother places to go the bathroom). I totally understood this and was definitely ready to experience it. However, going there and actually seeing and living in it was completely different than I expected.  The poverty there is almost unbelievable and it is crazy to think that is how life has always been here. But what was even more incredible was that I was graciously accepted into a community members home to live there for the first month of my service, even though most people are still very confused why there is a Gringa living here.

The moment I got there, I was given a big bowl of rice, beans, and cafe -all staples in the Comarca.  One great thing about this place is that even though there is extreme poverty, there seems to be plenty of food to go around, at least in this season. Everyone owns land and works on the farm to harvest and sell food.  Also, sharing, especially food, is a huge deal in the ngabe culture. During my fist few days in the community when I went around to each house to introduce myself, I was either given a plate of food, coffee, cacao, or a fresh coconut to drink out of. Another great resource is that Cerro Banco is surrounded my little streams, springs, and rivers. So there is lots of water available right now. 

But this leads me to my main source of work.  Due to lack of education, money, and other resources lots of people are sick with colds and many children have intestonal problems.  This is because soap is a luxury that they do not see or know to be very important.  Even worse, it is culturally common to use the same stream where they get there drinking water to use the bathroom.  This leads to many illnesses, especially with the children. So there are tons of opportunities for work here, first starting with education.  Fortunately there is a governmental agency currently bringing in latrines to Cerro Banco, so I will be working with them and my community to teach them proper usage.  This is just one of the many things I will be doing in my community ontop of making friendships and fully integrating into the culture.  Although right now I am overwhelemed with everything and realizing that this isn´t going to be an easy adjustment, I´m so excited to start my journey.  I´m defintely reminded of my favorite poem, Ithaka.  It seems to suit me right now.

¨When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you...

Since I am almost out of time on my internet I´m just going to leave you with a list of fun things I did during my site visit.
-planted corn
-carried 2.5 gallons of rocks on my head for and hour uphill...4x
-harvested and pelared rice
-showered in the river, everyday
-collected and dried plants for weaving bags
-had a scorpion on my leg (thankfully it did not sting me)

Thanks for reading as always and keep sending emails!  I love hearing from you.
love,
Kayla or Melidi (my Ngabe name)


Friday, September 10, 2010

My first visit to the Comarca

All the volunteers recently had their first site visit to test the waters for 4 days. We were all paired up with a current volunteer to experience life in Peace Corps. I was sent to the Comarca Noge bugle in a small pueblo called Cerro Puerco. Luckily a few other volunteers were sent to nearby areas and we were able to start off traveling together. My journey started when I took a bus from Panama city to David and the bus driver almost missed my stop….so the driver proceeded to back up on the Pan-American highway (only the busiest highway in Panama- no big deal). I was standing up at this point, and due to my extreme clumsiness, I fell down onto the lap a Panamanian woman and we both started laughing. So…I was off to a great start!

Here I met my volunteer that I was to visit. We then needed to take 20 min ride in a pickup truck and then hike for 3 hours down and straight up a mountain. Now, this was quite the adventure. 3 hours of hiking in the rain, dark, copious amounts of mud, and my massive pack (of course I overpacked) To make matters worse, there was a big storm a few days earlier and a tree was covering the usual path, so we got a little lost down by the river trying to find the bridge. It was definitely one of the hardest hikes I’ve done in a while-but it was well worth it! We finally made it safe and sound to my volunteer’s house that she built a few months prior. It is pretty common for an Environmental Health volunteer to build their own house, which is so crazy cool. Hers was made out of bamboo walls, Plancha roof, and a wood floor (which is very uncommon in this area, most locals have dirt floors).



Here are some brief points and highlights of my visit:

- The Comarca Noge bugle is an indigenous group in Panama that live very simple lives up in the mountains. I found them to be pretty shy but extremely generous individuals, as I was given tons of food and drinks from them. I could potentially be placed in one of these indigenous communities and am so excited to learn more about this group of people.

