A little rest at the beach

The real sandman

I live in a beautiful humble abode. A house made by the hands of my community members. Up on stilts, made of wood that we cut from my neighbor's farm, with a thatch roof from another neighbor's farm. It is beautiful and I have a beautiful view of the caribbean ocean. I love it. But it sways when I walk and a lot of dust falls from the roof inside of my house. So much, that if I don't sweep everyday, all of my things are covered in a thin coating of very fine sawdust. One day, I asked Fernando (an incredibly motivated and hardworking community partner, definately one of the most forward thinking in the community) if this was a normal quantity of dust to be falling from the rafters each day. He told me that it was an exceptional quantity, not normal. And I asked why. He told me that little bugs were eating the roof away but that it wouldn't harm the roof itself. And I asked why. He told me that it was maybe because we cut the thatch in a new moon, but more likely it was because I gave food to a man inside my house before it was finished, whose wife was pregnant at the time. And he said, " I don't know how the bugs know, but they know when a man whose wife is pregnant ate inside the house before it was finished". We thought back, and identified the man whose wife was pregnant at the time, who ate inside my house before it was finished, while he was working on my house. So I asked how I could solve the problem. Fernando told me that I had to find a man whose wife is pregnant, and have him throw sand on top of my roof. So I have high hopes that this real sandman will help lift the fine coating of dust falling over my head while I am dreaming, and that I don't wake up with too much sand in my sheets!

What I can see from my window

Here are a few pictures from my windows of my house, of my wonderful neighbors. Everyday is a different scene, always interesting.







My life is moving along rapidly. I have lived in my community for almost one year and I can say that I am happy here. It is always challenging, but also always fun and an incredible experience. I recently went on a little adventure to collect a certain leaf that people eat cooked with coconut milk. They call it Sega. So I set out with my three neighbor kids on our adventure as they showed me all sorts of wild fruits and leaves that you can eat. Little did I know that I would soon be up to the middle of my thighs in mud, almost losing my boots and my balance. I was laughing and yelping as I almost fell over, but they told me that when you harvest these leaves, you have to be very quiet, because if you talk to much or too loud, the leaves taste bitter. Also, if your mother is scolding you and you talk back, the leaves will taste bitter, but if you tell her "okay mom, I will try harder next time" the leaves taste sweet as can be. We had a fabulous time tromping in the mud, trying to catch crabs and little fish in the meanwhile. And we cooked the leaves up that night with coconut and it seems like we did a good job, because they turned out soooo sweet and delicious.

A few scenes from my life

A few drops of the large amount of rain we receive here
my neighbor in a breadfruit tree outside my house
Me in Panama city near the canal

Photos thanks to Jake Moriarty, since my camera broke in October!

Time to head to the polls

People are waiting in lines blocks long, for hours on end, to get their identification cards so they can vote in the upcoming election. A new president will be elected next Sunday. Meanwhile, until Sunday, the country stands in almost a standstill anticipating the results. But as the people in the rural countryside have known for quite some time, their lives will continue on the same without too much variation as the political parties rotate through.
Much of what politics in the campo amounts to here is how much food a politician brings to a community when they give their campaign speeches. And so we continue working here in the campo, with a little more food in the belly.

My humble abode

I live in a beautiful little wooden house on stilts with a thatch roof, up on a hill overlooking the Bocas del Toro Islands and the Caribbean ocean. It might be the coolest house I ever own. We built it from the base up, cut down the trees (don’t worry, we are planting more) and constructed it with the help of my community members. I now continue to build things for my house; shelves, a bathroom and shower, rain collection system, table, benches, dish rack, etc. It sometimes feels like paradise, that is until a child starts screaming in the house 7 feet away at 3am, or a funeral procession passes under my house, or whatever other event takes place. But the message is, that I have a wonderful little home to live in and for visitors to come stay in. So to all my friends and family, come visit whenever you like, just give me an email heads up for when you might come hang out in this new humble abode!

Water is the source of life

The last few weeks, I have been supporting an extended part of my community to fight for their right to clean water. Over the last three years, they have been working with the Ministry of Health to receive a new aqueduct with the capability to provide clean water to all houses. Due to a disagreement with another nearby community, the Ministry of Health postponed the aqueduct project, threatening to give the resources away to another community. In a meeting this morning, the two communities fought for their rights. It was quite moving. The children of the school walked out in their little uniforms holding signs, making their own silent protest.

“ El agua es la fuente de vida, sin ella no podemos vivir”
“ Water is the source of life, without it, we cannot live”

“Necesitamos agua para limpiar nuestra escuela”
“We need water to clean our school”

“Podemos vivir sin luz, pero sin agua no podemos vivir. Tenemos derecho a vivir y a agua limpia”
We can live without electricity, but without water, we cannot live. We have a right to live and to have clean water.

They all looked up with eyes so big. And it is true. We cannot live without water. Without clean water, we cannot live fully. Without a clean source of water, the people collect water from nearby streams, the same streams that others use as a latrine. More directly said, people shit in the same streams which they drink out of. Through this form, stomach parasites including worms and amoebas are passed on. I have consistently had diarrea since February. And when you are in this state, you can’t work fully, you feel drained. And I even have had access to outside medicine. The case is much worse for those who cannot afford to leave the community to buy medicine, the majority.
The necessity of clean water made the answer so clear. But still, 3 hours of fighting and arguing followed in the meeting. Unfortunately, Ngobes maintain their original strength that allowed them to prevail over other local tribes, winning wars and outnumbering the others, the response to fight, to defend, even when unnecessary. But as is often the truth, a strength may rapidly change to a vice. But after incessant arguments and various political roundabouts, both communities will receive a new aqueduct, and the people will have water, hopefully allowing them to work harder and to advance.