Wrapping Up

On the plane ride home, the students filled out evaluation forms about their experience. Some of their comments speak to the benefits of this kind of experience:

• "Seeing how the people in the comarca lived made me think about how fortunate I am."
• "This trip gave me a more accurate world view as opposed to a first world view."
• "This trip has completely opened my eyes to another culture and the immense problem that is malnutrition."
• "I learned how to speak and hear Spanish 100x better, and [this trip] will help my education because I will do better in Spanish now."
• "I've learned more Spanish and how to change a diaper."
• "I had some eye-opening experiences at Nutre Hogar. It changed my view of the world...I also broadened my knowledge of other cultures."
• "Nutre Hogar is why I went on this trip and it was revolutionary."
• "I learned more about myself and my capabilities. This trip has improved my education vastly as I have improved my speaking and understanding of Spanish in a way school could never do."

July 15th: Last Day at Nutre Hogar

Have you ever given a baby a bath? How about 30 babies? When you work the afternoon shift at Nutre Hogar, you get this slippery, sloshy, unforgettable experience. The bath time ritual stars early- about 5:30, right after dinner is cleaned up: Herd the babies and toddlers out of the play room into the sleeping room. Randomly deposit each one in a crib to await his or her turn at the spigot. Grab a baby, remove dirty play clothes and diaper (watch out! Chances are it's loaded!). Carry wriggly baby to sink. Good luck washing without a wash cloth or detachable shower head or even a cup for rinsing. Dry baby- but leave the towel for the next one- we all share two or three towels here. Carry baby to changing table. Diaper. Root through mountains of clothes of all sizes and for both genders until you find something generally appropriate for baby to wear to bed. Dress the baby. Nuzzle. Carry to a crib. Nuzzle again. Lay him or her down. Breathe.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Literally.

Dinner Time

Since we had the morning off, I took a few students shopping at the market and down the main avenue in Santiago. Soccer jerseys and souvenirs were the main focus of our excursion...I think they wiped out the remaining supply of World Cup jerseys in town!

Worn out from shopping!

Other things for sale at the market- some familiar, and some not.

Chicken for dinner tonight?

Santiago's town square

La Pollera

On Monday, St. Ed's took the morning shift at Nutre Hogar. We all agreed the babies were in a much better mood than when we saw them last Thursday, probably because it is cooler in the morning and they are well-rested. It was fun to recognize the babies we had held and played with last time, and try to re-connect with them. Some have earned nicknames, like "Crabby Car Guy" a toddler who seems to have the corner market on a Little Tykes car and sits in it all morning pointing with his finger in the direction he wants the volunteer to push him.

Crabby Car Guy

We cut our shift early to go down the street to a local public grade school called La Primavera, where the children wanted to put on a show for us. Much like a student in the US might take Irish dancing or other cultural dance lessons, here in Panamá, many children learn to sing and dance the traditional Pollera. It is a matter of great pride for them. I had seen pictures on the wall in my host family's house of their daughter all dressed up in the Pollera costume, and my host mom explained to me that a whole costume takes more than a year to sew, because of all the hand stitching and embellishments. Plus, they cost hundreds of dollars, so it is quite a commitment. The boy's costume is considerably simpler- jeans, leather sandals, a rough canvas shirt and straw hat. Go figure.

In case you are interested in learning more about the history of the Pollera, check out this link:

http://panamaliving.com/polleras.html

After they danced, the students were very eager to practice their emerging English skills with us and pose for pictures with the Gringos.

After lunch, we headed back to Nutre Hogar to make up some of the time we lost by going to see the Pollera. While we were there, we were treated to a real Panamanian downpour. Anyone who has been in the tropics in the rainy season knows how intensely the rain comes down. It was awesome for the babies and us alike.

The day ended with a tertulia, or check-in meeting, at the best coffee shop/bakery in town, interestingly enough named "Cheesecake." It was great for just the St. Ed's group to get together and really talk about our experience so far, compare notes, and air concerns. I am happy to report that ALL of the boys seem very comfortable with their host families, all are in good health (except my poor husband Nathan), all are eating well, and most are even noticing that they are beginning to think and respond in Spanish without even realizing it. 

A plate of brownies and M&M cookies helps you feel at home in Panama.

Santa Fe Rain Forest Hike

Our hike through the rain forest was something straight out of a movie! I don't think any of us knew quite what to expect...but I doubt anyone will ever forget it.
We drove up, up, up the mountain to a picturesque village called Santa Fé, where we made a pit stop to pick up our guide, Edgar, who has been guiding tours through the jungle for 15 years. Edgar was one of those strong, silent types: built like a tank, and didn't say a word. Just pointed to where we should step and commanded respect with his eyes. Cosa seria, as they say. I guess my first clue to the difficulty level of this hike should have been the ropes he was putting in his pack...

