A Week in Another World...

...And now I am changed forever.

I spent this last week in a village in the middle of the jungle. The town was called Soloy, in Ngobe Bugle land, where the Ngobe people live, speaking Ngobe and living in their the traditional ways as they have for thousands of years. I was volunteering there, teaching English to adults and helping to update/create websites.

I have so much to say... this is going to be long.

I did not go there through any program, and I did not go through any international organization; Everyone I worked with and met was Ngobe (they all speak Spanish as a second language), which is one of the reasons the experience was so special.

It was hard to leave Panama City: my beautiful new abode, my dear sweet boyfriend -a very comfortable life, to venture off on a night bus to an unknown corner of the jungle, not knowing anyone, not having any reason at all to do it except that it scared me ... and that meant that I could grow from it.

The bus went to David, a normal little town, and from there I took the truck to Soloy... a 4X4 with sideways benches in the back instead of seats and 18 people crammed in the back. The ride was bumpy, sometimes through mud 2 feet deep (not exaggerating... it is the rainy season here) and it last 2 hours. The pain of the bench and the bodies impossibly pressed together was mitigated by the pleasure of the view... rolling jungle hills, banana trees, orchids, green pastures and waterfalls.

I got off when other people got off and asked for Adan (emphasis on the last syllable). It was the only name I knew, and I clung to it. The spot where we were was a kind of junction of two really muddy roads with two small wooden buildings, the village stores. You don't go inside (there's no room), you walk up to the counter and ask for what you want. There were a few people around, and some chickens and some dogs but the dominating factors of the place were mud and jungle.

Adan was a young Ngobe man who met me with a pile of books I could use in my class and took me to where I would sleep and then gave me a tour of Soloy and its surroundings. And that is how my experience began. Here is how I was impacted:

Poverty: I experienced poverty like I have never experienced it before. Houses are sticks and dirt floors, children and women are sometimes without shoes, no one can afford to eat more than once a day. My first hours in Soloy, I was shocked. My first three nights, I was fighting back tears from discomfort and loneliness. By the 6th day, I felt like I was a citizen of Soloy... I could live there for years, no problem.

Riches: Some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Elaborate, refined tribal artistry that could have its place in a museum (more on this later), papayas and bananas growing wild in the forest. Hundreds of varieties of unique orchids, trees, bromeliads, birds, insects.

Access: This is one of my biggest lessons. The difficulties of this village are not only due to a lack of money, they are due to a lack of ACCESS. There is no mail to Soloy, there are hardly roads to Soloy, there are no electric lines or plumbing (some solar panels, and piped water from the river for a few of the buildings... not houses), there are no banks nor ATM's, there is no cell phone signal.

What does this mean? The economy is trapped. Goods cannot be sold outside of the village really, so they are sold at prices that are artificially low. If there is a bad weather season that effects crops, the people can starve with money in their pockets because there is no food (the trucks can't get it there fast enough!). And on, and on.

I had no idea.

Hunger: I always had this idea that hunger is something experienced by the very poor and I associated it with ignorance, dirtiness, disgrace and a burning sensation in the stomach. That's not what hunger is. I experienced hunger myself accidentally because I ran out of money.
See, the women Artisan groups have no one to buy their crafts. They literally don't have a market (see Access) so they rely on the few volunteers (foreigners) who come visit. All women make these things as part of their traditions, so there is no internal market.

Well the things are beautiful, so I wanted to buy everything my few dollars would buy (to support them and buy Christmas gifts). I budgeted so that I would just have enough for the passage back and food. I would eat at the restaurant (think foodstand... $1.00 for beans, chicken and rice -btw, there is no refrigeration bc there is no electricity, so chicken is the main meat since it just runs around until you're ready to eat.) only once a day and for dinner, I'd fry eggs in the kitchen (eggs are 10 cents).

Well, they ran out of eggs. They ran out. I instantly thought, that's okay they'll get some in tomorrow. Ah, no they won't. No access. So I ate 1 meal a day and then nibbled on bread, crackers, etc.


This is what I learned about Hunger: it doesn't burn the stomach, because you do eat, you just don't eat enough of the right things. You are still fully functional just slow er and weaker. The key to hunger is protein. Protein is the most expensive thing to buy. You can eat enough white bread to fill your stomach, but you can feel it in your skin that you are slowly starving.

