What a ride!

Currently I´m laying down in a hospital in David due to an infected foot that swelled to unnatural proportions originating from an unsightly purple and red big toe. How it happened?  I really can´t tell you.  Somewhere between hiking around the jungle, crossing dozens of rivers, and making my way through the dirty streets of Panama City and David, all in my trusty chacos (which aren´t so trusty anymore seeing as they are about to tear in two) I got a small cut and bacterial infection.  So I´ve been hospitalized overnight and am finally granted some time to actually write a blog post. 

My Peace Corps service is coming to an end.  Even though I still don´t quite believe it myself, I will be flying into Portland International Airport on October 12^th of this year.  Crazy!  That gives me 6.5 weeks until I leave my site and 7.5 weeks until I leave the country.  Having just come from my close of service (COS) conference, it is actually beginning to sink in.  At the conference I had to say goodbye to some fellow volunteers who arrived with me here two years ago, and whom I certainly will never see again in Panama.  Getting to this stage of my service has brought on a whole new phase of reflection.  I came to Peace Corps pretty much solely with the idea of serving a community in need.  Never in my fantasizing of what Peace Corps might be like had I considered that I would make some lifelong friends.  Nor did I realize what an important role my fellow volunteers would play in my emotional and mental stability.  They have gotten me through some of the hardest times and although many people around the world can relate to the experience of Peace Corps or any service of this style for that matter, these friends have seen me go through triumphs and challenges like no other.  It has been an incredible experience to get to know a group of people from all across the United States risking everything that is comfortable in hopes of making a difference in a country that none of us chose, but all have come to love (and sometimes hate).  Panama is a beautiful country and I will most definitely never live in such a tropical paradise right on the beach ever again.  But it´s not over yet…

I´m excited to get back to my site where the lovely Maggie Melcher (my follow-up volunteer) has bravely taken on coordinating the work crew over the last week and a half.  If everything is on schedule we will now have completed one 900 gallon tank and the 2000 gallon tank, and be about half way finished with the second 900 gallon tank.  Leaving only the second half of tank 3 and all of tank 4, plus one spring source capture which a group of volunteers are coming to help me build on the 3^rd of September.  I´m still hopeful that we can finish all concrete work before I depart, leaving only tube connections and burial for Ms. Melcher.  Given how hard the community has been working to knock out these tanks I think this is very possible.  I have to say, we´re doing great things in Playa Balsa, I´m consistently left with a sense of pride towards the efforts of the community and how far they have come throughout this process.  That is not to say that I do not have my days where I get grumpy and feel the stress of managing this project, but as always, stepping away for a few days rejuvenates me and brings out the greatest admiration for my community. 

What has not sunk in is just how much I am going to miss my community.  Although I always knew it was a temporary home, it was a home nonetheless.  I´ve become extremely close to these people and love them for all their magnificence and flaws.  Plus, the natural beauty is truly my favorite place on earth.  Luckily, with loss comes renewal.  I´m already getting excited about sleeping under a comforter on a cold night and cuddling up to a fireplace with a glass of whiskey, with my family all around me in the living room.  I´m so very ready to spend time with all the people I love and have missed, from old friends to my one year old niece.  Reuniting with Helen Jones, my beautiful fiance remains unfathomable, and yet something which I have been waiting the last two years to come true.  What a ride.

In Motion

Greetings from Playa Balsa!

Things are moving along quite nicely here.  The first hurdle was transportation.  Getting a dug-out canoe large enough to move the amount of materials we needed required some searching.  Originally I was walking 4 hours round trip to coordinate transport with a boat owner in Kusapin, which proved trying given that the ocean´s mood can change in what appears an instant.  After many failed attempts to get materials due to weather, I ended up making a handshake contract with another boat owner that was only an hour and a half round-trip walk away, which proved much simpler to coordinate.  We proceeded to gather 700 five gallon bucket sized bags of gravel from a nearby beach, transporting between 130 to 150 bags each trip depending on the weather.  There were certainly some rough moments.   Most notably being when we tried to unload 150 bags on a section of beach that ended up filling our 40 foot dugout canoe with water as waves continued to crash upon us.  I found myself swimming around inside the boat trying to find bags of gravel to heave over the side to the transporters.  Eventually we had the boat emptied of gravel but full of water.  With 10 men inside the boat each with a five gallon buckets we emptied out the water and pushed the boat past the crashing waves and into safety, with only minor damage to the boat and much excitement.

