Life Lately

Hi, hello, it's been too long since I've written! I'm in the US right now on my one-month "special leave", a major perk of being third-year extension volunteer. Here is a short recap of life over the past couple months.

Living in San Félix is kind of a mixed bag. I'm still basking in the amenities - a refrigerator, a freezer, WiFi, a washing machine. I've been continuing to make house improvements like having my handyman neighbor install a skylight in the main room! But there are downsides... the blaring bass on nights when there are parties (I live only a block from the main party venue in town), the stifling heat, and the overwhelming machismo. Some men here are soooooo gross. I can't go on a run at 6:30 AM without getting at least four catcalls, poorly executed English pickup lines, or wolf whistles. I was the only white person in Cerro Gallina, but I was Bei Kwitubu and everyone knew me. Here, I know a few San Feleños but not many. So I'm just the mystery white girl that everyone stares at, haha. I don't feel at home in San Félix like I did in Cerro Gallina, but it's okay because that's what I was expecting.

Being a Regional Leader is also both wonderful and difficult. I have volunteers almost every day at my house, and I love hanging out with them and coaching them through issues. I also love visiting them in their sites. My fifteen new volunteers finished their three months of integration and got to move into their own houses a couple weeks ago. They all seem to be in pretty good spirits, which is awesome. At the same time, it has been a bit more challenging than I expected having people in my tiny house and sharing my space all the time. But I continue to remind myself that being a giver who shares without a second thought is a process. October was super busy with site visits and regional meeting, and then I planned agency visits for the new cohort in early November. Besides the técnico from the Ministry of Environment showing up an hour and a half late to our meeting, it all went quite well, haha. I was feeling increasingly restless during November and early December on the days when I didn't have much work to do. I was so ready for a break from the heat and a brief return to the comfortable and familiar life at home in the US. I am hopeful that I will go back to Panama in January in high spirits and ready to tackle site development 2019 with animo!

I've been filling my free time with reading, puzzles, yoga, music, Netflix (I admit), and some new hobbies. Jacob looked in my fridge one day and said "Sierra your refrigerator looks like a science experiment." I was making bean sprouts and also attempting to do some fermenting. I made fermented pineapple juice (pineapple wine?) that came out so-so and fermented kiwi juice that tasted like straight-up vinegar. Still working on it. I've been having fun baking with yeast, so far I've made bagels and challah that both turned out very yummy. 

I almost forgot! A big success on November 30th was our World AIDS Day event. It was a collaboration between Peace Corps, MINSA, and the American Embassy to Panama. There were speeches, games, presentation of gifts to special guests, dramas, and free HIV and STI testing. Over 300 people came!! The Health Center in Hato Chamí created all of these beautiful decorations and it was a super positive day. Photos below.

G83 WASH volunteers after our tour of the San Felix water treatment plant. My neighbor Serafin (far right in the blue) who is a plant operator, was gracious enough to offer to take us on a tour after our meeting with MINSA. It was really cool to see all of the steps: intake pumps, primary disinfection, flocculation, coagulation, filtration, secondary disinfection, and storage. We also got to check out the control rooms water quality testing labs. I learned that they even add fluoride to the water, and the intake pumps in the San Félix river automatically shut off when the storage tanks are full. Coming from a place with rudimentary at best gravity-fed aqueducts, I was quite impressed with how high-tech it was.

Erick, the técnico at IDIAP, giving the SAS volunteers a tour of their office orchard. We came all dressed up, forgetting it was casual Friday, haha.

Kids dancing jeki for the distinguished guests.

Comarca volunteers giving a presentation on the transmission of HIV.

The awesome young actors who created videos on healthy relationships and HIV prevention!
View the videos HERE!

With Rigoberto! A friend from Quebrada Honda who lives in Panama City and came all the way to Chiriquí for this day.

Alvaro (ponytail, collared shirt) crushed it with his freestyle rapping. He is truly a warrior for HIV prevention in the Comarca.

Some of the kids got really into writing positive messages and decorating this banner.

