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.