Be the Change

The Ask: Soliciting funding for a Youth Leadership Camp this May 24-May 28^th 2013

Peace Corps is an exercise in Patience and Perseverance. We come in with all of these expectations, especially me. Several people have told me that I need to lower my expectations. I need to become less of an optimist and more of a realistic optimist. I feel like I am beginning to understand that, especially with my last project as a Peace Corps volunteer.

I am trying to host a youth camp for 40 kids; I have mentioned this in previous blogs. I never could have imagined though how much work needs to go into this. I have to coordinate with other volunteers to make sure that their youth are still interested. I need to coordinate with Panamanian agencies for lectures and resources. And I need to fundraise both within country and back home to host the camp.

I believe all of this work is worth the effort. These 40 kids will be facing a lot in the next few years. They will be facing challenges that are in many regards cultural issues. Just in the province that I work in, 50 percent of new mothers are ages 17-21.  The poverty rate in panama is 36.8 percent, which means 4 out off every 10 Panamanians are living in poverty. And 54 percent of Panamanian children below 6 years of age are living in poverty. These youth face teenage pregnancy and poverty problems. This camp is Peace Corps Panama’s attempt to modify and empower these youth to become active participants in their futures by establishing goals and values. We want them to be well versed in family planning, sexual health, decision-making, self-esteem, and becoming leaders in their own communities.

I believe in these kids and I really believe that they will learn so much at the camp if they attend.

If you can help I would really appreciate it. I have received so much positive feedback from the US and Panama already that I really feel that we can do this!!

The donation page can be found at www.peacecorps.gov then click on donate to volunteer projects. The project is listed under Panama Peace Corps volunteer Chelsea Mackin’s name and is called “Gender and Development Youth camp.”

The following link works too: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-525-015

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The positive feedback has made me cry several times, I have been so touched by everyone that has been compelled to donate!  But lets keep it coming!!!!

Sonia Esquibel

Crazy Stubborn Peace Corps Volunteer

Panama 2011-2013

I also wanted to include photos of the potential Venue!!!

Final Project in Cocle

I have said it several times before but once again, “Lives of service depend on lives of support. Paul Farmer, director of Partners in Health coined the phrase and as I am nearing the end of my Peace Corps service, I have one last final project that I would like to share with you all. As mentioned in my previous blog, “stubborn as all hell” I wrote several months ago, I am thrilled to write that Peace Corps Panama approved this Gender and Development Youth Camp! Remember what I shared at the Peace Corps volunteers, it takes a village to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I need my village to support this incredible initiative.

The grant will help 40 under-served youth attend a phenomenal conference for 4 days. The camp will be located at Parque Omar Torrijos, a national Panamanian park and wildlife refuge. A thorough description of the camp can be found on the Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov and then navigate to the “donate to volunteer project page.”

The ask: The Peace Corps was created to promote world peace and friendship. We have three goals: (1) To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. (2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served. (3) To help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. These three goals are what my job entails in Peace Corps Panama. But for me, these goals also include capacity building. This camp provides 40 youth with leadership skills, tools, and attitudes to be active leaders in their community. They have an opportunity to meet other youth from places as far as Darien and Los Santos, Herrera and Cocle, Panama Oeste and Panama Este. This is such a rare and unique opportunity for Peace Corps volunteers to choose two youth from our communities that we want to succeed, two youth that we genuinely believe in to attend the camp. These youth will participate in lectures and activities about decision making, establishing goals, self-esteem, and improving self-image. Youth will be educated in reproductive health including STI and HIV/AIDS education. They will interact with 12 Peace Corps facilitators and work closely with one another.

Please, Please, Please help us fund this amazing project. Panama needs leadership and these youth are just the ticket!!! The project should be up on the Peace Corps website on April 1, 2013!!!!

Thanks for your un-yielding support. It takes a village to be a Peace Corps volunteer and I so grateful for my village! 

In solidarity, Sonia  

La Vaina Article, Share Success

La Vaina is PC Panama's magazine. This is an article that I submitted for the January edition.