This is the other thing I learned about hunger: Almost everyone in Soloy was hungry. Adan and Plinio (Adan's brother) and I would have long intellectual meetings about the mission of the botanical garden the were building and appropriate symbols to use in a logo (all in Spanish, by the way), and then they would say they were not going to lunch today. Hunger exists among the educated and the dignified.

Promise: Soloy has a shining star and his name is Adan. Adan is in his late 20's, a Ngobe fella raised in Soloy all his life. He got ahold of a program about 10 years ago called CASS that sponsors young members of impoverished communities to study in the USA, so that they can bring their educations back to their homes and help them develop. The program is supposed to last for 4 years.

But Panama has a problem. Panama City is so rich and so developed, that it effects country averages and international perception into thinking Panama is a developed country that doesn't need that much support. In this way, impoverished, very needing regions like Ngobe Bugle don't get the international resources that, say, their Nicaraguan or Honduran counterparts do. So CASS cut its funding to Panama and Adan came home to Soloy after only two years and no Panamanian staff to help him.

But he's going ahead anyway. He's embracing the charge CASS gave him with such purpose and dedication, I am ashamed for them for abandoning him. He and his American friend started Medo, the organization I found on idealist.org, the reason I came to Soloy. Learn more about Medo: medo.awardspace.com

Slowly, Medo is attracting talented resourceful people to Soloy. Slowly and steadily, Soloy is developing. Adan is shy and humble, courteous and intelligent. He lives in the same poverty, the wooden houses, the scant food, etc. that are typical of his village. But he has a vision that is so authentic and so inspiring and so generous, you just want to help him. Medo is not some white people that came down to a jungle village and said "Oh look at the poor people, let's help them." Medo is the Ngobe themselves, taking their own community into their hands, reaching out for support and talent from the outside.

If it was a company, I'd invest.


What am I doing for Medo and the Ngobe:

I taught English for a week and I think I was a success (by the way, they need someone to stay for 2 or 3 months starting immediately, if you know anyone who might want the job).

I am redoing the website of the Jardin Botanico: Plinio has been trained in botony and is walking through the jungle (region is called the Comarca) identifying every single plant and taking samples to build a botanical garden to one day be an attraction for ecotourism. He has scientific support from Botanical societies in Austria and Germany. In a few weeks, check out: http://www.soloy.pueblerino.info/

I will be delivering a donation of medical supplies from the US to Soloy in January.

And finally, the project I am most excited about, and the one that will take the most miracles to pull off: I am going to try to start a business selling chacaras. Chacaras are one of the crafts that the Ngobe women make. They are woven bags, made entirely out of plant fibers and dyes through a process entirely by hand. It is a unique and traditional art. They are beautiful and they last through the mud and the heavy labor of Soloy for 20 years. It takes between 1 and 2 months to make one. Right now, they sell them to the one or two volunteers that come to Soloy each month (price $10 to $20) and to dealers who come from Panama City for sometimes as low as 3$, to be resold in larger tourist markets. The women know full well that they are underselling, but they do it to survive. Some more interesting info is here

I had a meeting with one of the Artisan groups to discuss marketing possibilities: how to reach a broader market. I thought Internet, but how do they ship when there's no mail? How do they receive money when there's no bank?

I had a second meeting with them to explain the concept of fair trade. We calculated how much time they spend on the process and what they would need to earn to at least survive on making chacaras. The price would need to be between $70 and $150 per bag. One lady recalled that 15 years ago, she sold a bag every month to one man for $90 and he shipped them to the USA to be resold. So its possible. If women will spend $700 on a Burberry bag made in China, there's gotta be a way for me to make them spend a few hundred dollars on an original artpiece.
So I'm going to start creating a website, with sleek photos that make these chacaras look like the the most glamorous fashion item available. I hope that by January, I have some money to go back to Soloy and buy a big order of bags at a fair price. I have a vision of the entire Ngobe Bugle region being transformed by empowered economically successful women. Currently, the chacara art is dying, younger women opting for the easier crafts, but if I can pay them $100 a bag, the chacara art will flourish again because it will be a viable source of income.

This was my week in Soloy and how it has impacted me. If you have any questions or ideas or would like to do something to help as well, you can comment, email me or email medovolunteers@gmail.com

UPDATE: Here is the blog about the project marketing the hand bags: http://www.bagsmakeadifference.com/