Settling into my new house had definitely consumed a lot of my time the first week and a half. From scrubbing the whole place clean to getting a bed, to getting the parts that were apparently missing from the bed I had bought, to fixing the leaking kitchen sink, and hunting down the rat that apparently has been living in the house while it wasn't occupied, it really has kept me busy.
The rat turned out to be a little mouse with a big appetite. We discovered that it has been storing all the fruit and candy that it found in the bottom part of my oven. My neighbors said its saving up to make a pinata for its party. Bahaha! Hopefully not for its house warming party. This is my house little guy! Luckily I didn't bake anything these past few days. That would have been a disaster. Lucky little guy, escaped again. Today however I bought a mouse trap, but I really don't know if I will use it. Ah, why must I find disease ridden mice so cute. :( Bye bye my furry little friend.
However, besides just settling in I have been up to quite a few interesting things this past week and a half. Last week I had the chance to personally sit down with the principal of the biggest elementary school in Penonome, the city nearest my community, and advise them on a recycling program. The school was interested in starting a recycling program because of the large quantity of milk cartons that they dump out every week. Since I have a recycling program here at my school I was asked to go and share the experience of our school with them and give them some suggestions. Well not quite, especially since every school and community is so different that there are a whole variety of factors that need to be considered and I have only worked at one. However the important and very exciting thing is that they now have a plan and strategy and will soon be starting their own program. That means about 6000 milk cartons less going to the landfill every week! Woohoo! One school at a time we can change this whole city, region and then country! Well somebody can.
I have come to realize this past week that one thing that I will struggle with most during my service is really just sticking to working only in my community. When opportunities like this come up it is very difficult to refuse to help. Especially when I know that they are working towards the same goal. More so, I know that work outside of my community will indirectly and sometimes even directly benefit my community. This experience was a perfect example of that. This meeting with the principal was also attended by a man who works for the mayors office. I believe that hes is the director of trash management. Unfortunately I am not certain but I will find out soon. After this meeting he was so enthusiastic to work together. Apparently if I ever need buses for a field trip with my students (Which I do!) he and the office will provide them. And better yet, he wants to organize a recycling fair with me for the whole province. Well this was a joint idea, and we both have the same venue in mind too. Like I said, sticking to my community will be difficult, especially considering that networking is crucial to reaching any sort of success in this country. At least that's what I can tell from my experience thus far. Meeting new people and developing strong professional relationships with them is a way of forming some of the strongest bridges between them, a wonderful resource and the communities. Luckily its a pretty small country, and lucky me these first three months I have had the chance to meet lots of influential people, and they seem to be the ones constantly reaching out to me! Hopefully my luck doesn't change any time in the next to years because I really look forward to working with all of these agencies and organizations.
I also attended a meeting about a Medical gira (tour) that we will be holding here in my community in just a few weeks, well more like days now. Coincidentally it is the same man working for the mayor that is coordinating this event between the group from United States and our community. As I said earlier, building bridges, or strong relationships, is crucial for achieving things here! There will be a group of doctors and nurses coming from the United States to provide basic medical services and a pharmacy. They expect a thousand people to attend in 2 days! This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for the members of this community and those of surrounding communities. Although many families here do take their children to the hospital with the first sneeze (I personally was not expecting this) some families still neglect to receive the appropriate medical attention. Especially when it comes to adults. Although we do have a nice asphalt road, which is a leap from the effort that was required to leave the town in the past, there are still many people that lack financial resources, education about preventative care, and honestly sometimes just the willingness to leave their house and especially the community. Although some women are extremely active inside and outside of the community, some women leave the house less then once a month. However with these wonderful services right here in our town, this will be an opportunity that will hopefully be very difficult to pass up. I have spoken to my host family grandparents that live out pretty far from the center of town, and even they plan on walking to the health center to attend this gira. I have been very persistent about promoting it. Word of mouth is a powerful tool int his community. Supposedly during the event itself I will be working as a translator. Time to brush up on my Spanish medical terminology!
In addition to building bridges with all of these agencies and organizations we will now officially be building a 100 ft bridge in my town next April! About 2 months ago a gentleman walked into our school grounds and started to chat with me. He is the country director of Bridges to Prosperity in Panama. He was looking for communities that may need a bridge that will empower the community members by making it easier for them to cross a point that at this point becomes quite problematic and impedes their ability to participate in important activities such as education. Our community happens to have a spot like this. Well it has many spots like this. But it has one that is crossed by about a thousand people daily. This not only qualified us but also ultimately won us the opportunity. From what I know about 20 community were in the running and and only 5 will have the opportunity to go through the process and build the bridge. Two days ago I and the man who originally ran into the director in Penonome and brought him to our community, held a meeting with the community. We welcomed the director and his team of engineers and introduced the project as well as what the role of the community members will be.
In addition to building bridges with all of these agencies and organizations we will now officially be building a 100 ft bridge in my town next April! About 2 months ago a gentleman walked into our school grounds and started to chat with me. He is the country director of Bridges to Prosperity in Panama. He was looking for communities that may need a bridge that will empower the community members by making it easier for them to cross a point that at this point becomes quite problematic and impedes their ability to participate in important activities such as education. Our community happens to have a spot like this. Well it has many spots like this. But it has one that is crossed by about a thousand people daily. This not only qualified us but also ultimately won us the opportunity. From what I know about 20 community were in the running and and only 5 will have the opportunity to go through the process and build the bridge. Two days ago I and the man who originally ran into the director in Penonome and brought him to our community, held a meeting with the community. We welcomed the director and his team of engineers and introduced the project as well as what the role of the community members will be.
They all seem to be very excited about this opportunity, and said that they will definitely be willing to give up a week of their time to each to work on the bridge, to have a good bridge for the community for years to come. I am in total agreement. Although construction will take about 2 months and they will have to put in some time working I think it is a great long term investment. Currently the bridge their is this narrow and very muddy bridge on which people have slipped and fell, sometimes even down into the river.
I am very happy that this problem will be getting resolved. Now I just have to make sure that we have a good committee and that will make sure we have an organized system of obtaining the necessary natural materials and later of managing the work schedule, but that is still a ways away.
So as always, I have been busy, but in a very positive and productive way. But in just two and a half weeks my parents will be here to visit me for a week and I will definitely be ready to relax a bit! I am very excited to see them! I cannot believe it has already been 6 months, time flies by, even in Panama. I miss you all back home! I hope all is going well and you are all enjoying the last few weeks of summer! Special shout out to Danny's mom! Thank you for reading my blog!
Hasta pronto!
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