Party on the East Side

One of the aspects I love most about Panama is the incredible diversity you can find in such a small geographic area, and since Panama is a pretty safe and stable country, we have over 200 volunteers scattered through many of the different cities, towns, villages, and indigenous reserves.  

When volunteers move to and integrate into these host communities, we develop a sense of local pride and belonging- a feeling that we´re usually all too eager to share with anyone who will take the time to get to know the people and places we´ve come to love and identify with.  

So it´s probably no surprise that my favorite part of my job as Regional Leader has been to visit volunteers in their communities and get to know a little more about their local culture and customs- which can truly vary even amongst communities less than an hour´s walk away from each other!  

While I usually make one-on-one visits for work, I also really look forward to bigger events and festivities.  Peace Corps (Panama) volunteers are a really amazing group of smart, fun, and kind people that I love spending time with, so I was especially excited to participate in one of the biggest events we´ve ever hosted in my region- the Anniversary of the founding of the Emberá-Wounaan reservation in Panama.  

To clarify- Peace Corps didn´t host the event.  The locals have a lot of pride in their culture (as they should!) and celebrate this important milestone in a large indigenous community located a three hour boat ride down the Pacific coast and up the Sambu river.  One of my friends, Nico, lives there and has a talent for organization and event planning, so he invited PCVs from all over the country to come and celebrate with the village.  

Around thirty volunteers made the long trek out here to hang out in Sambu and I think it´s pretty safe to say a great time was had by all.  There was tons of festival food (jungle meat on a stick anyone? How about some home-made alcoholic corn beverage?), cultural presentations (historic music and dances by them, and a historic dance/wobble mix up by us), contests (breath holding contest, tug-of-war, barefoot running, and a drinking contest), and plenty of time to spend with friends both new and old.  The locals even took us under their wing and painted intricate designs on all of us with jagua- a paint similar to henna thats made from local fruits and lasts 1-2 weeks.  

Even though I spent most of my Peace Corps service with a completely different indigenous group (the Ngäbe) across the country in Bocas del Toro, I´ve come to look on Darien with a similar fondness and affinity.  I´m so thankful for the opportunity to share my new province with so many of my friends and fellow volunteers, and I´m especially glad that we were able to contribute to the sense of local pride and identity,  A friend of mine recently ran into an indigenous woman in Panama city who hadn´t been able to make it home for the celebrations.  Even all the way in the city she had heard about all of the volunteers who had come out to show their support, and told my friend that it made her and many fellow Emberá especially proud of their heritage.  How awesome is that?

A New Friend

While browsing one of the many artisan booths and the local fair last week I came across an adorably precious handmade doll.  The soft doll was wearing a traditional Ngäbe nakwa, was carrying a miniature chakara, had carefully handbeaded jewelry, and was even sporting a head full of hair made of a hand-dyed local plant fiber called pita.  So much work went into this beautiful little creation that I was all too willing to shell out the requested $10 to make her mine. 

Over a friendly chat with the artisans, I learned that they’re from a local town about an hour and a half from mine and would love to have me visit and help on the business side of things.  They said everything I wanted to hear, and when I returned to pick up the doll, we posed for a selfie before they told me to check the doll’s bag.  Inside the bag, carefully folded, was a hand drawn Panamanian “registration” so that the doll could board the plane to travel internationally and live with me in the United States. 

Basically, these ladies and I are gonna be BFFs. 

A Nakwa of my Very Own

I’m no Project Runway hopeful, but I’ll never forget learning the craft of sewing from both of my grandmothers or getting my first sewing machine for Christmas as a little girl; The feeling I get from wearing something I’ve created always keeps me coming back for more.  That’s why I knew the local artisans and I would get along just fine and that the question of making a local dress for myself wasn’t if but, “What colors?”

The conservative nakwas are traditionally made in bright colors and designs to symbolize the vibrant environment in which the Ngäbe people live. The dientes- the teeth- are the triangles that stand for mountains and the rayas- the stripes- are for the rivers.  You really can’t get too bright with these dresses, and it seems like every color goes together. 

Though the nakwa is still worn in other regions of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, it’s mainly used for traditional exhibitions here in Bocas del Toro.  Even armed with the knowledge that my dress would be more of a wall decoration than a useful piece of attire, I eagerly appeared early one Saturday morning to a group of artisans I had never met.  After a quick introduction- they had no idea who I was or why I was there- I asked the women if they would teach me to sew my own nakwa.  Sensing their slight hesitation, I pulled out the fabric that I had already bought and gave my best “Please help the poor gringa” smile that I could possibly muster. 

Something must have worked because soon I found myself hiking the 2 + hour round trip each Saturday to work with my new friends.  Multiple times I was sure that I was just finishing up, and multiple times, just like my Mamaw, my mentors just smiled and told me to redo the mess I had made while rushing. 

Thanks to a few missed workdays, I didn’t finish my nakwa in time to wear it for a trip to the actual Comarca.  Eager to show off my new creation (and to be done with it once and for all,) I enlisted help from an experienced local seamstress who happily took the temporary place of my mentors back in Bocas. 

As it turns out, I’m not the only volunteer with an affinity for sewing, and my friend Katie and I both wore our own handmade creations the same day!  Though I have a much greater appreciation for nakwas than I did before, I do admit that I’m excited to infuse some creativity into this beautiful tradition.  I’ve seen simpler, much more flattering dresses in keeping with the principle design, and I’m all too excited to work on product development with my ladies.  The creator and marketer in me is going a little crazy and I hope to have an update to share with you soon!

Learning to Speak like a Local

One of the main things I wanted in a job was ample opportunities for training and/or education, and Peace Corps has certainly delivered! Though not all of our trainings are mandatory, I like to attend as many as possible. Not only do you gain relevant experience and skills, but you get paid to spend time with your friends in a new environment. It's really a win-win situation. 

This past week I attended a Ngäbere training. Ngäbere is the native language of the indigenous Ngäbe people, and since my people will still use it, especially among older generations, I was excited to learn more than just the basic greetings I had been using. 

Training was held in another volunteer's site in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé (reservation for the Ngäbe and Buglé people) so that we could really practice what we were learning each day. Though the language is still used in other parts of the country, it's nowhere as widely used as in the reservation. Our host volunteer, Adam, speaks awesome Ngäbere, and arranged for each of us to live with host families in his community. 

My family lived very simply in a zinc house with a mud floor and no amenities.  They cooked their food over a fire each day and farm to support themselves and the 6 of 10 children that are still living at home.  

Each day we had class from 8 am until noon and then participated in a shorter session in the afternoon before ending the day with hiking, river swimming, and hanging out with our new friends and families.  One of the coolest parts was finally getting to finish and wear my nakua (local dress) with the help of my friend Zoe's host mom, Echila.  More on that project in my next post!

To end the week, we performed a local dance and retold the story of the Tortoise and the Hare in Ngäbere, which I'm sure was a comical sight despite our best efforts.  Despite the challenges of living in harsher conditions than we're used to and the potential contraction of yet another internal parasite, it was great week with great people... and keep your eye out for a post on Ngäbere!  Until then, jatuita!