Welcome to Peace Corps Panama!

A few months ago, the Peace Corps Panama office asked me to write an introductory letter to be given to incoming volunteers, and since reading the letters in my own Welcome Book was one of the first impressions I had of Peace Corps Panama, I was excited to share (briefly!) some of the things I've learned.  

Ñan törö!

Hello and welcome to Peace Corps Panama! We are all very excited for you to begin this incredible, challenging, fulfilling, and fun adventure.

My name is Abby Bryant, and I am a Group 73 Sustainable Agriculture Systems (SAS) Volunteer in a rural indigenous village in Bocas del Toro.  Though I am part of the agriculture program, I arrived to Panama with very little technical knowledge. I was concerned that my business background would not be sufficient, but the SAS program has been incredibly supportive in providing me with the tools and training I needed to succeed as a volunteer. 

In addition to serving as a National Coordinator for Agribusiness, I keep myself busy with a variety of projects in my community.  Depending on the day, I may be facilitating a business training, working on a cacao farm, teaching a women’s group how to bake, or hanging out in my house with a bunch of kids and my dog.  One of my favorite parts of being a Peace Corps volunteer is the freedom and flexibility we have in directing our work.  Though this unique responsibility may at times seem a little daunting, try to take a breath and savor the moment instead of focusing on having just the right experience or always knowing the answers.  

Before joining the Peace Corps, I thought I would feel most accomplished after a successful seminar or business development training. However, that was before a neighboring family started referring to me as Tia so that I would feel a part of their family; It was before kids fought over who would be first to show me their new, improved grades, and it was most certainly before my community members, one-by-one, arrived at my little hut to welcome me and tell me that they had prayed for my safe arrival. 

I cannot tell you what your site will be like, what you’ll do each day, or even what type of relationship you will have with your future community members.  What I can tell you is this: every challenge and hardship will be worth it and your experience will be unique to you. 

Congratulations and we look forward to seeing you soon!

-Abby Bryant

G73 SAS

Quebrada Pita, Bocas del Toro

3 Years in Panama

A few weeks ago I wrote about visiting the Darien (you can read about it here, here, here, here, and here), which was one of the coolest trips that I've gotten to do here in Panama.  In my blogs I talked about hiking through the infamous jungles of the Darien, visiting cool beaches and eating tons of delicious food, teaching about chocolate and business (2 of my favorite things) to the wonderful gente, and learning about the interesting and beautiful culture of the Emberá and Wounaan indigenous tribes.  What I didn't mention is that I had somewhat of an ulterior motive for the trip...

Peace Corps has volunteers in just about every region of Panama and though the country isn't much bigger than South Carolina, it takes a lot of work and travel to support over 200 volunteers in 9 very different and distinct provinces.  Since our office staff is limited in both personnel and location (the office is in Panama City, which is up to 14 hours of travel from the most remote sites), each province has a Regional Leader.  

Regional Leaders (RLs) are 3rd year volunteers selected by the Country Director to work in a variety of roles within each province.  RLs locate and prepare communities to be future Peace Corps sites, offer organizational and emotional support to volunteers, assist with safety and security issues, act as liaisons between Peace Corps and partner government and NGO agencies, and host regional meetings for volunteers, staff, and agencies every four months.  

Though I have always loved working with the Bocas RLs, I didn't start considering the job for myself until a few months ago.  Similar to the thought process that led me to Peace Corps in the first place, I began outlining what I wanted for myself personally and professionally when my service ends in July/August of this year.  

I love living in the jungle, but I'm also quite ready to have some modern amenities back.  Electricity? A refrigerator? Smoothies?? Internet?! Ah, yes.  I'm quite ready for those.  But am I ready to give up this beautiful, multi-cultural experience I'm having? Not quite yet.  

The more research I did, the more I realized that the Regional Leader position was just what I wanted.  I would get to live in a regional capital with access to most of the amenities that I'm missing, work in a more official and professional role with the national office and local and international government agencies, and still have frequent travel to the remote Peace Corps and potential Peace Corps sites I love so much.  

So how does the Darien play into that?  Once I decided to apply, I knew that during my interview I'd be asked about what region I wanted to work in.  While they obviously prefer to have RLs work in the same region they served in, there's usually some shifting around due to candidates and their work styles and preferences.  Since I knew one of my best Peace Corps friends from Bocas was also applying and wanted to stay in Bocas, I took that as an opportunity to look around and think a little more about where I would want to spend my 3rd year in Panama.  

Panama's cultural diversity beautiful ecological landscape make that quite a hard choice, but when I thought about which province intrigued me the most, it became quite easy- the Darien.  However, having never visited the area, it seemed pretty naive to ask to move there, hence my tour of the area.  

And herein lies the big news- An incredible week of travel and a great interview later, I'm very excited to accept my new position as the Darien Regional Leader and can't wait to move out there and get started in July.  Though my new job won't affect my current position at all, it does mean that I'll be in Panama a year longer than I thought.  I know that that's bittersweet news to my friends and family back home, but I'm sure that a month long US trip in December will help that a little bit.  

Accepting the new job has made the end of my service in Bocas feel a lot more concrete, and that's bittersweet for me as well.  I have loved the time I've had here and look forward to another great year!  

From Bocas to Darien- and Massy's coming too! 

And the region I´m going to is...

 

Have you ever moved to a foreign country to accept a job that you didn’t even know the details or location of?  That’s essentially what I did by moving to Panama, and for a Type A career planner like myself, making that commitment without knowing exactly where I would be living or what I would be doing was really tough.

 

Though the waiting process was hard, I finally understand why it had to happen that way.  Our boss was able to match us with our future sites not only based on resumes and skill sets, but also based on 5 full weeks of training observation, our experience visiting volunteers, and a series of interviews.  She’s known for being excellent at the matching process, so I put my trust in her and just told her to send me where I would fit best (and also that I would kind of maybe REALLY like to work with cocoa.)

 

Yesterday was the big day, and I was nervous.  I really tried not to get to excited about a particular region, because I could have been sent anywhere in Panama, but I think everyone knew I wanted to be in Bocas del Toro.  After my volunteer visit, how could I not?

 

In addition to the 48 trainees, also present at the site announcement were regional leaders, training staff, and the Panama Country Director.  It was really awesome to see how excited everyone was for us, and I will admit that I may have gotten slightly emotional after they played a video about Peace Corps’ impact on both communities and volunteers. 

 

When they put up a giant map of Panama with stars where each future community would be we all cheered.  That was the first time we had gotten to see the potential sites!  Then, one by one, our director pulled names of communities out of a cup.  She would describe the site a little and talk about the potential work before finally announcing what volunteer would be going there. 

There were 48 sites, and mine was announced 46^th.  Some sites I really wanted, and to be honest there were some I was kind of hoping wouldn’t be for me.  By the time they finally did read off my site, I was dying.  Apparently we’re a good match because while she read the description, everyone started looking at me.  Then again, by that point there was a 1/3 chance it was mine by default. 

 

That being said, I’m incredibly happy and excited to share that I will be working with the management and sale of chocolate, coffee, plantains, and artisan goods in a small community in the rainforests of Bocas del Toro, Panama!  The community is also interested in starting a small eco-tourism group, which is right up my alley. 

Though I’ll be visiting the community for 5 days next week, I don’t know too much more at this point.  There has been one other volunteer who worked with tree nurseries and improving their organic farming techniques, and apparently he left behind a pretty sweet house that I’m going to get to rent for the awesome price of $25/month. 

I can’t wait to share pictures and stories from my community next week, and yes, the wait was totally worth it.