"Do not go where the path may lead..."

1. Introducing my American Family to my Embera Family! (Dec) 2. Girl's night out in Panama City with my friends from the States! (June) 3. Getting the email that my project was funded! (August) 4. My beach birthday party: Dolphins and bonfire! (Nov/Dec) 5. Watching Team Verde unify and work together to win the olympics at GAD camp! (May) 6. Family dinner at Aja's with Settlers and Pumpkin Bread (Oct) 7. Taking Crazy Mike's boat out on the lagoon with the kids on the Kusapin Peninsula (Feb) 8. Watching 30 families compete in Jeopardy for my Epic Health Seminar- they learned things! (Mar) 9. Talking to Playona's first 4 graduates about their plans to continue their education! (Dec) 10. Watching my map painters show off their new world knowledge! (Jul) 11. Having 60 kids show up to the Ultimate Frisbee workshop! (Sept) 12. Looking out my front porch and seeing 3 new composting latrines every morning! 13. Waking up to a "rain blizzard" on Thanksgiving

The fourth and final chapter of my November saga.  While sick in the city,I had lots of time to step back and reflect on my project and its future. Last March 30 families entered into the project, and some of them have put in over 100 hours of labor. In August we got funds for 15 latrines, and construction began. I have sweated with them hauling heavy building materials in ridiculous heat, shared oranges with their kids while mixing cement, and been fed in their hammocks on work days when I never get a lunch break. They work, nonstop, from before I want to be awake in the morning until mother nature forces us to quit with rain or sunset. Their motivation and dedication to the project, voluntary participation, on top of all their other jobs and commitments, is unprecedented. The construction of 15 latrines, which I had originally expected to take the rest of my service, will be completed if not by the end of 2013 then very early in January 2014. Inspired and motivated by them, I set

Rachel and Aja arrived Monday morning, as did a head cold. So while I toughed it out on Monday, Tuesday was much more difficult. I set them out working and would disappear to my house for 30-60 min periodically to take naps because I was feeling icky and everyone seemed to be doing alright. The girls left early Wednesday morning and I got the crew started working again, throwing the top foundation on the last of the 5 latrines. They noticed my grogginess and sniffling and sent me home to rest. I was relieved, and I slept until the arrival of Danielle that afternoon. D had come to visit to help me give an HIV/AIDS seminar to my artisan women. The meeting was scheduled for 4PM. We laid on the floor of my house in the suffocating heat and humidity that afternoon and then went to visit my host brothers for a bit before the meeting. One of my brothers was sick in the hammock with diarrhea and a fever. My host mom was convinced it was malaria. (I am almost certain it was not.) There wer

Something about materials delivery days means that before 6am there will be people on my porch trying to talk to me. Sorry friends, but if the sun isn’t up yet, I’m not up yet. I answered their questions by shouting at them from my bed and continued sleeping until 7:30. At 9:30 the store called to say they were on their way to the port (a 40 minute trip) with the first load. I ran the bell (a rusty hubcap) and set about finding my guys. I found 8 of them huddled on the floor of my host grandpa’s house with a boat motor in about 15 pieces. They tried to explain to me what was wrong with the motor but since I would only somewhat understand what was wrong if someone explained motor problems to me in English, all meaning was lost once it was put in Spanish. I think I got that the motor wouldn’t turn over. I let them fidget with it for an hour, then I started getting really antsy. At 10:45 I started trying to tell them to give up on the motor and find another one. They went to ask Misa

I promised some good stories this month, after I nearly missed the entire month of October with my blog and suddenly I find myself at the end of November with my promise as of yet unfulfilled. So here’s a basic play by play of November, broken into 4 parts for your reading convenience! I wrote my last blog post at noon on Halloween, caught the bus to the terminal, and got to Meteti around 9pm and stayed at Aja, another PCV’s house. The next morning I slept in late, until 8am, then rolled out of bed and dumped some cold water on my head. I spent the day running a couple errands and laying around Aja’s house. At lunch I graduated to tomato soup and grilled cheese. Ben showed up, and eventually Danielle did too. Late afternoon we set about making pumpkin bread with the limited supplies Meteti could provide us, and baked it on a gas stove. (Macguyver an oven by putting a little pot inside a big pot with a lid on it!) That night was Ben’s turn to cook family dinner, and he made veggie

I have never missed a month when it comes to updating my blog, but October almost got away from me. With just 12 hours left in the month, let's see if I can get this in just under the wire. Normally I write out a post in my journal by hand while sitting in site, type it up the next time I have use of a computer or feel particularly motivated to hack it out on my tablet, and then save it to the USB to upload to the internet on my next trip to the internet cafe. October was busy, so the hammock sitting, writing out the post never happened. So here I am at the internet already, skipping steps 1-3 and feeling a little rushed about it, haha. From September 23 to October 5th we built 5 latrines from 8am to late afternoon, every day. Those 5 latrines are currently in use and the next 5 latrine owners have their materials ready to go so that we can begin building again as soon as the hardware store sobers up after celebrating the country's Independence Day this weekend. My wome

I spent so much time trying to get the ball rolling on so many projects- over a year developing relationships and planning this women's group, almost 6 months fundraising and preparing construction for latrines round 2, and 3 months discussing and scheduling the Ultimate team with my kids. Now, all of a sudden, the gravitational forces acting on the earth have shifted and all three projects are happening! Instead of trying to defeat inertia I now find myself trying to juggle all of my projects at once- and I love it. I am, after all, still a stage manager who knows how to multi-task like a boss. Let's talk latrines first, since they are my primary project. On August 11 th , I got confirmation that I was going to be fully funded. On August 28 th , that money was in my account and on September 18 th , I paid for the materials for the first 5 latrines. Materials arrived on Monday, September 23 rd , kept arriving Tuesday, September 24 th , and because a rainstorm took out

I got home from Congreso General on Sunday afternoon and fought a losing battle to clean my house, do laundry, eat dinner, bathe, call my family, and prep for the next day. Less than 5 hours of sleep, underscored by blaring accordion music, after a long day in the sweltering heat sitting on benches results in something that feels like a hangover, although no alcohol was involved. (Making it even worse.) I went to sleep Sunday night as soon as I could, which might have been mid conversation with my parents. ‘Djabawera! Djabawera!’ I heard someone calling me from outside my house and I groaned a response that was something like ‘Que?’ mixed with ‘Mehh…’ ‘Djabawera, I am going to bathe then I am going to come back so we can talk!’ I looked at my clock. 5:37AM. Mehh. I rolled over and told myself to get up in 5 minutes. 20 minutes later, Victor was back, with 2 other guys, waiting for me on my porch. I hurriedly rolled out of bed and tried to wrangle my hair while putt

First of all, what it is... The Comarca decided they were unhappy with their current Casique (the tribal leader of the reservation) so they asked/forced him to resign, and chose to elect another. There was much disagreement about which community would host the election, and 2 congresos were planned. One for Marranganti, where the old government said they were going, and one in El Salto, where the majority of the community leaders wanted to go. My community attended the one in El Salto, so I did too. How the Embera Vote- They call an election, see who shows up, and then pick candidates from those present to run for Casique. Then all of those not running for Casique get in line behind their candidate to vote for him. (It could be a her, I guess, but let’s face it, that’s not going to happen for awhile.) The candidate with the most people in line wins. I guess they don’t have to worry about hanging chads I suppose. Things They Did WELL- *Well-decorated meeting hall. T