The female RLs plus Shellee at our Thanksgiving celebration in Chitré, Herrera // G83 SAS + Shellee + Eliana at another celebration that I hosted in SF. We had ridiculously good meals. In Chitré we all had to lie down on the floor after eating and then take a long walk around town to process all of that food. Making up for 2016 when I didn't get to celebrate at all, stuck in my community with a dead cell phone during a hurricane!

Life in Rainbow Colors

Just a few photos today! I've been super busy this past month visiting all 15 new volunteers in the field. A new text post coming soon.

Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle regional meeting! It was overall successful.

Look at that nagua coordination.

The world map painted on Courtney's future house.

Maria and her host sister's daughter Yamileth in her beautiful mountain community. Such a cute & smart little girl!

Separation from Colombia Day parade with bands from all over the Comarca. So impressive!

Trying to get the kids in Chantal's community to pose with me.

Will & his neighbor up in the clouds above his community.

Super fun Sunday. Two brothers in my volunteer Elena's community decided to plan a 24th birthday party for her, and she invited me to join. They had bought a cake and snacks, and had a mini gathering at the church for her. Then we all went down to the river to swim. The brother Elvin led a bunch of competitions - swimming race, breath holding contest, relay race, rock skipping, splash-each-other-in-the-face-until-someone-surrenders. It was incredibly sweet of the brothers!

What a gorgeous swimming hole.

Comarqueña <--> Chiricana

In September I moved to San Félix and began my new job as the Comarca Regional Leader. A few musings on adjusting to this new "city life" as a Chiricana (Chiriquí resident):

• I've started going on runs in the morning! (sometimes haha). As I jog north along the back roads of SF and Silimín, I gaze up at the tree-covered cerros of Gallina and Mesa looming in the distance and wonder what my gente are doing at that moment. I also get to hear how the town wakes up. The quebrada laundry slaps and gravelly voices singing hymns in the Comarca becomes the whirring of washing machines and accordion riffs of típico on the radio in San Félix.
• Going out into the campo for a few days to visit volunteers and then getting to come home to a comfortable house is a really nice thing. I've been particularly enjoying my real mattress instead of the foam pad I had in site, the smooth, cool concrete floors, and having ice cubes in the fridge.
• When volunteers stay at my house, some of them have been super enthusiastic about helping me clean the place out. We've gotten rid of a lot of filth and junk so far. This house has been in Peace Corps for many years and so much stuff has accumulated. I'm still not sure what to do with the multiple snorkel sets I found?! I also found (and disposed of) a huge mouse - over a foot long including the tail. So glad I wasn't alone when that happened, everyone got a kick out of my shrieking.
• The San Félix band has been marching around town, busy practicing for the 3rd of November. But their rehearsal hours just seem odd to me. They parade past my house playing Despacito and Olha a Explosão on repeat at 10 pm... I guess marching at night beats the heat?

One of my first tasks as RL was to deliver rejection letters, and boy was I dreading it. Every year, Peace Corps has to prepare more communities than there are volunteers, because there's always a chance that something could come up at the last minute and a community isn't able to welcome a volunteer. But this year, no communities dropped, so there were three sites in the Comarca that were anxiously awaiting their first PCV...and they didn't receive one. And I was the lucky messenger that got to go deliver this news. I showed up at one site I had never been to before with my only instructions to "find Jesús that works next to the school". After asking around a bit, I found him. He excitedly greeted me (in English!) and invited me into his house. He seemed like a smart guy so without beating around the bush I handed him the letter. He carefully read it over and then looked to me for more explanation. I explained that Peace Corps loved the community - the WASH project manager had just told me on the phone the day before - but there were simply too many good communities and they have to give preference to follow-up sites. I expected annoyance, anger, disbelief, really anything but the forgiving and understanding response I received. He said that they would be eagerly awaiting a volunteer next year. He said they would do anything they could to make sure that next year they made the cut. I assured him that his community was on the top of the list for 2019. Then he brought me to meet some teachers in the school and meet all of his extended family. We sat down and ate spaghetti with chicken and chatted for a hour or so. Then I left for the chiva stop and he wished me God's blessings and invited me to come back to visit whenever I wanted. Later that night I was making my way through folders on the expansive Comarca RL Google Drive and learned that many communities wait years after reaching out to Peace Corps to receive their first volunteer. My own community, in fact, filled out the paperwork in 2010 and received their first PCV in 2014 - I had never known this before. So I ended that day incredibly humbled, as always.

