Work Hard Play Hard

Perhaps it´s a good sign when a great deal of time has elapsed since my last post. Shows that I´ve been doing something. Or perhaps it is simply indicative of the isolation of my site and the lack of computer time that such a site provides me. I think both reasons are applicable here.

Sustainable development has many shades of grey. How does one decide when to hold the hand of your community members and when to let go and push them to take initiative? How do you know what will truly leave lasting change? When community members will learn best by doing and when they can learn by seeing? I have struggled endlessly with questions like these, wondering just what the right recipe for sustainable development is for my particular community, community leaders, and improving potable water. A dash of inspiration here, a pinch of guilt trip there, and a cup of motivational speech “I´m onlypushing you because I believe in you” to top it off.

The difficulties of small scale development are numerous. In a community of 200 or 7 billion, you have to seek out the best leaders possible, and not one of them will be perfect. But when elections consisted of members like the treasurer of your water committee being chosen while sleeping through the meeting and has no mathematical aptitude, things become a bit more interesting. Talking to fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, some just get those near perfect leaders. Whatever it is they are driven, passionate, and community minded individuals. The gems. And it´s in those communities where positive change for the community almost comes about naturally. It only takes one, and that one can make all the difference. And there are other communities where you have a handful of potential leaders, but not one of them really has that fire, that motivation, that drive to better the lives within their community. They want change, they can envision improved living conditions and a better life, but they aren´t entirely willing to go the extra mile to get there. That is my community. A number of potential leaders that I love and respect, but who simply don´t quite have what it takes to be that change shaking force in the community. But I believe that is communities that struggle in this sense who need a Peace Corps Volunteer even more. It means more motivation from me, me trying even harder to instill motivation in their hearts, and constantly finding that balance between pushing them and holding their hand. Volunteers always say that emotions in Peace Corps are like a rollercoaster, it´s rare for them to last longer than a few minutes. But honestly, my emotions have been nothing but pride for the last three weeks.

My community and I have finalized a grant proposal to build a series of small aqueducts and improve one current system, to bring potable water to the entire community of 200. I´m so proud of my community. Throughout the last 9 months they have worked hard to organize themselves and work with me to better understand what is potable water, address the community´s needs, and design a system that will better serve those needs. They´ve helped me measure flow, survey multiple potential sources, and ultimately make the tough decisions necessitated by the unique geographical and water characteristics of their community.

We have recently submitted a $15,000 grant proposal. $5,000 of which will come from the community through their labor, sand, wood, and vegetables and fish (for work parties), and $10,000 of which we are seeking to buy tubes, cement, tools, rebar, transportations costs, and gravel. Environmental Health Panama is lucky because we have a great relationship with an international organization called Water Lines (that is actually out of Santa Fe New Mexico) which will contribute half of the funds to the project. Leaving me with finding the other half ($5,000).

While I have always been very honest of the struggles involved for small scale grass roots development workers, and have certainly not over glorified my own experience, I do adamantly believe that the work I am doing is incredibly important and credible. I look at the way Panama´s Ministry of Health and UN projects for potable water are executed and the way Peace Corps executes our work, and we do such a better job. The project is better designed and built, but more importantly we spend the time to make sure that community members are truly involved along every step of the way. And that is simply because we give two years to these communities to educate and design a project alongside them, and other organizations are in and out and just need to get the job done. They have limited resources and have decided to utilize a more macro scale to achieve their projects. But that often leaves the community without the ownership necessary to properly maintain their water system.

The grant proposal should be online and able to be donated to if you have any desire to do so within the next month. I´ll put the link to the tax deductible donation link as soon as it goes through the bureaucratic steps necessary to get it there. I certainly do not want anybody to feel obligated to donate. I´m going to go after larger organizations first like Rotary and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Orgs and then if I´m still struggling for funds I might be sending out personal emails to friends and family.

On a personal note I recently had my best buddies from high school visit me for an amazing time together. So good to see those fellows! I´m just returning from a rafting trip at another volunteer´s site and an all-inclusive resort called the Decameron where we celebrated our one years mark in site (one to go). I will be back in Portland Oregon to see my beautiful family, my new niece Ivie, and friends for Thanksgiving. I can´t stop thinking about the food! And then for Christmas and News Years I will sail through the San Blas Islands to Columbia on a 40 foot sailboat, to visit another volunteer´s family there with 8 other volunteers. I´m already feeling quite spoiled just thinking about it.

I hope all is well in everybody´s lives. Miss you all. Thanks for reading.