The Article was entitled, Share Success 

As a start to the New Year we all have a number of resolutions I'm sure. They may be to run off that Peace Corps 15 and cross our fingers that after reading Born to Run we will be encouraged to do so. Perhaps we will try to maintain our personal hygiene. Or pasear to at least 10 houses a week. One resolution that I would love to encourage is to recognize successes and share success stories. I was a little discouraged when I asked a Volunteer what her greatest success had been so far and she said that she didn't feel that she had experienced any success. She had been in country for over a year and didn't consider any of her relationships, personal growth, language skills, environmental assessment, or any of her work successful? Little did she know that she created a foundation for my greatest success story. She struggled with Spanish and with relationships in our community, but her groundwork led to the phenomenal success that I have experienced.

My Successes:

The former Volunteer in my community encouraged and trained two kiosks to recycle. This led to my Environmental Assessment community meeting three months into site and community members asking for a community wide project “para mejorar el manejo de basura en la comunidad", credited to the former Volunteer.

The success of the community’s current waste management project is great. Membrillo now has a Recycling Committee that has hosted 18 recycling days. The committee hosts recycling collection days at the community’s local school every two weeks. Community members are encouraged to bring all of their recycling items which are counted, separated and transported to the local recycling center just south of Penonome. The committee has a contract with Recimetal and pays for the transportation out of the recycling money earned, which earns anywhere between 43 and 104 dollars. Typically, over 10 community volunteers help count and separate the recycling. Classrooms and students are rewarded with small prizes for their participation. The biggest prize this last school year was the option to participate in a science field trip to Panama City for the 40 recycling stars that recycled the most during the school year.

Our "most valuable recycler" last year was five year old, Roderick Chavez who happened to recycle over 5,000 recycling items which included batteries, aluminum cans, tetrapak, newspaper, white plastic bags, and food/milk cans. One class of 12 pre-kindergarteners recycled over 19,000 recycling items last school year. The culmination of all of the recycling committee’s success this last year was the science field trip that the committee held on December 4th, 2012. Forty-one recycling stars, the school principal, a teacher, the Committee President and Vice President and 14 parents attended our first recycling projects "Recycling Super Stars Science Field Trip." We left Coclé for our first museum, the Smithsonian at Punta Culebra. Just crossing over the Puente de Las Americas, I wished everyone could have seen the pure excitement on the students faces. Touching the star fish and sea cucumbers, learning about coral reefs, and watching the students interact with the museum docents was absolutely incredible. After our tour, all 60 of us traveled to the second museum for the day, Explora. The group enjoyed 3 hours at this wonderful discovery museum that teaches about Newton’s laws, how a twister forms, deforestation in Panama, the importance of conservation, and so much more. The students were absolutely captivated by every station we went to. They especially loved the planetarium and the gravitational pull room, which shifts individuals’ centers of gravity. They were so happy and participatory. These students and their parents’ hard work had significantly reduced the amount of waste in the community, they have become well versed in waste management and I hope will continue to participate in the project for years to come. Their level of consciousness has changed and that is one of my greatest successes. They are now aware of the small change they can each individually make to protect our community’s environment, as well as the communities that surround us.

This year, let's encourage success, whether it’s something that is tangible or intangible. Perhaps successfully using the subjunctive or pluscuamperfecto or making a reservation over the phone at Urraca can be a success. Being able to eat anything that is placed in front of you can be a success. Helping a close friend build a compost latrine or successfully growing tomatoes are successes and should be recognized as so. Doctor Paul Farmer, of Partners in Health, believes that, "lives of service depend on lives of support." So let's support one another this year and inspire one another by sharing and supporting each other’s successes and or failures. We have two years; let's make the most of them. 

Stubborn as all hell!

In Peace Corps Panama we are lucky to have a committee known as Gender and Development. They have representatives in every province, a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, coordinator on the west side of the country, and coordinator on the east side of the country. Suffice to say that they are very well organized. They also host a number of Charlas about health, HIV, child development, and youth leadership. They also have a guide book called, "pueblo sano, vida sana," 'Healthy community, healthy life." The book discusses a wide range of topics from domestic violence to prejudice to decision making. GAD also hosts week long seminars for women artisans and young leadership camps. This year, GAD will be hosting two youth leadership camps divided into the East and West sides of the country, one on the EAST and one on the WEST.

