Team Panama: Somewhere that's warm (The Belltower LCM Newsletter March 2013)

The first thing I noticed as the 12 of us let the plane and walked into the airport in Panama, before even the beautiful skyline and the smell of coffee, was the humidity. After months of cold, crackly winter weather and ear-biting wind in Chapel Hill, Panama was paradise. It was warm and bright all week long too, save for the occasional showers -- because apparently moisture is inescapable when you've got a rainforest for a next-door neighbor.

But Panama gave us so much more to be thankful for than just climate. Most of our trip was spent in Boquete, a small town in western Panama that gets most of its money from growing coffee and feeding retired westerners. That was where we volunteered, doing what we could to serve the local community, but it was also where los Panameños served us -- far more than we had any reason or right to expect. Despite the cultural disparities and the sometimes problematic language barrier, the people we met in and around Boquete did all they could to help us feel at home and enjoy ourselves. And in a town where every person we chatted with turned out to be the best friend, cousin, or godfather of the last person we climbed a volcano, zip-lined through the jungle, or toured a coffee plantation with, we quickly built a thriving network of friends and acquaintances.

Even when we were most explicitly trying to give of ourselves to the community, I couldn't shake the guilty feeling that I was getting just as much, if not more, in return. We landscaped and did various chores at a shelter for abandoned or abused animals, but most of the time was just spent bonding with animals -- which I can only hope was mutually therapeutic. The supervisor at the recycling plant likely spent more time coming up with new ways for us to sort things than actually doing what she probably needed to get done that day.

I'd like to think that we made an impact in some kids' lives when we visited the local orphanage too, but all I know for sure is that they had a profound impact on me. For the three and a half hours I was there, my fluctuating crew of two to six kids and I mostly just played unending games of kick-the-ball-on-the-roof, hide-and-seek, and cut-out-the-pirate's-heart-and-retrieve-his-gold. But the individual resilience, humor, and compassion I saw in each one of the kids left more of an impression on me than I could ever hope to leave on them in just one morning of carefree play and casual conversation.

I might not be able to feel smug or accomplished about my contributions to the people and culture of Boquete and Panama, but I can be grateful; I can remember the individuals we met and shared our time with, and I can hope they remember us.







http://www.holytrinitychapelhill.org/belltower.pdf

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