true life planet

So I´m here in Soloy, writing on a computer in the school´s computer lab-which was donated by Bill Gates. It´s a little surreal.

Soloy is kind of the unofficial capital of the Comarca, which is an independently governed territory of several groups of indigenous people in Panama. It is the dry season right now, so it´s rather hot and dusty. The town itself is rather spread out; there is no town center, jst a sprinkling of tiendas and few comedors which serve rice and chicken. There is no electricity, no running water, no paved roads-you have to sit in the back of a four bu four for several hours to even get here.

I am here to work with Medo, which is an grassroots organization that helps the Ngobe people in a variety of ways.

A bit about the Ngobe: They are the largest group of indigenous people in Panama. They have an extremely conservative culture, but they are surprisingly modern at the same time. The men wear western clothes, while the women wear these long, voluminous colorful dresses, with sailor like collars and puffy sleeves.

The first few days I was here, I was living in the Health Center-Panama has free health care centers all over the country, and this is one of them. They treat the Ngobe in the area there for all types of ailments, including tuberculosis. There is a compound next to the center where tuberculosis patients live with their families.

I am now temporarily staying in the schools dorms until some other alternative can be drummed up, as there was no space for me in the health center.

Yesterday was my first day here, and there is so much to tell of my impressions here. There is dire, extreme poverty; there are very very thin dogs everywhere; there are houses made only of a few pieces of metal or thin sticks. The poverty is constant and shocking.

At the same time, there is a certain energy coming form the people and the inhabitants, a cetrtain hopefulness. It´s not there all the time, but it is there. There are many community aid organizations here-both Panamian and international, and a dizzying array of projects, from a new public school, to road improvements, and going on at the same time.

The womens dresses are particularly appealing-sort of almost like something you would see in a circus, very very bright colors, with trims of triangles or zigzags of constrasting colors. Orange with red and blue. Hot pink with yellow stripes and purple zigzags…I am supposed to wear these while here, and I am having one made for me. It should turn out quite interesting-they come down to the ankles, so since I´m so tall, they have to make a special one just for me! That should make for some good photos!

I am working with Adan, who is Ngobe himself, and is the director of Medo. Today I got a better idea of what my jobs will be here, and they are numerous. here is a partial list:

Teacher of English for the doctors and nurses at the hospital
Teacher of English to the Ngobe children
teacher of English to the Ngobe adults
Help Adan with his English
Build compost bins for garden
Work on/improve watering system for garden
Improve library
Start kids group for recycling project
Latrine project
Work with the Artesian womens group
Develop ecotourism ideas for Adan

It´s alot. !!!

It´s beautiful, and outside of two peacecorp volunteers, it´s just me and the Ngobe.

gg

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