This year, 50 lucky kids from Peace Corps communities that were chosen to participate will spend a week learning how to be a leader. Its such a phenomenal opportunity for kids from our communities to leave their home for the very first time and they grow so much from this experience.

I have to break for a story: When I was studying racism and discrimination I participated in one training exercise about privilege that left a really big impact on me. I was on a line with a very diverse group of my friends and we were asked to step forward and step back based on our responses to a long list of questions. Initially, everyone starts on the same line. We were asked about our families educational background, if our parents had graduated from high school, we could take two steps forward. If they had graduated from college, we could take two steps forward. That second question, a number of my friends stayed on the line, while I moved forward. The questions continued and the level of privilege based on where the group had begun and where we finished became more and more obvious. Those in front at the end of some 20 odd questions were those that had been outside of the country, their grandparents had graduated from college, and they had more than 5 family members that had graduated from college. One question that had been related to having a leg up on the privilege scale was having participated in summer camps.

I would love nothing more than for 2 of my students to have a leg up. Yanitza and Dalia are two of my absolute favorite students who will be starting seventh grade in February.

Unfortunately due to funding and an unprecedented amount of applications for GAD camp East, 50 students this year including Dalia and Yanitza will not be attending GAD camp East this year. But as the title to this blog implies, I am stubborn as all hell. And I will be writing another PCPP grant to get the funding for a second GAD camp EAST. Thankfully, the directiva and the GAD coordinators, Laura and Whitney are behind me, guardaring mi espalda.

Lack of funding is a shitty excuse and I don't want to accept it.

This blog is more like a last minute Christmas present. If you haven't found an NGO to donate to yet, just wait! The camp would cost 6 thousand dollars and all 50 kids that wanted to participate will now have the opportunity.

Lets do this! I have to write the grant and get it approved by the office, but please keep your eyes open.

All in a good days work

Yesterday, I think that I had my best Peace Corps work day of my entire service. I have to brag about it. Everything worked out!

So the day was filled with our 17th recycling day at the school, a visit with a group of individuals interested in starting a recycling project in their community and their Peace Corps volunteer Alex Boom who also came with our Supervisor for Peace Corps Panama's Environmental Conservation, Francisco Santa Maria, and a meeting with parents about the field trip next week(!).

I showed up at 6:30 at school to set up the recycling tanks in the center patio, I set out tables, and got the cookies and crystal light ready for our recycling volunteers and for the visitors from Piedras Gordas. Our counting volunteers distributed the notebooks and starting counting, while committee members set up a table with all of the things that we have "re-used" in the community. They displayed their crochet bags, their vases, baskets, mirrors, picture frames, flowers, bags made out of lays chip bags, and "cutarras" traditional sandals made out of newspaper and cardboard. The group of visitors showed up and the principal of the school expressed very nice words about the project.

We hosted the group for about an hour and a half. One of the greatest things was that Sara and Judi, our committee's President and Vice president were responding to the questions. The group asked so many questions about our volunteers, how did they get involved? are they paid? They just do it out of the kindness of their hearts?! Do we have support from ANAM (environmental agency) and MEDCUA (Ministry of Education), yes we do! We also have had support from Peace Corps (Volunteer Advisory committee grants) and the PCPP (incredible support from back home).

While we were hosting and explaining the project, parents continued to count and separate the trash. The group even got their hands a little dirty and helped us separate the recycling. We were able to coordinate days in which Sara, Judy, and I would visit Piedras Gordas for recycling education charlas for the community and a re-utilizing seminar.

Shortly after they left, the pizza arrived for the kindergarden class that had the most amount of recycling for the day and the recycling truck arrived to take the recycling. Everything worked out. It was absolutely incredible. We had volunteers, a group of visitors, wonderful hostess', pizza on time, and a recycling pick-up all on the same day. Thank you universe and karma, son increible.

As Alex was leaving, he told me that its one thing to hear me talk about our recycling project in Membrillo but it is quite another to see it. And he told me to brag about it all I wanted, what we have is amazing.  My supervisor concurs.

Anyone who is interested in seeing it, our 18th recycling day, the last one this school year is on December 10th. Come on down.

