PML- The artful execution

I am happy to report that the act of getting everyone to PML ended up being the hardest part. And gracias a dios, because if things had continued as they did in The Build Up, it´s likely I´d have collapsed mid-way through the seminar from exhaustion.

The basic gist: The PML workshop has been met with enormous success on the international Peace Corps level. It introuces partcipiants to the idea of proactive leadership and the steps needed to be an effective leader on the individual, group, community and insitutional levels. Its ideas are simple, but are presented in a way that makes them uniquely accessible to community leaders who are uneducated and untrained.

We touched on many themes during the course of two days, and each topic was followed by practice or activities on the part of the participants. We PCVs provided the comic relief in the form of over-the-top skits and ice-breakers that helped reinforce topics, or just infuse the process with a little more FUN.

Highlights:

Time and Money Management: In this session, partcipants practiced using an agenda to manage time and worked with personal budgets to help them think more critically about how to save and spend their money. For poor farmers, who see most of their yearly income in the course of a few months of cocoa seasion, this session was invaluable. Many identified it as the most useful.

How to facilitate group interaction: This focuses on how groups fall into dysfunction, and how to prevent it through conflict resolution. Our water committee is ineffective primarily because of ¨people issues,¨ ie gossip, lack of responsibility, lack of group vision, etc. We offered strategies to solve problems and they practiced in small groups using a tool called POCA to work through issues on the personal and group levels.

The evening after this session ended, the aqueduct president William came by my house to see if I had any 2¨PVC tube to repair a damaged tube. I didn´t. He left, but in a couple of hours, came back with excitement and resolve stretching his mouth into a grin. He found some tube running to a house that had its water cut years ago. He would use that tube to repair the damage.

¨I solved the problem!¨ Willy is 18, but his emotions are always splattered all over his face as if we were six. He was excited to show me what he learned from the days session, about being proactive and going the extra mile to actually solve your problem. His pride and eagerness for praise were endearing to say the least.

Bucket-Filling: So we all have a bucket...This session is basically about positive reinforcement and encouraging people through sincere compliments. Your bucket is full when you feel appreciated and valued, and empty when you feel the opposite. Kind of touchy-feely, but who doesn´t want a full bucket? PCVs love this activity, and it´s amazing/hilarious to do it with Ngobes, who are completely unaccustomed to the idea of positive feedback. So after Cat and I did a demonstration, with actual ladels and buckets of water, we gave everyone an envelope, markers, tape, and Post-Its. They wrote their own names on the envelopes, and wrote anonymous bucket-fillers to their group-members, Cat, and me. They were clearly tickled and I plan to find more ways to sneak bucket-filling into whatever community activities I have.

Are you wondering my people think of me? Here is the most forcefu bucket-fillerl, written without puncuation, in stanza-like form: Cati, pretty, white skin, blue eyes, I love you Cati.

Well that´s nice.

Agency Interaction: Here we went over the how-tos of working with agencies, mostly having to do with phone etiquette and how to prepare for meetings. We did role plays for each participant, having to make an appointment by phone call, how to arrive at the office, be friendly with the secretary and act professional in the meeting with the agency rep. Some of them got quite into it, donning costumes and fake names. Others were overcome by nervousness and giggles and could hardly keep it together.

The takeaway: I had pre-emptively apologized to Gary, Peggy and Cat for what I aassumed would be a gross lack of participation and interest on my community´s part. No one was enthusiastic about going, I felt they didn´t really understand why I invited them, and were less-than-pleased about donating two full days to one of Cati´s causes, which they referred to as a ¨meeting¨despite my insistent use of the word ¨workshop.¨

I am thrilled to my core to say that I was completley wrong on all accounts. They exceeded my expectations in every way. They listened, and really listened, participated actively, had fun, and learned a lot. We received hugely uplifting feedback, and they asked me to do some similar charlas in the school because they´ve never a training so well-prepared and useful, they said.

My month of preparation, stress, and moments of literal physical pain were worth it. So many times I question my value to them, what impact I can possibly have, and if perhaps I made a mis-step embarking on one of the most naive journeys one can take on this side of sanity. But just as many times, I´ve learned what it is to actually feel your heart swell for people. To be so surprised and delighted that all you can do is grin and admit you were wrong. This definitely fell into the latter category. I view the concepts taught in PML as a useful stepping stone and reference port for all future work with the committees, and I am grateful it went off without a hitch. Maybe now they´ll even be a little more eager for the next ¨meeting.¨One can dream.