The whole group- St. Eds, University School Madison, and Menomonee Falls, right before the hike.

We followed a clean, cold mountain stream for a couple of hours, surrounded on both sides by lush vegetation- vines, bromeliads, ferns, orchids (I think; I'm not a botanist). I was on the constant look out for animals but perhaps 30 people traipsing through the river gave whatever wildlife around enough of a warning to hide or flee, because we didn't see any critters. Except one. And i still wish I hadn't seen it: giant hairy spider. Ugh. But, as you can see from the pics, the boys loved climbing up the slippery boulders, splashing through pools and shimmying under fallen trees.

About half way through the hike, we came to a small waterfall with kind of built in natural rock slide. Although it looked painful watching the boys slide down, they all said it was awesome.

The hike was definitely challenging. Edgar said it was a "medium-hard" trek, due to how slippery everything was. As we reached the last waterfall, it started to rain. Since we were all soaked anyway, it didn't matter. Actually, it was dizzyingly cool to look up at the impossibly high canopy and watch the drops coming down. We had been hiking about two hours at this point, and had reached a thirty foot waterfall with a pool in front of it, and no way around. We played for a while, trying to stand up behind the waterfall, and swimming around the pool,

We climbed out of the river and went practically straight up the jungly side, across a field and finally out to road. About half the group had had enough and walked back to  our little meeting place/restaurant. The other half opted to go back into the jungle for another trek. They all came out safe and sound two hours later! After a yummy lunch of fried chicken and patacones, we headed back down the mountain to Santiago.

July 11 Gira a la comarca Ngobe-Bugle

Some people might wonder, as I have, what good a place like Nutre Hogar can do. If a malnourished infant or child comes to the center to recuperate for six months or a year (or more), but then goes back to the comarca and nothing has changed there, what good does it do? Well, the first part of the answer is that it makes a big difference to that starving baby, who might otherwise die, but the bigger part of the answer we really began to understand today. The recuperation centers (like the one we worked at yesterday here in Santiago) are just one part of the whole work Nutre Hogar does. Scattered throughout the poorest rural indigenous villages are numerous community centers where ongoing outreach and education takes place.
Today we visited one of these community centers (a grueling 3 hour bus ride over beautiful, but very bumpy mountain roads).

The line for medical attention, prescriptions and clothes lasted for hours.

First we loaded up two buses and a pick up truck with medicines and clothes. A Nutre Hogar social worker and doctor came with us, as well as the director and a few other staff members. At the community center, we set up stations to attend to the people who came. First the babies got weighed and measured, then the mothers talked to the social worker and doctor, visited the pharmacy to get whatever medicine they needed, then went to the clothing/shoe distribution area to get clothes. People walked for hours to get there, and the place was packed. All of these people are indigenous Ngobe-Bugle; the community center is within their tribal land. 

The community centers run educational programs for the families on topics like nutrition, literacy, childcare and sewing. The idea is to educate the women while their children are at Nutre Hogar, so that when they return home, they have a better chance at being healthy.

Bobby is helping to measure this little boy.

Some of the students noticed how protective the mothers were of their children, and I had an interesting experience that helped explain why. I was sitting down near the entrance and a mother arrived with several children. Two stayed by her side, and one kind of wandered off behind me. She yelled at him to get back over to her, adding "Ésa te va a robar!" meaning, "That lady is going to steal you!" So there is still some mistrust of the "gringos," which is why we came in conjunction with a well-respected Panamanian organization. People around here know what good work Nutre Hogar does.

July 10

32 screaming babies. 90+ degrees. No air conditioning...If any of you thought from the previous posts that this trip was too much like an all-inclusive luxury vacation, that part came to an end today.
But no matter how rough we think we had it today, nothing compares to how hard these kids have it. All of them come from the indigenous villages in the mountains around Santiago, and all suffer from moderate to severe malnutrition. Some of them have arms and legs so skinny it seemed they could easily snap in half, big distended bellies, scars from where parasites entered and exited their skin...but almost all of them came to life when one of us scooped them up, tossed them a ball, tickled their cheeks. They laughed and babbled and reached out their arms to be picked up (except for the one little girl I saw that could only half way lift up her arms because she is so weak).
At first, some of the boys were a little awkward handling the babies. For some of our guys, this was really their first time dealing with babies. But by the end of the night, everyone was helping in the massive job of bathing, diapering and putting pajamas on 32 babies.
Enjoy some photos of a good, but exhausting, day!

The new love of Bobby's life.

Bryson helping a young driver.

The little guy in the red shirt was my favorite until he had a massive diarrhea attack all over my leg...Fortunately my host house is only a 2 minute walk from Nutre Hogar, so I could go shower and change.

Jake and Gerard  enjoying playtime.

Adam played non-stop with lots of different babies.

 Ibrahim got pretty attached to this little boy.