Last week, all of the volunteers from group 64 (CED and EH) re-connected in Cocle, outside of Panama City (12 hours of traveling for me). The purpose of the week was to catch up with everyone, share how things in site have been going, our community analysis, possible opportunities in the future and re-cover more in depth some of the material covered in training that is now much more relevant. Some of these themes included a brief accounting review, strategic and operational planning (long-term goals and objectives for cooperatives and groups, tailored to rural Panamanians), business planning prep for a seminar that is coming up, and grant writing.
Members from IPACOOP, the government agency which regulates cooperatives and works closely with Community Economic Development volunteers came to speak to us about new regulations, initiatives and about their work with us as well as Global Brigades and Junior Achievement.
Other visitors included a Foreign Service Officer from the US Embassy working with the Economic Team as well as the former chairman of the Commerce Department (now with Deloitte) to speak about global, Latin American and Panamanian economic situation. They also gave us very inspiring and humbling encouragement of our work and how it translates to their work. While PC V’s are living and working in small and impoverished communities we see the effects of macroeconomic and public policy decisions. A change in leadership directly affects the personnel of the agencies in which we work with on a daily basis. A budget cut will change the scope of a project, with lets say MINSA, the rural health agency and cut funds on aqueduct building. And due to Panama’s strategically important location (the canal) it is in the worlds best interests to see to it that the country is safe and its people are happy. After all, development is a lot cheaper than war. So, there is a lot of international investment, both in the private sector as well as in development work. JICA (Japan’s version of the PC) has a presence as well as the UN and USAID. The school in my community was funded by the European Union and the health workers who regularly visit are being funded by the World Bank.
The last day of IST featured a cross-cultural session where we split up into regions and talked about some of the cultural challenges that we face on a daily basis. In my region, the NoKribo, we all work with Ngabes. Some common issues sited were language, horrible food, lots of children and lack of personal space. These issues can be extremely frustrating as well as entertaining (after the fact. Sometimes long after.)
Let me site an example from my life. We will call it the “food situation” and we will use the sandwich criticism technique. That’s were you begin by saying something nice (the bread) followed by an improvement (the meat) and finally concluding by saying something nice (bread).
The Bread: I have food.
The Meat: It surpasses awful. Almost six months of surpassed awful food. So awful, in fact, that during our IST when we got to share stories, my APCD (my boss) said that out of all the sites that he had visited, mine ‘hands down’ had the worst food. Let me share an example of the culinary hell. Dinner last night was standard bowl of rice and boiled bananas, topped with a piece of cold, slimy, boney, fish (?) with a ketchup (?) sauce (?). The strategic placement of the potent blend of awfulness allowed it to seep through and ruin an otherwise perfectly bland pile of rice and bananas.
While we are on the topic of meat, it used to be something I could enjoy. Steak, bacon, lamb, chicken, sausage or hotdogs - although whose origin is not entirely clear - still could taste great. Hell, I have been picking through crabs or slurping down oysters my entire life. So even when I couldn’t tell exactly what part of the animal I was eating, it tasted good; At worst, filling. But when what is on your plate looks like a hoof/tongue/ear (or combination of these things) and tastes worse than it looks, the thought of being vegetation suddenly looks appealing. The ambiance actually adds to the destruction of any enjoyment my food might offer. There is a chicken roosting next to the table and large insects bouncing around the lamp, in and out of my bowl. Not kidding.
These days I get way too excited over a fried egg and rice. I know its going to be a great day. Getting out of site can be a bit overwhelming, and I tend to hoard over-processed flavorful foods such as peanut butter and white bread. Sweet sweet high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats.
Back to the Bread (which is also bad in site): I can finally enjoy the fried egg and rice combo.
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