- Aleah, the volunteer I visited is working on providing running water to all her community and adding more latrines. Some of her community has running water, but many people do not. This is a long process of teaching them about water/health safety, and coming up with a plan to make this happen. She showed me her community’s spring, current aqueduct, and water tank.

- We walked through the entire town, meeting and chatting with people of the community. Aleah gave me one of her Naguas to wear, which is the traditional Nobere dress women wear. But of course, it was a little small since I am a bit taller than the average Nobe woman. So naturally every Nobe thought it was hilarious that the dress didn´t fit. I guess so far I´m doing my part as a PCV to provide comic relief to a community.

- One day Aleah and I met up with a few other volunteers that live an hour or 2 hike away and went to this beautiful waterfall that we got to jump through and swim in- totally Last of the Mohicans like. Panama is beautiful. I was literally surrounded by rolling green mountains and rivers. The views are incredible! (And yes, Dad. I’ve seen numerous “sunsets of the week”)


I’m beginning to see what my 2 years could be like, it’s been said (and I’m beginning to understand) that Enivronmental Health volunteers in Peace Corps are sent to the most underdeveloped places, as we are working with these communities to develop the most simple and vital needs- water and sanitation. Because of this, it´s most likely that I will be sent to a place with little access to clean water. Needless to say I wasn’t exactly sure I knew what I was getting myself into before I left. I think its going to be much harder than expected, but SO exciting and necessary. How amazing is it to provide a whole community with better health through clean water and places to use the bathroom! This is going to be quite the adventure that I’m so thrilled to embark on and I feel so blessed to be here.



Thanks for reading…pictures will be coming soon!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Panamania!

Hi friends!
I´ve been in Panama for 11 days now and I´ve already done so much! It´s crazy, but I´m definitely loving my time here. This has been my first time with intenet acess since I´ve left the Peace Corps office in Panama City- so sorry for the delay in updating.  Currently, myself and the other 20 environmental volunteers are living in Rio Congo.  It's such a cute little town where everyone seems to know each other about an hour outside Panama City. Here we are doing our technical training and language training basically from 8-5 everyday.  I´m so pumped to improve in my spanish and start learning about what we will be doing on our sites.  Right now we have mostly been learning the type of sustainable and grassroots development practices that we will be doing for the next 2 years. Everything I´ve learned so far has been great and really  applicable.  During the first few days in Panama all the Trainees went to visit a current PCV at her site and we got to experience a little what her life is like in her town.  This coming Thursday all the trainees are going to a current PCV´s site by themselves for a 4 days.  I´m going to the Muna district in the Camarca Ngöbe-Buglé region- I can´t wait.

My host family is really great! I have 2 brothers and 1 sister who I share a room with, and they are so sweet.  My mom and Dad are also so nice and patient with my spanish.  We have a great front and backyard full of chickens and tropical trees. My parents have told me there have 2 little monleys living out there too! I have about a 10 minute walk into town everyday-which is really nice.  I'm learning to love cold bucket showers, especially on the hot panamanian days,and getting myself used to the daily hot dog for breakfast. 

I´m running out of time, so I should go. If you need to contact me, feel free to send emails and for the next 9 weeksmy address will be¨

Cuerpo de Paz, Edificio 104 1er
Kayla Howard-Anderson
Piso, Avenida Vicente Bonilla
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Panama Rep. de Panama

Miss you all! 

Monday, August 16, 2010

I'm Peace-ing out!

It's finally here! I landed in Virginia a few hours ago where I will officially start my Peace Corps training tomorrow.  I'll only be here until the 18th, then it's straight to Panama to start my Peace Corps adventure.

I don't know how often I will have internet access, but I will update this blog when I can as an online journal for myself, as well as to keep everyone informed on what I am doing (as soon as I figure out what that is).

Please feel free to share this with anyone and keep in touch through email (khowardanderson@gmail.com)
I would love to hear from you all!  Thanks for reading.

Paz, amor, y dios
Kayla