I also spent two weeks helping out with a research study of adolescents in the Comarca, including surveys, STI testing, and health education. One of the weeks we traveled to Ñökribo (in Ngäbere, "big water place") and it was amazing to see how the Northern side of the Comarca lives. Instead of going up the mountain in a chiva, you go up the river in a lancha or cayuco (dugout canoe with a motor). I'm not going to write much about the study here on this blog since it involves human subjects.

Up next...regional meeting! Thirty-three volunteers, three Peace Corps staff members, and several Panamanian agency counterparts will convene for a two-day event in San Felix and at the beach in Las Lajas, and I'm the gal in charge. *nervous laugh* We'll see how it goes, I'm excited to have all of the Comarca together for the first time since the arrival of the new group!

Heading out to the port on the 6 AM motorboat from Kankintú.

A kra big enough to fit an adult!

Our team for the 9th week of the study.

Dressing up in ridiculous costumes for the self-empowerment and healthy relationships portions of the seminar.

We teach comprehensive sex ed to the teenagers. We talk about all of the options: getting tested, being faithful to your partner, abstinence, condoms, and birth control. And two volunteers in the Bocas del Toro province were upset because their local government health centers continually were "out of stock", even though they are required by law to have free condoms available. So we went to the HIV clinic in San Félix and talked to the doctor. He gave us some people to contact and promised to hold all of the clinics accountable in the future. And then in the meantime gave us many bags of condoms for our seminars! So we had to take a selfie. 

Leaving Chiriquí Grande in a lancha (launch).

Visiting new volunteer Ailyn.

Cleaning out the bookshelf in my house. Termites rather artistically chewed through this one.

Visiting new volunteer Forrest. Here's neighboring volunteer Ailyn and me with his counterpart Monchy checking out a water source.

Having a lunch meeting with an agency counterpart in San Félix with some agriculture volunteers! Chantal, Lucy, me, Chaneen, Aziza, and our counterpart Fela.

Jatuaita Kwitubtä

I’M DONE. I can’t believe it.

Well actually, I’m not done. I have a whole 11-something months of Peace Corps left before I am actually an RPCV. But I have finished two years of service in Cerro Gallina and it feels really good.

My despedida on August 28th was a day I will never forget, and I want to tell you, my dear readers, about it in detail so you can envision my last day as a Cerro Gallina resident.

On Monday morning, I hiked out to purchase all of the food & supplies for the party. Good thing I live frugally because I used over three-quarters of my monthly stipend on just this single meal!! It was so worth it though. The shopping list included 100 lbs. of rice, 65 lbs. of chicken, 45 lbs. of vegetables, 5 kg. of tomato paste, etc. My host brother Victor met me at the road with Mogo (my host family’s two horses are named Cariñoso and Mogo, “Caring” and “Idiot” respectively) to load him up with all of the goods to hike them to the community. He was an hour late and there was a downpour, all was well though. The women got to work salting the chicken and a barrage of people arrived at my house. I had been running around like crazy the past two days and was pretty wiped, and all of a sudden I got the worst stomachache, like I actually had to lie facedown on my yoga mat on my front porch while Jairo, Dionicio, Melvin, Carmen, Dominga, etc. continued to hang out at my house haha. But I made some mint tea and eventually they left and I was able to finish making some posters and prepping for the next day.