PML: The build up

I was nervous. I hadn´t been able to pasear that week to remind everyone about the workshop I had planned. Sure, they all received their formal-letter invitations, but that was weeks ago. And if there is one thing a PCV knows, it´s that sometimes you need to chase people down to get them to your meetings. I had been battling another foot infection (don´t ask), so my mobility around the community was limited. The intended audience was only about 10 people in my latrine and water committees, so you know, if half the group didn´t show up, there would be problems. I had to track some of them down to make sure they remembered.

I had been very clear with everyone when I initially invited them that they had to tell me if they couldn´t come, because I was looking for donated materials, had to buy food, and had invited other PCVs to accompany me. I needed an exact number of participants. Earlier that week, my counterpart Lucas and former host-dad Angel had stopped by my house. They were both supposed to participate, and Lucas was supposed to help me facilitate some sessions, as he had attended this Project Management and Leadership (PML) workshop in March. We had a conversation that went like this:

Lucas: So, I can´t come on Saturday, I have another committment. But I will definitely come on Sunday.
Cati: What are you talking about? I gave you a month´s notice about this, and you were really enthusiastic about offering this training to the groups.
Lucas: I know, but I forgot I have this thing...
Cati: What´s the thing?
Lucas: A baseball game we´re playing, and I have invited a lot of people, and so now I have to go.
Cati: THAT IS NOT A COMMITTMENT THAT IS AN AMUSEMENT!!
Angel: Yeah...Cati, I am not going to come on Satuday either...
Cati: Huh?! What? I told you earlier I needed you to tell me if you couldn´t come last week. Why can´t you come?
Angel: So much work in the finca!
Cati: But I already bought all the materials, the food, and I have agendas to gift to every participant. And if you don´t come Saturday, no agenda.
Angel: Oh? An agenda? Okay, I will come.

I felt deflated. Lucas left me high and dry, and Angel was only coming to collect his gift. I had spent almost the entire month of May preparing for this workshop, and was displeased to see a lack of enthusiasm and understanding. This seminar is something I really believe in and am enthusiastic about teaching, and I wanted them to be enthusiastic about it too, or at the very least, show up. I was in a huff the day, but thankfully, Lucas came by later to apologize for his short-sightedness, and told me the workshop was a priority, and he would be there. We planned our sessions together, and I felt excited again.

Fast-foward to Wednesday. I am in a panic thinking no one remembers about the workshop this weekend, and I am wondering how many houses I can hit without putting on boots and getting my foot dirty. I arrive at one of the water committee members houses early. He and his wife are in foul moods because their water got cut that morning for lack of payment. He tells me he can not come. I shoot him my most withering gaze, and hobble off, round-shouldered and flustered. He also had a month notice and explicit instructions to tell me if he couldn´t be there. Two other members of the water committee couldn´t come, and I was wondering if I should cancel the seminar all together. I didn´t want to waste other volunteers´ time, and I didn´t want to have to do the seminar again just for them. I had planned much of it with the aqueduct committee in mind.

I arrived at a house just before the water committe president´s home. I fell backwards twice on their hill, once with my back landing hard on the sharp edge of a rock. They laughed, and I wondered to myself if I might actually cry. It was throbbing and I was already on-edge about everyone having forgotten about this workshop. I head to the President´s house, and he isn´t in. I fall again, in front of his dad and a teacher from the school who rents a room there. The teacher gets a glass of water and starts cleaning my arms, while they both mutter ¨Pobrecita¨in between pitying glances. I explain that Willy, the president, HAS TO confirm with me that day that he is coming, otherwise I think I might cancel the whole thing.

On my way back to my house, with a bruised ego and feeling less-than-thrilled with my community, I run into another member of the aqueduct committee, Rafael, who had forgotten about the seminar, but confirms he will come. I ask him to relay the mesage to his sister, who I was almost sure would come anyway. He agreed.

That night Willy, the aqueduvt pres., arrived, and told me that he cried that day because his father told him that if he couldn´t attend the seminar, Cati would go back to the United States, and that she was very angry with everyone. I, of course, said nothing of the sort, but I am guessing by the pain and furstration written on my face when I was there in the morning, he figured he should at least throw in something dramatic to help sway Willy to my side. Willy said he had church on Sunday, and hadn´t been in a month and really wanted to go. He is the town´s only Jehovah´s witness, so he has to take a bus to a nearby town to attend services. It is an all day affair.

I rallied. I had to be persuasive, take advantage of those tears he had shed on my behalf. I delivered a motivational speech about being a proactive leader and seizing this once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about how he can be better and instigate change on an individual, group, and community level. I told him he is already a great leader, and has accomplished a lot for the community, but that every group has problems, or obstacles, and this workshop will help him figure out how to overcome them, and have a better functioning group. And once he has that, he can have more success working with government agencies. I fed him dinner, and at the end, I asked if I had convinced him. He said yes. Great success.

