Saturday, March 24, 2007

I SHOOK THE PRESIDENTS HAND!!

The President said he was going to come for the inauguration of the new school... and he actually did!!!

As you can see Valle was packed. There was about 20 cars of people from the hydroelectric dam, National Police, different government organizations, and education officials.


After much waiting in the hot sun the sound of a helicopter became audible and it roared over the new school to land on the soccer field.

Right after this picture above was taken the President Martin Torrijos walked towards the school. He shook some peoples hands. I greeted him with a ¨Hello. How are you?¨ He replied back in English that he was good and wanted to know how long I had been in Valle. He obviously knew I was Peace Corps and speaks perfect English because he studied at Texas A and M.
There was tons of media there. You can see in this photo the people at the main table. The guy in the blue striped shirt in the Director of FIS - Fundación de Inversión Social, (Social investment fund). This is the government organization that gave funds to build the school. They primarily work in impoverished areas. The next guy is the National Director of MEDUCA which is the Ministry of Education. El Presidente is next. The guy in green is a teacher from my town officially welcoming them.
The Pres appear a little exhausted. I think he must have woke up very early and was a little overwhelmed by the heat. Next to him is Deputado Benicio Robinson. He is sporting the Bocas baseball hat and is kinda like a senator of the province.
The gringo looking guys in hats are from the hydroelectric company. They announced that they would be improving the health center in town, by adding a full time doctor and hospital beds. The last guy is the new director of the school. He is great and really personable. Later that day the President had payed for 2 cows to be killed and essentially food for the whole town. The Director and myself were talking about NBA and he was saying how he doesn´t really like all the new players and that Jordan, Bird and Magic are the all time best. We also talked about the movie Blood Diamond.
Lots of media completely blocking the students view.


Me and my buddy Kevin in front of the Presidential Helicopter.
My host brother Ochoa next the the Presidential Seal.
The new computer lab that is part of the school. They got 24 new computers all with DVD players, optical mice, flat screen and internet. There is also a scanner, wireless router and digital projector.
The Pres touring the new school.
A final shot of the main man himself.

In other news, on a recent trip to Bocas Island I ran into some US Army soldiers that are on a humanitarian mission in Bocas. They are building schools, roads and health posts. I was chatting small talk with an engineer and he asked me where money for projects comes from. I explained to him the Peace Corps does not provide money and that we get it from NGOs and friends and family through Peace Corps Partnership. He told me that he has loads of materials that he needs to donate to a certified NGO before they leave in a month. After some talks between the country director and Army personal it has been approved. This week I will go to their temporary base camp and see what they are willing to donate.

Panama Verde Camp

Two weeks ago the was a Panama Verde camp in a town down the road from me. Panama Verde is a environmental youth group that some volunteers have in their sites. I brought four kids from my town.
We hiked for about an hour to this waterfall. Initially many kids had pena (shy) about going in the water but eventually almost all did. They had a great time and I think the majority had never seen a water fall. In this picture is Colin in the sunglasses, Adam, Melissa, and Maria. You may notice that all the girls essentially swim in regular clothes, this is customary so female volunteers can´t wear bathing suits in their sites.