On Tuesday I woke up early to do a last-minute load of laundry (maybe my last time washing my clothes in the creek, sad!!), made breakfast, and then starting hauling things from my house to the galera, the location of the party. Corbyn showed up and helped me a ton. My five chefs Benita, Dominga, Ana, Lleya, and Celia and cooking pailas arrived, and people started coming around 10 AM. I made the rounds talking to people while trying to arrange all of my stuff around the galera for the raffle. Charles, Jake, Raúl, and DJ also came! Before the food, I led some games for the kids (and adults, let’s be real haha) - balloon stomping, pass-the-orange-without-using-your-hands, marble tossing, and a slingshot competition. The gente trickled in and then came in droves. To my surprise, nearly every household in my community came to the despedida, which meant the world to me. The food was finally ready around 3 pm, and we had a short program with Reynel as the master of ceremonies. My host mom Benita led a prayer, then I gave a welcome. The floor was then opened for the gente to speak, and Victoria, Luciano, Javier, Dinora, and Clemente gave some heart-warming palabras of gratitude to me :) Then I gave my speech. Honestly I don’t remember what I said, haha. I tried to write something beforehand, but then I just said screw it and spoke from my heart. It was mostly various words of thanks, of how much my community has enriched my life forever and made me a better person. Then we ate! The cooks had made three pailas of rice, two of guiso, and one of potato & beet salad. There was enough food for everyone, and that was the only thing that mattered to me. I was the last one of 170+ people to eat and there was a liiiiittle bit left over - success! Then the piñata, the raffle, the chaos. I don’t want to get into much detail here but I’ll say that the raffle was an utter disaster. I distributed a number to each person and called them one by one to choose an item. But no one could even see the items available because there were so many people pushing & shoving. Between Reynel, who is a muscular police officer, Corbyn, and I, we literally could not control the crowd descending on my stuff! But in the end, I was just satisfied to get rid of all of my things - most of my possessions honestly, I didn’t bring much to San Félix - and hopefully my gente will enjoy the recuerdos they received. 

And then by the time the raffle mayhem subsided the sun was sinking, and I hardly got to actually say goodbye to anyone. I wanted to give everyone hugs and proper goodbyes, but it’s okay because I’ll come back to visit this upcoming year and see the important people. Some kids and teenagers came to my house, and Dinora and Jeuris actually kissed me on the cheek when saying goodbye, it was the sweetest thing. Corbyn and I hiked back up to the galera with our solar lamps, and it was a MESS. We cleaned a little but got hungry, so we went back to the house and made stovetop pizza. Enrique & family came over for a final movie, so I put on Zootopia out on the porch while Corbyn and I sat on my floor and ate pizza. I was so grateful to have a PCV friend with me for that last night in site so I wasn’t alone. 

The next morning, Luisa, Enrique, Dionicio, Reynel and various other gente came over. They helped me finish cleaning out the house (read: took all the stuff that was left over haha), we took some last-minute photos, and I closed El Castillo Kwitubtä and handed over the key! I already miss my house. I said goodbye to my host family and Enrique’s family one last time. Dionicio helped me carry my stuff to the Gallina entrada. I stopped in Mesa to gift Chavelita my favorite non-stick skillet and spatula because she couldn’t make it to the despedida. And then I was off! 

A shout out to my community members that made the two years vale la pena. I wish I could write about each person individually and what they mean to me, but there are too many so I am going to list them. These people are my family and each one of the names below has made a lasting impact on my life.