Fast-forward to the morning of the seminar. A PCV couple, Gary and Peggy, and one of my PCV neighbors, Cat, had arrived the previous afternoon, and we had done some final preparations and planning. We were heading to the school to set up, when Julio, another attendee, meets me at the door of the school.

Julio: Cati, I don´t know if I can come. I have an obligation with the church.
Cati: With the church? What is it?
Julio: Do you want me to come? If you really do, I will.
Cati: Of course I want you to come.
Julio: Today I have to decide between God and Cati.
Cati: Oh, um, that´s a lot of pressure.
Julio: I am choosing Cati.
Cati: Wow, thank you. I am very grateful. That means a lot.
Julio: But I will pray for His forgiveness for you, and myself.
Cati: Good, I will pray for us too. Thank you for coming!

I usher him in. The first hurtle of the day was beating God. Now that I´ve done that, what can get in my way?

The two women I asked to cook the day´s snacks and lunches have arrived. They advise me that the water is out in the school, and ask how can they cook? I had water in my house that morning, so I walk back along the line and see a broken tube just below the school shooting water up into the air. We cannot be without water. I run to the aqueduct VP´s house, who could not attend due to a sick son, and I plan to BEG HIM to repair to the tube, even though he always refuses to do any kind of maintenence or repair work. I talk to his Mom. But he had already left for Almirante. He couldn´t do it. I eventually solve this problem by closing the valve for the water for the school, and ask one of the cook´s son to haul water from his house. He agrees and I promise him lunch.

Many people have arrived. I am waiting on one young man named Gregorio, who is also part of my Panama Verde group. I didn´t go to his house on Wednesday, because he has previously assured me he would be there with 100% certainy. I ask Julio where Gregorio is. It is already 45 minuites past starting time. He says Gregorio left for Punta Peña, a community 90 minutes away to visit his mother the other day. He won´t be coming.

I steam. I ask Julio if he knows about Rafael and his sister Amalia. He says ¨ They told me they would try to come.¨Try to come? I step outside to take a deep breath, and just as I do, I see them climbing the hill from their house. ¨GOOD MORNING MY CATI!!!¨Amalia yells. And just as she does, I see Gregorio, coming up the path.

Everyone actually came. We were ready to begin.

(To be continued...)

Panama Part Two

Seriously, guys, do you have any idea how LONG IT TAKES ME to upload these pictures? You are lucky my heart is full of gold and love and drive to please you. Here are 35 new pics of jungle animals, Ngobe babies, and my belly button! Now you have to click!

Not exactly the 9-5 Dolly was singing about

I am in David today and tomorrow, doing a lot of work on the computer that I haven´t had time to take care of earlier. That, and I hadn´t taken a ¨personal day¨out of site since vacation in March, and I found myself getting grumpy with some of my near and dear community members. When I get grumpy, I know it´s time for a time out. I think I just needed some ice cream.

So anyway, the end of April was busy, and May is shaping up to look like more of the same. Here´s a summary of what I´ve been up to.

1. On the latrine front: Last Monday, my latrine committee and I met with a representative from ANAM, the government´s environmental agency, to complete a community diagnostic activity. It is the first of several steps we will complete in order to plan our latrine project and obtain funds. ANAM itself won´t provide them, but our contact with this agency can help us obtain money from another, or a private donor, and the documents we complete with them can be used as jumping-off points for future projects. They were incredibly pleased with the committee, and said they did a great job participating. This of course made all my community members beam with pride, and many of them came to talk to me afterward to see if I agreed that yes, they did a great job! I also invited a representative from the Ministry of Health (MINSA), who was very helpful and enthusiastic.

Our next step from here involves filling out a detailed project plan, which I will do over the course of several weeks with my counterpart at ANAM´s office in Changuinola. I would like to involve the rest of the committee members in this process as much as possible, but I´m still thinking about how I can best do that.

2. On the water front: My latrine committee held its ¨elections¨ on Friday, and I came to brief them first with a charla about the roles and responsibilities of each member of the board. It went well, and they seemed grateful for the information. It seem the President has given the laws that the committee must follow no more than a cursory glance, and everyone was prepared to vote for and fill positions they weren´t entirely sure about.

The biggest obstacle I have had in working with my water committee has been that the group is extremely dysfunctional. They have all of these internal issues, grudges, family histories, gossip, whatever, that prevents them from communicating, working as a team, or well, working at all. I also presented a few notes on the virtues and vices of good team work, and tried to offer some motivation for the future. After having just completed six months in service, only now are the members starting to tell me the true past of the aqueduct committee, and everyone´s story is different. The common themes are: corruption, selfishness, rule-breaking, lack of responsibility.

