What am I doing in Panama?

A lot of people have asked me exactly what I was doing in Panama. The answer to that questions is a bit difficult to explain. Here, every day is different and there is no "typical" day for me in Panama. As with many international service experiences, my job description changed a few times before I finally arrived in Panama. I originally was told I would be working with high school students in classrooms working alongside teachers and teaching "Project Citizen". Project Citizen is a program for youth of many ages in which they identify a problem in their community, research alternative public policy solutions, pick the best solution (while keeping in mind the constitutionality of their decision), and then put their plan in action by influencing the appropriate branch and level of government. It is a powerful exercise in democracy. It allows students to think critically about public policy, citizenship, democracy, and their role in government as citizens of a democratic nation. I love the methodology and the power of this program to shape young people into active, contributing members of society who think critically about public policy and know how to utilize the government for what it was meant to be... a tool for the people!

Once I arrived a few weeks ago, I was told that I was not to work with students directly, but rather mostly with teachers. At first I was sad, because I really enjoy working with youth. I mean, that is what I love about PeaceJam! However I understood why they made that decision. They really want to make the most use of my time here, and by training teachers I can impact many times more classrooms than if I were to go into the classrooms themselves. Over time, I also realized that this is actually MUCH better, because it allows my Project Citizen knowledge to remain with the teachers. They will remain in Panama schools long after I leave, making this project a 1000 times more SUSTAINABLE. And I am all about that :D

The only time I am actually working with youth is when I do presentations to youth in a technical college, where students go after high school and before joining the workforce. Every Monday beginning this Monday, and until I leave, I am conducting seminars on "Citizenship" as part of the student's requirements before they graduate from the technical school. I am really looking forward to that! My entire presentation is around the Citizenship Ladder, which depicts the growth of citizens from "inactive citizen" to "problem solving citizen". I will talk about what it means and how they can go "up the ladder". It has taken a lot of preparation and I am very excited about working with youth here in Panama!

So for now, I am training teachers from elementary to high school in effective methods of teaching Project Citizen, and I am also training them on a new online platform, www.thepeopleunite.com, that connects a classroom in Florida with a classroom in Panama and they support each other through the Project Citizen process. It is really a neat website, that allows classrooms to video chat, comment on each other's uploaded work, upload videos and photos, and many more things. It does exactly what good technology is supposed to do...make the world a smaller place!

Some days I travel to the "interior", which are all the small towns outside of Panama City. Once you leave the city, which I affectionately refer to as the "Miami of Latin America", it becomes a whole different country... much more like the central american towns I am used to and less like the hustle and bustle of a city where millions of dollars flow in and out in an instant. Two weeks ago, I spent the entire week traveling through the interior. It was such a draining experience I got back on Friday and did not do anything all weekend because I had to recover both mentally and physically. That experience will be in my next blog, so stay tuned!

Other times, I leave for the day to the interior for trainings and other activities, leaving before daybreak and arriving late at night. Those days are intense as well. I think I am averaging about 40-60 hours per week at work. It is grueling sometimes, but it is so rewarding especially because all of the teachers are so excited about the program and really care about their students. Not sure if I could do it for longer than a few months though...

And some days, I work from my office, which is located downtown in the Electoral Tribunal. I usually get picked up from my apartment  I spent a few days this week preparing for the seminar I taught on Friday. I translated about 6 different activities from English to Spanish, which was difficult because the wording is so important in those activities I did not want to translate it badly so the meaning would be lost. I will talk more about the seminar in a later post, but I will say that it was almost 8 hours long and I came home and went directly to bed... what a day!

I hope this gives everyone reading this a little insight on what my weeks have been looking like. It has been difficult some days, but I wouldn't trade this beautiful experience for anything :)

A sanctuary for the virgin Mary, this one is from Escual Normal in the interior. Every single school has a sanctuary for the virgin Mary.