Thanksgiving Fun!

I have recently been commenting to friends that I am overdue for a funny blog. So here goes:

1. I have begun making Spanish sounds when I react to things. For example, if I am surprised by something or something drops to the ground my noise of choice these days is "ayyyyyyyy." I no longer say "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." how ridiculous is that. It's the same if I pause when thinking about something, instead of saying "ugh" it's become more of an "ahhh." I have also been forgetting English at a very scary rate, the other day I had to describe white out to marissa because I couldn't remember how to say it in English. Just imagine how embarrassing this will be 7 months from now, or whichever masters program I get into. Ayyyyyyyy. 

2. I have become a  tad frugal. As my friends can attest, I am a yeah- yeah volunteer, which means I act like I am a peace corps volunteer with money. When I am in panama city I love to splurge on aged cheddar cheese, salami, and wheat thins. And then for the last two weeks before our next pay check I enjoy an overdose of Top Ramon. But recently, purchases that should seem like common sense decisions, I have refused to buy. i.e. I was traveling in Bocas del Toro last month and realized the first day in that I had run out of deodorant. But I knew that in my house (10 hours away) I had several deodorants. My next thought was that I could wait until I got home and not have to buy a new deodorant. It was four days, I would just have to take lots of showers. That rationale can only be the influence of a  peace corps budget. I didn't think deodorant would make me infinitely happier, so I opted out of purchasing it. Ayyyyyyyy.

3. I have begun to seriously consider serving one more year in panama. Gulp. I have been offered a response position to recreate my recycling project in multiple schools in Chitre, Panama. I would have a free place to stay and an extra year to serve the united states of amuuuuuurica. Thoughts? I would still be traveling for 2 months next June after I finish my service in my community and then return to panama for one more year. Ayyyyyyyy. 

As always thanks to those who read this. Happy thanksgiving! I am headed to Cerro Punta, Chiriqui to celebrate with 100 peace corps volunteers. 

Grateful list: if theLA Times makes a grateful list every Thanksgiving, i figure i shouldmake one tooObama's win, Gay marriage in 3 more states, proposition in CA that will help out our educational system, fifty shades of grey, the daily show with Jon Stewart, packages from the United States,  great peace corps friends--- special shout out to Matt, Beth, Bri, and Drea, an amazing peace corps community (I love you Membrillo), great family, great family friends, amazing mentors, incredible ,beautiful, and perfect sisters ( I carry your hearts), rock star parents that never fail to provide me with incredible support and love. I am so lucky and grateful.  Happy thanksgiving to all. 

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, gather up! It's thanksgiving time! 
Peace and love, Sonia

Lots of Action Down Here

This past month has been amazing. My PCPP was fully funded by 8 individuals and families in 8 days!!!  I was able to spend a week with my twin sister, I was able to visit the beautiful island of Bocas del Toro with several friends, and I enjoyed election night at the United States' Ambassador's home in Panama City! Que Viva Obama! Ohh and as a bonus,  I also became a godmother!

For those that have since gone to the Peace Corps Contribute page to make a donation, fear not, the project has already been fully funded. On December 4th, I will be taking 48 students, 2 committee members, 2 teachers, and 6 parents on our very first Recycling Super Stars field trip. I have been marking down the days on my calendar. I have been coordinating with the museums and all looks good for the 4th, I have received confirmation emails from the museums. The recycling committee will be hosting our 16th, 17th, and 18th recycling days this month. We will also be hosting a school wide celebration on December 11th.

