It’s Orange Season! Except they’re not actually orange.

Pride be gone

Last week we had a much more productive work day on the fish tank project.  Much of the muddy water from the last time had drained out through the tube we’d left, which was a huge help.  Also as soon as we arrived, it was decided that we would start by building up a wall on the side of the tank where water continued to seep in and to dig a canal on the other side guiding the water to the tube that carried it out to the creek while we were working.  The funny thing is, that is exactly what I said we should do two weeks ago.  I’m truly not sure if last time they didn’t understand me, if they forgot I had suggested it, or if this was their indirect Panamanian way of telling me they changed their minds and wanted to try it.  Throughout the work day we all commented on how much we were getting done and how great it was going.  I even heard someone say, “If only we’d started with this last time …” Arg.  On one hand I definitely found this frustrating; however, I recognized that day that my work here is not about me getting credit for figuring out solutions to problems.  My work is to encourage others to figure out their own solutions and to have faith in themselves to know that they can.  I’d like to think at the very least that my presence and constant questioning about how they were doing things helped guide them to the more efficient plan they finally implemented, but the bottom line is that even though the previous work day seemed futile, they did not give up and kept at it until they figured out a better way.  I’m so excited about their success.

Before (in case you forgot what this looked like from my ‘quicksand mud’ blog)

And after. Yay for a canal and wall guiding water to a purposefully placed tube to begin filling the tank, which is now ready for fish! 

Playing a Dual-Role: Professional & Community Member

I have recently found myself struggling in some awkward situations.  The main Panamanian agriculture organization MIDA seems to be showing an increasingly large presence in neighboring and my communities.  This is good news because they bring in resources like informational presentations as well as tools and seeds.  As such, I have made a strong effort to connect with them, and this seems to be going well.  I feel I am gaining their respect by showing up to their events, recruiting my community members to come with me, remaining engaged and asking questions throughout their presentations, and I believe my Spanish ability has surprised them.  But I need to be careful.  Many community members think of MIDA employees as out of touch with their realities and think that all they want for is people to pay them to analyze farms and so have no real interest in helping.  They point out that not a single MIDA employee has a farm of their own, so how can they know what is best?  I try to emphasize that combining academic studies by agencies like MIDA with the practical experience of producers like them is the best way to go, and that neither can possibly know everything there is to know about agriculture.  Nevertheless I sense that I need to be careful and avoid being too closely associated with professionals like these. 

Last week I went to a meeting where MIDA discussed a pest that is beginning to show up on coffee farms around Panama called broca.  MIDA brought in their electric generator and gave a PowerPoint presentation.  Really?  The producers in the room had not been exposed to formal education since age 12, read at below a 6^th grade level, and rarely if ever see things like computers.  I doubt PowerPoint is the best educational tool for this audience. 

Producers gathered in a classroom to listen to MIDA. 

Furthermore, the vocabulary used throughout the presentation was excessively difficult.  I asked for definitions of some large words even though I knew them just because I was pretty sure others didn’t, but wouldn’t ask themselves.  I hope the producers recognized my willingness to show that I don’t know everything and that asking questions is the best way to learn more.

Complicated slide showing both the life cycles of the pest and also of a fungus that can be used as a biological control.  There is no way the producers will ever use the biological control method (way too expensive and unavailable), so why even show this? I feel this kind of thing confuses more than it enlightens.

After the presentation which was in a neighboring community, I began discussing with my community members that we should get a ride back with MIDA.  The MIDA reps said they were going somewhere first and would pick people up on their way back.  They invited me to go with them and I later found out that I was being treated to their lunch, while my community members waited by the side of the road for us to return.  I felt pretty crappy about that, but again, I also feel that the more trust MIDA has in me, the more help they will provide for community projects.  So I ate my free pifá, bread, yucca, canned sardines, and coffee while chatting it up with the MIDA representatives.  We then headed back to El Harino, stopping along the way so my community members could hop in the back of the truck.

Fun Facts About Daily Life

Oranges here are not orange.  They are harvested pretty green and unripe.  People cut the tops off and suck the juice out.  My family at first laughed at the way I peel and eat the whole orange, but now the kids often ask me to peel theirs my way.  When these oranges start ripening they turn sort of yellow, but still pretty green.  I told them we have oranges in the U.S. too but that they are more orange in color.  My host-dad said, “you mean more yellow?”  I said, “no, more orange.  Like a mix between red and yellow.”  Still not sure he understood.

Harvesting yellowish green oranges.

I have been falling down way less often!  I believe this is due to a combination of factors.  I got Panamanian rubber boots, I take a walking stick with me when I know I will be crossing rivers or creeks, I try to wait a little after intense rain storms for the paths to dry, and hopefully I am simply getting used to how to walk around here.

Intense hike to the top of my host-brother’s Otoi farm (type of root vegetable) with no falling!  You can see my host-family’s house in the background if you look extremely carefully.

I’ve been to a couple of church events at both the evangelical and catholic churches.  I’ve slowly been explaining to people what “I’m Jewish” means and it’s been going over just fine.  People still seem excited to see me at such events and I like seeing community members get together.  Last week I participated in the parading of San Isidrio’s statue from one community to ours.

Marching with community members. 

This saint is some kind of agriculture patron, so of course he is holding a machete and a coa (Panamanian tool for digging holes)

I think it is duck mating season and duck reproduction is somewhat disturbing and violent.  I will spare you any photos.

I have been playing with my host-family kids a lot.  I’ve had lucky timing with holding the baby and have only been peed on again once and have not yet been crapped on at all (no diapers are worn here).  I struggle with not getting upset with the kids for being incredibly hurtful to animals.  Dogs here are whipped for no reason and chickens are tortured.  When we eat, all food scraps (peels and bones) go to the floor where the dogs and birds eat them.  It seems they are doing us a favor by cleaning up, so why kick them and shoe them away?

Cuties

This poor baby chick often gets chased, picked up by its wing or head, and is thrown into the air although it is too young to fly.

Pretty sure this is the “please let go of me” face.

My host-family once asked me to sing a song for them in English.  The first one I thought of was “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”  I am now asked to sing this regularly by both the kids and their parents.

My host-dad and I finally picked a day and started a compost pile!  In Panama, things degrade so quickly that the compost should be ready in less than three months.  For some reason, the morning we were to work on compost, I awoke and saw a few piles of burning leaves.  Huh?  I had clearly told my host-dad that we could put leaves in the compost pile, so why was he still burning them?  Who knows.  But fortunately, the rest of our compost-making day went well!  And if this works out, hopefully he’ll continue composting organic material and burn less of it.

Compost = fun for the whole family!

Panamanians are very into limp handshakes.  Limp handshakes (more like touches really) accompany every hello and every goodbye, and are given to everyone in a group.  Like people stop what they’re doing when someone new arrives so that the new person can touch everyone else’s hand, and same goes for when someone leaves the group.  I guess I’m getting used to this.  City Panamanians instead do the hug & and cheek kiss, but not so much out here in the campo.  I miss hugs!  People here also say “hasta mañana” or “see you tomorrow” even when there is no chance you will see them tomorrow.  They seem to treat it as a general way to say “bye” or “see you later.”

So with that said, see you tomorrow :)