Panamerican Proceeding

Lend me an ear and you will hear the rants and raves of this volunteer. "Nothing is stronger than the heart of a volunteer" says Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle (parden the pun), but perhaps no one is crazier either. Why do we care so much? Herein lies a glimpse of my Pan-American experience.

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Location: Bocas Del Toro, Panama Este, Panama

The proceeding 'Panamerican' is a Master's International Student and Peace Corps Volunteer. Disclaimer: Contents are the author's viewpoints only, (need to stress only), and many may have been written on particularly poor days.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Just when you think things are going good....

I have written this blog entry 100 times in my head already. Sometimes I've written it terribly sad, or funny, or cynical (me?), or downright mean. I've written it friendly and grossly rude. I don't want to write it anymore and I certainly don't want to write it now. They say if you are truly upset about something the average person tells 17 people. I'm shooting for hundreds, I'm that pathetic.

My mason arrived Monday morn and we were immediately friends, and he was immediately given my bed, food, and my respect. We held a community meeting but no one showed up so the few of us were forced to make the work schedule - who was working when. (Obviously not the way you want to do it.) Any questions before we begin? No one was there to ask them. Work commenced on Tuesday and wrapped up on Saturday. He's been called the "best mason in Panama by some."

I worked Tues, Wed and Thurs. Friday I tried lining up another dump truck load of sand after one vendor proved his incompetence. Saturday morning I bought all the materials for the next springbox we would start on Monday, hiked back up to view the final, amazing finished product, and helped haul tools to the next work site. Little did I know there wasn't to be another work site. I was informed that afternoon there will be a community meeting to discuss our mason's work. Ok, we'll have a meeting, you guys wanna plan out this next week and change who's working when, cool with me.

The meeting got off to amazingly blunt start with our teacher going on and on about how it's the worst construction he's ever seen. (Of coarse he'd never helped, or attend any of the meetings). Many others continued. I fought for my man, complimented him numerous times, explained to them that he does things a little differently than you've seen, but that's because it's better, cheaper, and less work. They didn't buy it. Surprisingly, instead of throwing up his hands and storming off, he was amazingly patient. When he was finally granted an opportunity to speak after sitting there for two hours listening to people tear into him, he calmly said, "I'm sorry, can I please see a show of hands of who was here at the meeting on Monday?" He made his case, they didn't buy it. They didn't hire him, but they certainly fired him.

I am not that patient however. The whole project is on hold until I figure out what I want to do. Will they accept another mason or will they only insist on doing it themselves? Do I have enough money to fund their proposed overkill? Are they competent to actually build what they say they can? Do you fund a project that may be incorrectly built? How does that relate to your funder's expectations? What will they say next year when they come to inspect it, "Can we have our money back?" Is potable drinking water a right or a privilege? Who's job is it to supply it? What is my role as a volunteer in this situation? Do I stay? Do they even want me here? Was I invited? Will they ever learn? Will I?

Fight or flight: I did both. I escaped to catch my breath, and let them cool down. I doubt they realize their Rubicon, they are probably just wondering why I'm being so inconsiderate. Why wouldn't I want them to have water?

PS-I won't be posting pictures for awhile because my camera fell into a river yesterday.

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