Thank you to mi papa Victor, mi mama Benita, Victor nuevo, Diana, Jairo, Debora, Walter, Pricila, Roderik, Tito, Nulio, Lleya, Domingo S, Ever, Roger, Reynel, Enrique, Ana, Tatiana, Elvin, Ana Doris, Dionicio, Claudina, Rosibel, Melissa, Yoriel, Melvin R, Luisa, Eduardo, Yesi, Lucila, Lucelina, Ehinar, Emil Yohany, Clemente “Chiduli”, Emilia, Rodolfo, Dalky, Hiraldo, Juliana, Melquiades, Dominga, Vidal, Jorge, Melvin P, Oscar, Carmen, Xavier, Leila, Yolinda, Edilsa, Emiliana, Julio, Felicia, Asaiel, Petra, Alejandro, Gloriela, Justavino, Marcelino, Elsa, Miriam, Leopoldo, Daniel, David, Victoria M, Milton, Henry, Marita, José, Chavelita, Rudy, Carmen, Marisabel, Jackson, Dinora, Jeuris, Christian, Rustia, Ernesto, Fidel, Tomasa, Walter, Raquel, Yelenia, Danitza, Nila, Reynaldo, Fermina, Victoria P, Hilda, Moises, Venancio, Cecilia H, Carolina, Gloria, Rosa, Plinio, Edgar, Maicol, Juanita, Luis, Aminda, Nina, Hilario, Celia, Manuel, Vladimir, Maira, Darinel, Ubaldino, Cindy, Dina, Rosa “Bei”, Meibi, Javier, Girljolie, Gracie, Merilyn, Winner, Isaías, Casilda, Catherine, Joel, Yosel, Nereyda, Isaías nuevo, Manuel “Otilio”, Ermelinda, Maritza, Eugenio, Felix, Ylka, Marisol, Elieser, Amado, Fredy, Gabriel, Calixto, Israel, Cecilia M, Simeon, Manuel R, Luciano, Marta, Rigoberto, Javier R, Yolanda, Jacquelín, Juana, Domingo R, Rosina, Aisa, Edgar, Minerva, Lucas, Roswell, Minerva nueva, Adriana, Monica, Adrián, Valentín, Dioselina, Melida, Javier, Tatiana P, Tatiana nueva, Elida, Vladimir, Geronimo, Ester, Emilio, Elodia, Israel P, Dori, and MANY MORE people (whose names I may or may not know haha) from my community. As well as all of the gente from Cerro Mesa, Salto Dupí, Soloy, Hato Julí and various other parts of the Comarca whom I also consider family.

"See you on the other side, my family. -Bei"

Juan, Yohany, Lucila, and Jonathan. Partial muchach@ squad

Matando la piñata Diego

Yoriel, Ana, me, Dionicio at their house

Dinora, Lucila, and Carmen. Seeing them grow up these past two years has been a delight.

BYE

I’m now living in San Félix, Chiriquí! I spent a week and a half in Panama City meeting my new volunteers, getting in some much-needed friend time, daily ice cream, and relaxation, and learning how to be a Regional Leader in training at the Peace Corps office. I’ll write another post soon with all the stuff I’m working on now as the Comarca RL.

 Visiting Santa Rita

Group 83 swear-in - WASH ladies!

Chelsea & I climbing La India Dormida in Valle de Antón, Coclé

My 15 new Comarca volunteers from Group 83 after site announcement!

New crew - the regional leaders :) 

Farewells & Feels

"Bei when you’re gone, I’m going to dream of you” – Ana, last week, in her kitchen at night while drinking cacao before The Road to El Dorado movie night.

I’m writing this post from my porch because my computer is charged and I’m feeling sentimental tonight. The moon is almost full, the crickets are singing and it didn’t rain today so the bugs aren’t too terrible. My borrowed cat Luna is on my lap nibbling on my fingers as I type, and I don’t even mind. After two years in the Peace Corps, there is very little that can faze me.

Today Victor, Domingo, and I worked on putting another coat of mortar on the water tank while Lleya cooked us lunch of rice with a tomato, onion, and jiraca (foraged leafy green than I love) topping. Then the Vejerano siblings, Victor, and I harvested oranges, I lost count at around 60. Then I helped Dionicio practice for his English exam on Wednesday for a couple hours. Then I made brownies with my host parents. They fed me dinner of rice & sardines – the classic meal – while we waited for them to bake. Then I played games of checkers with Victor, Jairo, Roderik, and Pricila until I was too tired to play another and retired for the night, but of course not before playing their favorite songs from the Moana soundtrack.

Roderik, Victor, and Benita making brownie batter.

When I left our makeshift English classroom today – an old chalkboard hanging from some bent rebar in the corner of the chicken coop and a plastic lawn chair for Dionicio – he asked me the usual (mostly in English! He’s getting so much better!)

D: When can we study again? Will you be in your house tomorrow?

Me: Yes, at night.

D: Thursday?

Me: Yes.

