Visiting Sabanita

Top picture- my training community host family.

Here is my new mailing address! It´s supposedly quite reliable.

Carolyn Purington, Cuerpo de Paz

Entrega General

San Felix, Chiriqui 0444

Republica de Panama

I came back yesterday from five full days in my community, Sabanita, in the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle! I had a good experience there but I was happy to come back to my host family in my training community. It’s a relief to be able to speak Spanish without worrying about Ngaberi.

According to my paperwork I only had a 15 minute hike to my community, but it turns out that this is only true during the dry season (summer, December-March). During the rest of the year, the access road is too muddy for the pick-up truck “bus”. Instead, I arrived at my community through the next access road to the west, which still has a pick-up truck running during the rainy season. Basically, as many as 22 people cram into the bed of a pick-up truck with a grated roof, and this is the public transportation. My community guide and I took this pick-up truck for 25 minutes north to the end of the road, and then hiked for an hour to arrive in Sabanita. We walked on a series of muddy footpaths up and over a few ridges. It was really pretty but I had too many books in my bag to enjoy the views.

Sabanita is spread out over neighboring hills. My host family lives down a steep hill from the main path right above a large stream. The family moved to this site from the older family site to be closer to clean water. The family pipes water from a groundwater spring about 500 m up the hill, and bathes and washes clothes in the stream. I was unsure about the bathing technique, but it turns out you jump into the water with all your clothes on, wash yourself under your clothes, and then wash your clothes on your body. It is optional to wash these clothes another time once they are off the body. For me, the problem with the whole system was that it rained every day so it took days for my clothes to dry.

Picture- The family´s river and my new nagua!

My new host family is a middle-aged father and mother, a 12 year old girl, and a 15 year old boy who is studying in high school “afuera” (anywhere outside the Comarca) but comes home on weekends. There are also 4 other kids who are grown up. One of the older daughters who lives in Panama City was visiting home for a month with her toddler son. The father is a teacher in a primary school an hour’s walk north from Sabanita. The mother is active in the Evangelical church and in the house. I have learned that it is a full-time job to keep the chickens out of the house when the house has no walls or doors.

What did I do for 5 days? I drank a lot of coffee. My main job was to visit every house in the community (about 30), and it is custom to present a guest with drink and/or food. I also listened to a lot of Ngaberi and realized that I need to learn it quickly. Most people under the age of 50 can speak decent Spanish, but they like speaking their own language and the only way I will know what is going on is if I can learn it.

When I visited all of the houses, I told the people there would be a community meeting at 8 am on Saturday to talk about my role in Sabanita. My host family warned me about “Comarca Time,” so I didn’t show up to the meeting until 8:10 am. My host mother came at 8:40. The first community members started arriving at 9 am. We started the meeting at 9:15, but a bunch more people arrived at 9:45. The overall turnout was good though (20 families represented). Similar to some McHugh and Purington family gatherings, the best solution is to tell people the meeting starts an hour before it actually should start.