The Story of a Day

A lot of times people ask me, “What is your typical day like?” and I never can come up with a good answer, because I don’t really have a typical day. So I will tell the story of November 14^th, a day that was not extraordinary, but ended up going better than expected.

Monday the 13^th – we had just finished the SENAPAN work day, group meeting, and finally a 3 pm lunch at Elsa and Marcelino’s house. Elsa had told me that she wanted me to accompany her to “a meeting” on the 14^th, but I didn’t know any other details. I asked them what the plan was. Marcelino told us that his friend Catalino would be coming to pick us up at 6 AM at the entrada to take us down to this meeting. He quickly called Catalino to confirm, but there was no answer. Still he seemed sure that he would be there and said, see you at 6 tomorrow! Now, back in June Marcelino arranged for another friend with a truck to take a whole group of us to the beach for an overnight crabbing trip. And we waited from 4 pm to 11 pm, and the dude never showed up. Those seven hours, sitting on the path getting devoured by bugs and my stomach growling, were some of the most miserable hours I’ve spent in Panama. (If you were wondering, eventually José somehow got our diputado, basically the equivalent of a Senator, to send a truck at 11 pm – seriously) So I was quite doubtful this friend would come through. But I set my alarm and woke up at 4:45 AM, and it was raining steadily. I spent a half hour lying in bed, debating whether I should still go, because most of my community members will cancel plans if it’s raining. I finally left my house at 5:30 armed with my black rubber boots and umbrella, and hiked up to the entrada, arriving at 6:30. There was no one there, and it was still raining. I called Marcelino, no answer. I waited and waited and ate my packed breakfast of PB&J and an apple, wondering if Marcelino and Catalino had actually followed through and left without me at 6 AM, and finally at 7:45 I decided to turn around and hike back towards Gallina. I had walked about 2 minutes when Elsa and Marcelino appear on the path, soaking wet and loaded down with probably 30+ pounds of bodá, a local vegetable, to sell. And nearly exactly 2 minutes later, Catalino showed up. The fact that both parties showed up exactly 1 hour and 47 minutes late was quite miraculous.

He drove us to Sabanitas, a town just inside the border of the Comarca that’s pretty developed, with electricity and water and some agency offices. At this point, I had still not been told what this meeting was about. Honestly, I was a little suspicious – I’ve had some bad experiences traveling unknown places with my gente (getting stared and pointed at, getting singled out by an angry preacher in front of hundreds of people, food and water running out, etc…) We went into the Consejo Comarcal, a large multipurpose room with a stage, microphone stand, and beautiful paintings of the Comarca and Ngäbe people on the walls. We were given goodie bags from MiAmbiente (Ministry of the Environment) with recycled paper notebooks and pencils and the day's agenda and some informational booklets. Turns out, it was one of many climate change & reforestation conferences nationwide, and leaders of various groups in the Comarca were invited to learn so that they could spread the information to their constituents. So cool!! I watched Elsa and Marcelino reconnect with almost everyone who walked in – how do they seem to know the whole world? I found a wall outlet to charge my phone (this is a big deal for me, haha) said hello to the one another attendee that I recognized, Ramiro from Cerro Mesa, and wished I had coffee. The conference began, and many people from the national MiAmbiente offices in Panama City spoke, as well as local técnicos, like my community member Adriana’s brother Eduardo. They showed a PowerPoint and videos about deforestation as a national problem in Panama, the reforestation efforts that were already in place, the role of the woman in household conservation – my favorite topic, and future national goals. There was a snack break with little sandwiches and coffee – add your own milk and sugar. I can’t even explain how happy non-sugared coffee & milk made me; truly, my life in Panama has become all about the little things :)  

One of the speakers talked about the reforestation part of the 2015 Paris Accords. He explained that it may be strange to think of ourselves in the Comarca as contributors to climate change when you consider that we live without electricity, factories, or cars. But the Ngäbe can definitely contribute to combating climate change if they re-forest cleared areas, halt slash & burn agriculture, and convert to more organic practices. Over 150 countries agreed on and signed this accord, pardon to our international visitor here – he gestured towards me and the whole room turned to look at me – but the dirtiest country in the world signed it, and then backed out. Feeling that I should say something, I stood up and said shakily, I know, and as an American I’m very ashamed that we have pulled out of this very important agreement. Later, during lunch, after the rage I often feel whenever I read about Trump’s latest move had calmed down, I talked to the speaker. I explained that even though our president is crazy, I remain optimistic that the majority of American citizens and corporations care about the future of the planet and will do our best to make sure that we are doing our part, regardless of who’s in office.

After a yummy catered lunch of fried rice with veggies, fish, cabbage salad, and juice, the final activities included group brainstorming on how to transmit this information to our community members and what topics we’d like to learn about at future seminars. Before leaving, each attendee got reimbursed for their travel to & from the conference. The amounts were pre-set based on your corregimiento, and since we had gotten a free ride that morning the three of us technically made a few dollars, weird but I wasn’t complaining haha. Throughout the day Marcelino had sold all of the bodá and excitedly used his earnings to buy chicken and veggies for the family in San Félix as we waited for the chiva back up. During the hike home, Marcelino held Elsa’s hand during the slippery parts and talked animatedly about how important the conference was and how he is even more convinced that our community has the capacity to completely eliminate slash & burn. Their family has already stopped – growing rice in submerged “tanks”, Asian-style, and practicing organic agriculture. I am always inspired by this couple.

It was a good day!

Let's protect this beautiful place in which we live!