Spending time with Marissa was amazing. "If I forget to tell you later, I had an amazing time this week." Marissa paid for the two of us to go to Costa Rica and we had such a great time! I hadn't seen her in 10 months. We got a little teary eyed when we met at the airport.  And then we embarked on our "I carry your heart twins Costa Rican Trip 2012. We managed to visit three places, Monte Verde, La Fortuna, and Puerto Viejo. I highly recommend the Lonely Planets, Central America on a Shoe String travel guide.  Monte Verde was beautiful and has a really great canopy tour equipped with a super man zipline and a tarzan swing. La Fortuna was a great place to relax, we stayed at a 5 star hostel and enjoyed massages, hot springs, and a volcano tour.  The Costa Ricans are very nice and their hospitality is incredible. I think its also very advantageous if you speak Spanish, so many people in Costa Rica speak English, but I felt like Spanish really helped navigate.  At one point I had my very own "Only You" moment. For those who haven't seen the movie, Marisa Tomei plays a helpless romantic who believes in destiny. Her character played with a weegie board when she was 12 and found out that the love of her life was "Damon Bradley." The movie unfolds when someone calls to tell her that they are an old friend of her fiance's that can't make it to the wedding but wanted to send his congratulations, he happens to be catching a flight to Italy, and right before he hangs up the phone Marisa Tomei asks his name and he says, "Damon Bradley." She immediately leaves for the airport but by the time she makes it to the plane's gate the plane has already been fully boarded. The flight attendants do not allow her on the plane even though she tells them that "the man she loves is on that plane."  She ends up taking the next flight to Italy and falls in love with Robert Downey Jr. A similar event unfolds at the airport in Italy, although this time when she arrives late to the gate and tells the Italians "the man she loves is on that plane," the Italians stop the plane and run her onto the tarmac and up the stairs and the movie ends with her and Robert Downey Jr. lip to lip on the plane as all the Italians cheer.  My Costa Rican experience included me leaving the ATM machine without my card the day before I was supposed to head back to Panama. I walked around for a couple hours after that, Marissa and I went for lunch, and then we went into this really cute clothing store, and as I went for my credit card I finally realized that I had left it in the  ATM. So I turned pale white and headed straight for the bank. Marissa said it looked like I wasn't breathing for about 10 minutes. Once we got to the bank I talked with several of the security cards who said they had seen a Bank of America card and had turned it into the bank. The bank however was closed and their was nothing that could be done until Monday morning at 9 a.m. This was Friday night. "Shit" I thought to myself. Marissa didn't say anything as if she was letting me work this out in my head. I was starting to think it would be okay for me to stay until Monday, I would just sleep outside and eat  one meal a day (Peace Corps mind at work). Then finally Marissa jolted me back to reality and encouraged me to find the people in charge. 5 minutes later, 2 official bank managers exited the building and I went to talk with them. They listened to my sob story, I just kept saying, "I know this is really stupid. But I really need that card." These guys could have easily said "sorry" and walked away. But they didn't, they called San Jose for authorization to go back into the bank. After 45 minutes of patiently waiting outside, the 2 bank managers took a copy of my passport and handed me back my B of A debit card. Call it Karma, or maybe we can attribute this story to how kind the Costa Ricans are. These managers went out of their way to help. Marissa made her way back to LA the following day and I made my way to Bocas del Toro.

Bocas del Toro, as a friend of mine says,"Is a different country." Backpackers paradise. I met up with several friends for a birthday celebration and also to celebrate halloween. The beaches are a boat or bus ride away. The hostels are full of Israelis, Europeans, Americans, and Random internationals. The food is also incredible, ranging from Sushi to Bagels to Mexican. And each bar hosts Ladies night every evening, where ladies drink for free. Its a party every night of the week. And Happy hour starts at 9 a.m. Gringo Paradise. I had so much fun. I probably had more fun in those 4 days than in my entire service.

Once I got back to Membrillo, my host sister and counterpart had her baby. Her baby was born on November 4th, she weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces. Although she hasn't been baptized yet, I am so excited to be her godmother!!!! She hasn't even been named yet but I love that little girl.

Also, Election night. I spent election night at the Ambassador' Jon Farrar's home with 1,000 other guests. It was very fun. The president of Panama Martenelli walked in and shook my hand! At about 10 p.m. I headed back to the hostel to watch the news with about 15 other volunteers. At 11:30 we heard word that Obama had won. And we all waited until 2 a.m. to hear Obama's speech. "Ain't no power like the power of the people because the power of the people don't stop!" is what I was chanting as we waited for Romney's concession speech. Thank you Ammmmmeeeeerica.

Next on the agenda is training the Environmental Health volunteers about my waste management project next week. And then the field trip!!! Thanks for all the donations again!

That's all for now.
Lots of Love, Sonia Esquibel