Becoming a Djabawera
Djaba- (pronounced Jabba, like the hut) means brother or friend that is a male
Wera- (where-uh) means woman
Djabawera- means sister or friend that is female
Those first 6 days I spent in my community are a blur. My mind was constantly in overdrive, trying to reteach itself how to do just about everything. The second I woke up it started: how to get out of bed whilst disturbing as little of the mosquito net as possible. Remembering to take toilet paper and hand sanitizer with me when I crossed town to use the latrine. How to wear a peruma. How to then do everything else that day in a peruma. How to say hello. How to eat (insert anything here). How to brush my teeth without water. How to wipe mud off of my feet to enter someone else's hut. How to sit in a hammock in a peruma. How say (insert about a million different phrases here) in Embera. How to teach someone how to make the 'th' sound when saying an english world like bathe or this or theatre. How to climb the 'stairs' which are notches in a log. How to not get chased by the dogs. How to minimize the bug bites. (I did NOT do well there.) How to do laundry in the river. How to cook Panamanian rice. (Lots of oil and salt.) How to get up the courage to go walk into another strangers home to chat. Over and over and over again- and all of that happens before 10am!
My host family is great. I have 2 fantastic little brothers, Felisiano is 3 and Fernando is 9. My host mom Eugenia is very patient with me and speaks Embera very well. She enjoys teaching me and making me feel like part of the family. My host dad Fernando is awesome. If I ever have a problem- like at 9:30 one night when my latrine was locked- he'll do whatever he has to in order to fix it for me.
Jose scheduled lunch and dinner for me each day at a different house so I could get to know more families so that was a great way to help get me out there meeting my community. He also went 'pasearing' (walk up to a house, ask if you can enter, then hang out and chat) on Friday so I got to meet about 8 more families to start my repertoire of houses I feel comfortable hanging out in. Over the next few days I started getting the hang of it and would start going to new houses as well.
The people of my community are great. They are very protective of me, and very excited to make me a part of their culture. Shortly after I get back next week they are going to paint me. Chris, Ben, and Danielle have all gotten painted in their Embera sites and I am excited to join the club!
It hasn't been all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. I had some stomach troubles Sunday (3 latrine adventures before 8am, eesh) and the number of bug bites on my legs was uncountable. They were so red and swollen that the muscles ached to walk. But with a lot of hydrocortisone cream, allergy tablets, bug spray, water, pepto, rehydration salts and nap time in the hammock it was tolerable.
The moment I felt the most Embera was on Monday, walking barefoot through the community in my peruma and a tank top with a bucket of laundry on me head, headed down to the river to learn how to wash clothes on rocks. It was frustrating because they taught me in Embera, but I'd remind myself that I'd been learning Embera for less than a week at that point and that the amount I do already know is impressive.
All too soon, it was time to head back to the city to finish out training, swear in as a Volunteer, and say another round of goodbyes to my Santa Rita host family and my fellow trainees. Not really goodbyes, but defs see you waaaaay laters.
Sitting in the canoe on the way out of site I was surprised to see how much I had grown and adjusted in one short week, and excited to come back and start my new life there.
"Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us." -William James
Wera- (where-uh) means woman
Djabawera- means sister or friend that is female
Those first 6 days I spent in my community are a blur. My mind was constantly in overdrive, trying to reteach itself how to do just about everything. The second I woke up it started: how to get out of bed whilst disturbing as little of the mosquito net as possible. Remembering to take toilet paper and hand sanitizer with me when I crossed town to use the latrine. How to wear a peruma. How to then do everything else that day in a peruma. How to say hello. How to eat (insert anything here). How to brush my teeth without water. How to wipe mud off of my feet to enter someone else's hut. How to sit in a hammock in a peruma. How say (insert about a million different phrases here) in Embera. How to teach someone how to make the 'th' sound when saying an english world like bathe or this or theatre. How to climb the 'stairs' which are notches in a log. How to not get chased by the dogs. How to minimize the bug bites. (I did NOT do well there.) How to do laundry in the river. How to cook Panamanian rice. (Lots of oil and salt.) How to get up the courage to go walk into another strangers home to chat. Over and over and over again- and all of that happens before 10am!
My host family is great. I have 2 fantastic little brothers, Felisiano is 3 and Fernando is 9. My host mom Eugenia is very patient with me and speaks Embera very well. She enjoys teaching me and making me feel like part of the family. My host dad Fernando is awesome. If I ever have a problem- like at 9:30 one night when my latrine was locked- he'll do whatever he has to in order to fix it for me.
Jose scheduled lunch and dinner for me each day at a different house so I could get to know more families so that was a great way to help get me out there meeting my community. He also went 'pasearing' (walk up to a house, ask if you can enter, then hang out and chat) on Friday so I got to meet about 8 more families to start my repertoire of houses I feel comfortable hanging out in. Over the next few days I started getting the hang of it and would start going to new houses as well.
The people of my community are great. They are very protective of me, and very excited to make me a part of their culture. Shortly after I get back next week they are going to paint me. Chris, Ben, and Danielle have all gotten painted in their Embera sites and I am excited to join the club!
It hasn't been all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. I had some stomach troubles Sunday (3 latrine adventures before 8am, eesh) and the number of bug bites on my legs was uncountable. They were so red and swollen that the muscles ached to walk. But with a lot of hydrocortisone cream, allergy tablets, bug spray, water, pepto, rehydration salts and nap time in the hammock it was tolerable.
The moment I felt the most Embera was on Monday, walking barefoot through the community in my peruma and a tank top with a bucket of laundry on me head, headed down to the river to learn how to wash clothes on rocks. It was frustrating because they taught me in Embera, but I'd remind myself that I'd been learning Embera for less than a week at that point and that the amount I do already know is impressive.
All too soon, it was time to head back to the city to finish out training, swear in as a Volunteer, and say another round of goodbyes to my Santa Rita host family and my fellow trainees. Not really goodbyes, but defs see you waaaaay laters.
Sitting in the canoe on the way out of site I was surprised to see how much I had grown and adjusted in one short week, and excited to come back and start my new life there.
"Need and struggle are what excite and inspire us." -William James
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