Dana
November 7, 2003
Site Visits to Ngabe Land

Hello all! so this week has been totally intense...i hope i will be able to communicate what it was i saw, felt and thought, but i am having trouble as i sit in this noisy internet cafe to communicate what the past week was like...the basics first. itīll be a little long and maybe not what ya want to hear, so i understand if you gotta skim it...i canīt be brief about this stuff quite yet.

so far, iīve been living in a latino site of about 1,000people, along with all 27 of teh peace corps volunteers iīm in training with. we spend every second with each other or with our families. this past week we went to visit the sites where we will be living for the next 2 years.for the first time, i was alone, but not alone. people always around me, but not the same language, nor the same culture...oh boy. what i want to explain is the huge mix of emotions, the messy tangle of thoughts and the rollercoaster ride of positive and negative reactions. the culture differences the beauty of nature and of the people, the intimidation and the internal conflicts...how īdo i communicate all this. iīll try to explain small stories?

so the community i will live with is an indigenous community of a group called ngabe. a big group way up in the mountains near the boarder of costa rica. itīs lush jungle, lots of forests, big rivers, secondary forest growth , pastures of monsterous cows with wierd camel humps and long droopy ears, vast coastline. i am about 3 hours via bus from internet and a biggish city, and then a 3 hour hike down into a valley where my community is nestled into the trees and spread out between about 800 people (there are lots of ngabe communities, but mine is fairly big i think). houses are basically like gazeboes with grass roofs, but the houses are on stilts about 4-10 feet off the ground, and most of the houses have wooden sides. pretty damn rickety. no running in the house, because itīs too much stress. the ones in my community are either a big platform where everyone sleeps on the floor (on sheets if they have them) and then another room that is an open platform where th! ey build a campfire and make rice and bananas and plantains.

ok, so i donīt know whether or not to get into describing the immense poverty and the problems of this community, or the positive stuff. iīll do the positive first. the community is gorgeous location. people are beautiful with strong widespread features. there are a total of probably 10-14 families there (extended) that live in clusters (little communal circles of huts). although it is an indigenous group, there is a ton of latino influence through the school. the teachers are all latino, and surprisingly, none of them speak ngobe. so the younger generation is learning much more about latino culture and there is this wierd mix of cultures. ngabe culture. wow. how do i start there? iīll wait for that one.

work: there are a lot of windows of opportunity for work. years ago, there were 2 peace corps volunteers there already, so they are some what familiar with an outsider and the idea that i am there to do work with them amd that i will become part of the community with time...there are several people who are super motivated to work on reforestation, to work on convservation of resources, water sanitation, fish tanks, nutrition and sanitation education (big time sickness and malnutrition), artisan stuff (awesome organized womanīs group that makes these amazing bags: they make their own thread from this huge plant, use all natural dyes and take 2 months to make a bag. gorgeous), a lot of marketing stuff (for the womanīs group who wants to sell their bags).

there is so much to work on, much of it is pretty desperate too. at first i thought that i would have trouble being of help on projects people want, but no. there is so much imense poverty and lack of resources, i will have my hands full. it will definitely be a huge struggle though to make sure that i am not doing the projects alone, but rather i can be a resource, help facilitate and work along side, adn train, but i will cognisant every second of the time to watch that what i do is sustainable, cooperative, and within the culture. i donīt want to westernize anyone, and i want all development to be within their definition. i want to really become part of this community, which will happen slowly, very slowly, but will happen. communication wlil be a creative process. the highest education level in the site is 6th grade, but i donīt think itīs the 6th grade level i had. education system here is so different. itīs not at all bout critically analyzing or thinking out! of the box (not that my education was all like that, but more than here).

so yeah, the poverty. people have farms, but get very little for what they grow. there is no work and people donīt have enough money to travel out of the village to get work elsewhere. the diet consists entirely of rice, plantains and bananas. seriously. an occasional yuca (which is like a potatoe), and some occasional chicken on special occasions. people donīt eat any vegetables or beans: itīs just really not part of the culture and itīs too expensive. no soap anywhere. people bathe in the river, which is mas o menos clean. thatīs where you wash dishes and clothing (using just water as far as i could tell.) the water is not potable, so i had to boil it all, which was a pain in the ass. (so far, no ameobas though. however, big time case of chiggers! i want to tear my skin off. about 30 chigger bites. those are the little bugs that lay an egg in your skin but then the eggs and bug dies because humans arenīt good hosts. but in the mean time, my belt and bra line is covere! d in what look like big mosquito bites with a red dot in the center. and i itch like hell. it goes away on its own in a few days.) so no soap, and people here eat their rice and plantains with their fingers. no utensils to be found. so after a hard day of work in the finca, you dig your hands right into the food...ah yes.

i could go on about the poverty, i donīt know if i want to go further thoiugh. no books, a radio, no food, no toilet paper, no pictures, clothing with more holes than fabric, sickness.

but despite this, people are super happy. they want a lot, as should, but are so communal about everything. no robbery. equal spread of wealth (or lack), but what one person has, you share it with everyone. no one single leader. committees of leaders run via consensus. sincere beauty in the souls. 4 feet women who look all shy until you get them on the square for volleyball and then they smack the hell out of the ball like no oneīs biz.

a very different culture thoiugh. very very shy with outsiders. people donīt leave their village so iīm a super strange novelty. i spoke at a ton of meetings to introduce myself. most people speak butchered spanish, some better than others, but everyone pretty much speaks ngabe, a language which resembles nothing i can think of. i will be fluent in it thoiugh. i am determined. this was really hard. they spoke to me in ngabe, they spoke to each other of course, but i was very excluded. not on purpose for sure, itīs just that i need to quickly learn their language. other things though...as a guest, itīs an honor to eat apart from the family and the group (i struggled with this. i wanted to be with them, but they really wanted me to sit in their one chair over on the other end of the porch. after talking with the familiy, they were shocked when i asked to eat with them because i rejecting the honor of eating apart. i donīt get it.) when we visit peopleīs houses, i again wa! s giventhe honor of sitting in the hammock under the house while everyone else went upstairs to discuss like in ngabe. this was again very upsetting. i donīt want the honor of being alone. but iīve been told by past volunteers in other sites that as i am less novel, i will be treated as an equal more. but that this apart tradition is normal. argh.)

yes. life will be a struggle. i have been told i will have my highest highs and lowest lows, but more highs than lows, and that generally, peace corps volunteers up in bocas with indigenous sites are the happiest of the volunteers. a really tight support network, and although it will take longer to be accepted into the community, once it happens, it pretty tight to the core and there are no pretentions. pure family and amazing community. iīm ready. kinda.

the biggest challenge is the language and culture and dealing with lonliness. i am lucky in that i have a few volunteers who are all between 2-5 hours walking down little muddy paths through the jungle. thatīs pretty close for out here. sweet.

so now íīm back though to my latino familiy and am taking advantage of every second i have with my training group of friends, the resources, and luxuries (like running water, electricity, tomatoes and cucumbers and beans) and a warm family.

thanks for reading through all of this! i know it was long, and the crazy thing is, i could write for another hour and still have more...

i love getting all your emails. again, iīm sorry i donīt always write back. i definitely read them all though and lap up every word. i miss everyone but hope all are taking advantage every beauty in life.

love dana

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