D: Friday?

Me: Yes.

D: Saturday?

Me: Yes.

D: Sunday?

Me: Yes.

D: Monday?

Me: Yes, at night.

D: Tuesday?

Me: Dude, Tuesday is my despedida (going away party). It’s a day to celebrate. I’m not going to teach English that day.

D: And then you’re gone? Bei…why do you have to go?

And I literally saw his face fall as he realized how soon I’m leaving, and how I’m simply not going to be here anymore. Although I’m not going too far and I can visit whenever I have free time, it’ll feel really different not actually living here. I feel ya, Dionicio. I’m excited to be done and I’m ready to move on to my new role…but I’m going to miss these days a lot.

The past few weeks have been full of goodbyes. First, the artisan group despedida! What a beautiful celebration. It was mostly for Zach, because he was the one who worked with the artisans as one of his primary projects, so I was shocked with they called me up as well to receive gifts and give palabras! I was presented with two small chacaras made of natural fibers (my favorite), a homemade diente’d bag, and a diente’d headband. There were speeches, some tears, the most incredible meal, an entire barrel full of chicha dulce, and lots of photos. The generosity of the artisan group never ceased to amaze me. They gave me so much without expecting anything in return.

 Miriam.

Chavelita <3 Marita and Marcelino in the background.

Probably laughing at a fart joke.

With the OG tocaya, Bei!

T

100% not posed. Zach made a fart joke, and Marcelino lost it. This is us reacting to his reaction.

I went to Sophia’s despedida in Quebrada Mamey. She planned a whole bunch of fun games for her gente, and then a bunch of them spoke, prayed, and sang about how much she meant to them in the community. It was incredible to see the outpouring of love and emotion. Again, there were tears. The next day we hiked over to Zach’s despedida in Cerro Mesa. More speeches, giveaways, hugs, photos. Then we hiked out and I got to spend two final nights with my closest friends before they left Panama. It’s not going to be the same without them, and it was really tough saying goodbye.

Sophia saying her final goodbyes.

After Zach's despedida. Raquel (dark green nagua) and Walter (orange tshirt) have been good friends of mine as well.

Me, Jake, DJ, Michael, Zach, Sophia. Five people I love very much.

I have a week left in site. I’m uneasy leaving things here in the community unfinished – namely, the aqueduct improvement that is still incomplete and won’t be done when I leave. Then the two newly formed water committees that I wish I had been able to train more, latrines we built that are still not in use, baking classes that I never got to…there’s a whole laundry list of things. My fast-paced American agenda clashed with the leisurely Panamanian agenda, much frustration ensued on both sides, things got put off, and time ran out. But it’s okay because I know I did as much as I could, and there have been several good things that we’ve accomplished recently in the 11^th hour. First - I did a daylong seminar for the Bajo Conejo water committee. I spent a lot of time planning it so I was annoyed that the president didn’t show up… but oh well. The members of the committee that did come learned about the responsibilities of each member of the directive, Ministry of Health laws, proper household water treatment and storage, aqueduct maintenance, and did some team-building exercises. Second, Isaías, Javier, and I built a latrine for two of the few families in the community who until recently didn’t have any sort of latrine and pooped in the creek/woods, so this is a huge step up. Lastly, the sheets of zinc for a new health pavilion that Enrique, Vidal, and I solicited a year ago from our representative (if you remember this from my post from a year ago, major props to you) were finally delivered!! Seeing this come full circle gave me a sliver of satisfaction.

It's pesada de nance season! All the kids came over to eat pesada.

With Manuel, Dionicio, and Eliseo at the World Indigenous Peoples Day festival in Hato Pilón. Love these boys.

Eduardo's whatsapp status. An honor to be featured with such flattering graphics, lol

On July 30^th, I finished my year of 1-second videos. I had started this on September 14^th, 2016, the day we swore in as PCVs, and had about 10 months’ worth of video until my phone got stolen on the 4^th of July last year. I hadn’t backed up my videos and lost it all. Back up your stuff, y’all!! So I started over and finally finished a year. Watch it here!