The other obstacle I have been met with is that, until recently, no one seemed willing to work on the problems. But sometimes you just have to give people time. After months of gentle, and sometimes, not-so-gentle prodding, the President and the Vice President seem more willing to listen to what I have to say and the charlas, trainings, and work days that I have offered. They see now that neither the committee nor the water system is functioning as it should. The biggest problems I have seen since arriving here in Panama among water commitees are people issues, organization, motivation, or conflict issues. The technical stuff is easy once you have a strong team. Now I just have to get them to believe me.

3. The kids: A few weeks ago, I went around to the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades to talk about Panama Verde. It is an environmental group that was founded by a Peace Corps volunteer, but is now managed on a national level by Panamanians. It promotes conservation projects and the development of leadership skills among youth with equal emphasis.

In my community, all of our biggest creeks run directly to the ocean. They are contaminated with chemicals, trash, and human excrement. Candy, cookie and food wrappers litter the ground. People burn trash-laden with plastics, and the breeze blows it all back into their house. Most families cook on fogons in their houses, which are essentially indoor campfires which use use copiuous amounts of firewood (deforestation). The thick, black smoke blows right back at them. The lungs of all of my neighbor´s children rattle. (I am hoping that my group will be interested in a stove project I plan to suggest... more coming on this) Obviously there are dozens of opportunities for environmental education and projects in my QP. Panama Verde empowers the jovenes (youth-ish 12-25) to take it on themselves. I am a counselor for the group. I give them ideas, help them fundraise, teach them through charlas, activities, and games, but they also form their own governing board (directiva), and take on more and more as time goes on. One group that was started by a Peace Corps volunteer a few years ago in a neighboring town is now run entirely by the jovenes without any help from adults.

That for me is the most exciting part. The development of self-esteem, problem-solving, and leadership skills. These kids have very few opportunities for that, and in fact, have very few opportunities to just hang out and be kids. If they are not in school, they are working in the finca or taking care of younger siblings. Panama Verde is a real opportunity for them to think about personal development, all while helping out their community.

I had a list of 73 kids who said they wanted to participate. So, I invited the regional coordinator for Panama Verde to come and help me with a charla to explain more clearly what PV is and what sort of work we would do. I was hoping for a group of 10-15. That meeting was Saturday, and six students came. But, as the coordinator pointed out to me, those are the ones who really wanted to be there. And they seemed genuinely excited and dedicated. I plan to recruit a few more members, and we´ll have a swear-in at the end of May.

4. Project Management and Leadership (PML)! Peace Corps invites all of its volunteers to bring a counterpart to a PML conference after five months in site. I was unable to attend mine because I was held up in the clinic with that bothersome foot infection, but my counterpart did attend, and loved it. The conference focuses on the following themes: Identifying Personal Goals, Values, and Missions for Groups, Time and Money Management, Forming Effective Groups, Facilitating Group Interaction, Formal Letter Writing, and Interacting with Agencies.

The information seems fairly basic to us, but for many of the Panamanian or indigenous peoples we work with, PML might be the first time anyone told them to write down their appointments in an agenda, or that to offer someone positive re-inforcement is better than negative, or even how keeping close track of your monthly expenses can help you save money. The ideas are simple, but many have never had opportunities to properly learn and practice them. Many of the counterparts get a lot out of it, some of it is over their heads, but at the very least, it is a reward away from the communities, and a chance for them to feel special. The idea is that they can help their PCV present these concepts in their communities at a later date.

Enter Cati! I am bringing PML to QP this month, condensing three days of material into two, and presenting it all with the help of three other volunteer friends. I invited all the members of my latrine and water committees, and so far, everyone seems willing to come. I typed up formal letter invitations and hand-delivered each. I think this helped, they respect a formal letter. I am trying to obtain some donations of materials from a local bookstore in Changuinola, and will be busy prepping the materials in the coming weeks. I am super excited to work with my counterpart Lucas and my committees in a new capacity, and one that will empower them and provide them with some legitimate tools to continue forward. And, it´s always good to bring in back-up volunteer reinforcements. (Three other people are saying what Cati is saying... maybe now I´ll consider it!)