The other day a camera crew came from a channel 12 news based out of Panama City. They were filming a documentary and conservation and ANAM they government ministry that protects the forests. In the foto is a girl that sang a song about caring for the environment and one of the stores in my town. The guy in the long hair did a juggling act and really impressed everyone one in town although he only juggled 3 clubs.
In this picture you can see what is left of the rancho that was constructed when we were building the toma. More importantly you can see part of the 30 meter cable bridge that is suspending the 1 and 1/2 inch PVC pipe. We built this bridge to go around part of the hill that will most likely landslide. Obviously you can´t bury a pipe in a landslide zone. Here is a picture of Benicio digging out some of the ditch for the tube. At this time the tube has arrived at the tank and hopefully at the town in two days. On average it is about a foot underground, but will be more when going through pasture where cows can break pipe up to two feet underground when its muddy.
This is the famous human knot game we were playing with my group at the camp. I was assigned to 7 kids from different indigenous communities in the province. They choose to be called the Lions and all had to where their colors all weekend. I really liked most of the kids in my group they seemed to get along and have no problem participating. We did many games like this one including tug of war, sing along songs, and a blind folded trust walk.
Here is the four kids I took from my town with their official certificates that they attended the camp (its a big deal to them). Also in the foto is Sarah, who organized the whole camp and Ennio the financial director of Panama Verde. Everything at the camp is payed for as well as transportation. The money ultimately comes from the Kellogg's Foundation.
Here is some group members planting saplings. We showed them how to mix native clayey soil with sand and compost to make and ideal soil to grow in.
Here is another shot of Adam helping teach kids how to apply the compost without burning the roots of the sapling. I actually learned alot at this camp too! I didn´t exactly know how to plant trees!
Juan, myself and Joel at the waterfall.


Friday, March 09, 2007

Around the house and a new aqueduct

Besides that aqueduct in the town next door I have also been working on developing two other potential aqueduct projects. The Representante has his eyes set on building an aqueduct in far away from town where I think he has family. There are only a few houses there, and he things he can bring water from a spring, or creek, to my town which is about at 25 minute walk on flat ground. The water source has yet to be identified. However, he is willing to spend money so, I want to be a part of the team to make sure it is built properly. We walked out there the other day with a community member, the Representante and an engineer from the municipality.

I also may follow up a proposal for an aqueduct in another neighboring community, and have plans to visit them in 2 days.

This is the poso, or open well, that they were drinking out of. The water apparently comes up from under the ground here, but it is very unsanitary because rain water washes off poop from farm animals right into the same water. Ducks and other birds also swim in it. I recommended that the fence it off and build a drainage canal to divert runoff but who knows if they will do it.
They identified this creek as a possible water source. It is important to measure water sources in the dry season (now) because when it is raining they sometimes appear to be plentiful and can practically dry up during this time of year. To measure water you make a dam out or leaves and mud, and channel water in the a 5 gallon bucket. This can give you gallons per minute.
This is the area where we may provide water. It is essentially one big family with about 6 houses.
These guys were my guides back the the trail. Crossing this river stands to be a major problem because with normal rains it rises, 5 ft and with floods it overflows the bank.
My host sister Juanita, left forever. She was one of my best friends in town, and was a great worker. I also paid her to do my laundry, and she would always help look for sawdust for the composting latrine, or help me with my garden. She left to live with her dad, way up in the mountains of the Indian Reservation. I think this will be a really hard change from her, especially because she had become accustomed to having expendable income. She spent most of her money on batteries for her radio, and good percentage on food for the family and some for new clothes.
This is my host sister Gaylena, she is just learning to walk and is really cute.
Another picture of them working on my roof. I have been really busy with the aqueduct so havn´t really had time to help out. You can see all the penca they had stacked up to do roof. My uncle Dario is up in the roof constructing.

The night before Juanita left we killed two of the three chickens she was raising. I helped by holding the bird down while someone else cut the neck with a knife. It was really primal.
This is my host family, pretty much everyone in this picture has left except for the kid on the far left and the older guy in the hat.
One night I was getting ready to go to bed in my house and my host broth Justin hollered at me and told me that ants were attacking the tree between our houses. These cutter ants form a highway, that you can literally see. There is so much ant traffic that thy push dirt to one side. They cut parts of leaf off the tree, and bring it back to their mound where fungus grows on it that they eat. Essentially they grow their food. Anyways, they can really cause damage to trees and even kill them in some cases. I sprayed the trunk of the tree with some peace corps issue 25 % DEET OFF, and it was like a wall. They ants couldn´t cross, so they couldn´t destroy they tree any more. I did feel bad that as a environmental volunteer I was using harsh chemicals, but I want my shade!