My first week in Panama

Wow! I am completely blown away by Civitas Panama, it is truly a well-developed and carefully crafted NGO with strong support from the government and the educational community. I spent the entire first day reading partnership agreements with the Electoral Tribunal, the House of Representatives, and the Ministry of Education. Civic education is seen here as a vital component of a functioning democracy, which is something completely new to me.

Here, the message is not "just vote!", but rather "be part of democracy, learn the values of democracy, become an informed citizen, and THEN vote as a contribution to our democracy"

Is it just me, or are we lacking similar educational programs in schools in the U.S.? It seems as if the only people interested in educating young voters are political parties or interests groups. There is no impartial, nation-wide, and strong government program that teaches youth the values of democracy.

Each day, I continue to be more and more impressed with the organization and it's leadership. When I arrived, my weeks were planned out for me already. This week, I spent time in Panama City and at the office getting to know my way around. When I come back from Costa Rica and my mom's wedding in Orlando, I will begin to travel to the different provinces until the end of the following week. I will train teachers in Project Citizen, as well as how to use the online platform, www.thepeopleunite.com to connect with classes in Florida.

Thankfully, I have not had to rely on taking a bus to Panama, since I have come to realize I am terrible with finding my way around in Panama. The reason is because here, directions are not given by street names (street names are rarely used), but rather by landmarks and building names. I, of course, have no clue about neither of the two, so I would be pitifully lost. Civitas Panama has arranged for me to get picked up everyday from my apartment by an Election Tribunal car, so I don't have to take the bus! I am within walking distance of a mall, so I walk there sometimes if I'm bored. The only bad thing is there was almost no housewares in this apartment (pillows, cleaning supplies, towels, plates, etc.) so I have had to buy all that stuff. Trust me, walking down the sidewalk with a broom and an ironing board is not as much fun as it sounds!

In addition to providing me with transportation, Civitas Panama is doing me a HUGE favor by requesting a list of all the NGO's in Panama from the government for me, and put in a request the afternoon after a morning meeting where I expressed I wanted to somehow find out who the nonprofits were here in Panama for my honors thesis. I didn't even have to ask! They are also giving me some time to interview nonprofits for my thesis after our trainings at each department.

So far, so good! I am really hoping I can do a good job, everything is so well done in this nonprofit that I don't want to let them down. That is my goal for the next few weeks, to make sure I am 150% prepared for everything we do.

View of Panama City from my apartment on the 10th floor

P.S.- I bought two poster-sized maps of Panama that I put up in my room, and I study them every day. I can remember almost all the provinces now! :D So excited!