5. Spent two days surveying for a new aqueduct system in a nearby PCV community. The tool we use to survey is a water level, which provides measurements that are much more accurate than a GPS or abney level or whatever other tools other professionals might use. Water levels have been used in various forms for centuries, and work on the principal that water always looks for its own level. Picture: a reservoir tank out of which exits a clear plastic tube which extends for 50 feet of length, and then another 10 feet up a straight pole, with a measuring tape attached. As you move along the terrain, you maintain the reservoir higher than the pole, and move from point to point. The water level gives you the change in altitude between the two points, and the marks you´ve made on the length of the tube tell you the distance. This, combined with measuring a source and doing basic population forecasting, are the first steps in planning for an aqueduct system. The water level is a PC favorite because it is something we can do with our community members, and helps them understand some of the basic principals of gravity-flow water systems.

So that´s what I´ve been up to.

The days we surveyed were HOT AS HADES, but it was fun to do some real dirty work, and the company of other PCVs is always appreciated. This is kind of a ridiculous pose I am striking but que va...

So on Tuesday, I am leaving for three days of aqueduct technical training in one of our group 64 volunteer´s sites. I am excited to see all of my EH folks again, since I felt robbed and socially-deprived after missing PML in March.

The Ngobe Cookbook Part Two

Many of you reacted with more horror than I was expecting the first time I shared some of the Ngobes´ favorite recipes. I just get used to things and I forget that maybe other people wouldn´t like to be served a bowl of boiled yucca with rice, boiled bananas, and noodles on top. Why? Because not everyone likes to eat three days worth of carbs in one sitting. Oh, I forgot.

I bring you this second edition, because lately my neighbors have been offering me a whole heck of a lot of food. I am not sure why this started up again, but I sort of wish it would stop, because as much as I appreciate their generosity in sharing what little they have, I know their own families need and enjoy it more.

THE BAD

Patitas-Chicken feet. If a family has chicken to eat, they´re doing pretty well. It means that day they had the money to buy something other than canned sardines or just eat the root vegetables in their finca. However, we must never forget that this is Panama and these people are poor, so the chicken they eat is of a different variety than what you or I might choose at home. Chicken feet cost 65 cents a pound, and when used to made a soup, they really do provide a nice, rich, chickeny flavor. But don´t rush out to your butcher just yet.

Because when it comes to actually eating the feet? That part is not fun. The texture of the dimply skin is fatty and rough, and if you get a mouthful of anything, it´s tendon or bone. No problem for the Ngobes, because they like to eat the bones, and good thing because I am quite sure that fish and chicken bones are their only true source of calcium.

Pescuezo- Chicken necks! An economic step up from the feet. These cost about 85 cents a pound, and on the back, they do have a little strip of meat. The rest of it, like the feet, is skin, tendon and vertabrae. Chicken necks have good flavor too, in theory, but would be better if just used for stock and removed. I always have to floss pieces of spine and marrow out of my teeth after eating these. Not pretty.

I always feel guilty when offered these two foods, because the Ngobes eat every last little bit, but I still can´t bring myself to chomp down with gusto on chicken spine. For them any kind of chicken is a special occasion, a good day. It reminds me how lucky I am that I have never been hungry enough to eat chicken bones, or to suck a chicken toe of the foot and nearly swallow it whole. I worry that I am showing them disrespect when I leave so much of what to them is good food left in my bowl. I do my best to eat as much as possible, but there are some habits a gringa just can´t break.

Chica de Maiz- Corn juice. Grind uncooked corn kernels, throw them in a big pot with water and cook until you have a thick, milky consistency. Add sugar if, Gracias a Dios (Thank God), you have some that day. The result is a slightly sour, rock heavy beverage that is served hot. It tastes like something that will make you really sick later on. It hasn´t actually yet made me ill, but if my neighbor offers me some at 8am, I am not hungry again til dinner. Sticks to your ribs.

THE AMAZING

Cacao- I live in chocolate country. It grows on trees. I buy it for 30 or 35 cents a ball, depending on my dealer. I say dealer because I am addicted. A ball yields probably between 8 or 10 servings. Grate into water, let it come to a boil, and steam for 10-15 minutes, add sugar. For super rich hot chocolate, do it with powdered milk, and allow yourself to experience the most incredible beverage on the planet. Also delicious served when left to cool in the pot. Chocolate milk!

Fried plantains- Oh my God. Slice super ripe plaintains. Fry in oil. My Ngobes don´t make these very much, they say maduros (ripe bananas or plantains) give them diarrhea. I think it is the idea that it has a flavor that is upsetting to them. But that´s fine, more for me. Can´t wait to make these back in the states and serve over ice cream. You gringos are going to freak out.

Arroz con Coco- Rice cooked with juice from inside a coconut (maybe 1/2 or 2/3 coconut, to 1/2 or 1/3 water). A carribean favorite and INCREDIBLE when served with fried fish. Thank God coconuts grow everywhere.