Outside of gravel we made trips to Chirique Grande in search of cement.  That trip in particular took 8 hours at sea, due to the 15 horse power engine we were forced to use.  Then near the end of the trip we were top sided by a sneaker wave that nearly flipped the boat, but luckily lost no cement or passengers.  During another trip we got 150 thirty foot long sections of rebar and enough tube to start the tanks and source captures.  That leaves us still with some trips to get cement once we´ve used up the 50 bags we already bought and a trip to get the 400 twenty foot sections of tube we will need to pipe the water into homes. 

The next task was then to move said materials to the construction site, which when carrying 94 pound bags of cement long distances, is no small feat.  I´m continually amazed by the men´s ability to move heavy loads with no short-term negative consequences.  After making two 25 minute trips carrying a bag of cement I felt as if my body would never fully function again and thus have learned my lesson that I cannot move the same amount of weight as the local men. 

Currently we have two of the three source captures completed and have poured the floor and first section of the walls on one of four tanks.  Given that I have approximately three months left in site, my new goal is complete the last source capture and three of the four tanks before leaving.  I´m happy to announce that Playa Balsa has received a very capable and energetic Peace Corps Volunteer as my replacement with the local name of “Osi”.  Over the next three months the community and I will be training her to take over the project and I feel confident that the project will be in good hands.

The community continues to work hard and prove to me that they were ready to take on such a large project.  Recently my friend Tolichi from a nearby site visited to help me with the first three days of tank construction, furthering my appreciation towards the community as he spoke of just how impressed he was of the community´s efforts.  

Project Funded

Dear donors and readers of Playa Balsa´s potable water project,

I want to start by expressing to you all how much my community and I appreciate your donation and support to this project.   

Due to our political affiliation with the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle, yet our geographical connection to the Bocas del Toro province, our region is often forgotten when it comes to development.  On top of that, being a community of just 200 residents and a pretty new community, if development does reach our region, it still will not reach PlayaBalsa.  When the community found out that the project had been funded they called a community-wide meeting and spent an hour taking turns giving speeches about just how happy and accomplished they felt.  They were extremely generous with their words in regards to the donors of this project and my work with them.  In return I reminded them of how hard they have worked to get this project started and congratulated them for reaching this stage.  As many of them then went on to say, in many ways we have just begun. 

About three weeks ago Playa Balsa and I got full access to the funds for the project and have spent the last three weeks setting the ground work.  We have been arranging transportation of materials, measuring and designing our source captures, and uncovering a spring source which had been covered by a landslide that we will use as another source.  (The project in reality is four separate gravity-fed water systems due to the geography and water flow of the sources).  I have also been giving classes on how to calculate volume and make conversions from cubic feet to five gallon buckets, which has been a lot of fun as older men have really seemed to enjoy learning this skill.

On a personal note, I feel so grateful to be entering into the next stage of my Peace Corps service.  I have never been this busy in my entire service and I´ve honestly never been more content.  Getting this project funded has also been a great success in terms of my reputation and Peace Corps reputation in the community.  My promotion of Peace Corps´ sustainable development process is showing true results in the eyes of the community and making all the prior meeting around needs assessment, what is potable water, and survey data applicable.  I remain extremely dedicated to the community being the driving force behind the project and am trying my best to go at the community´s pace (even when it feels painfully slow).  I continue to stress while I care about seeing the project completed, it means nothing to me if I don´t see the community truly managing the project alongside me, if not more than me, because that is what will decide the long term success of the system.

Thank you again for your incredible generosity and I will continue to send out updates about our progress. 

Attached is a photo of the first work day at the spring source we recently cleaned up.