Panama Mission 2009 Journal Notes - Ngobe
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Bocas Del Toro and Isla Bastimentos - Ngobe territory July 26 - Sunday We flew out of Panama City early and arrived in Bocas Del Toro before 11am. We had our encounter with Dale and Kim and went over to the Pirate [again--this is what we did last year] for coffee and brunch.
July 27 - Monday We arived at Bahia Honda and looked around. We found the teacher in her 'location house' (where she stays away from her regular house). We (Dale, Andrew, through Jennifer and Lyndsey) got word that she would be very happy with our working on this latrine project, but that we should and speak to the superintendent (government adiministrator) in his village abouut holding a meeting at 9am 7/28 to finalize the agreement.
 
We traveled by panga with the teacher to the administrator's Ngobe village on the Isla Solarte and were held to the dock while someone ran to get him to come and speak to us.
 
He arrived within 5 minutes and was enthusiastic about meeting the next day (7/28) at 9am at Bahia Honda. Phone numbers were exchanged (Dale's and the Admin's) and then we left July 28 - Tuesday, 9am we showed up at "9ish" to meet with the teachers, school administrator, and various parents, and other citizens. Our group from Kapsar's included Dale, Jennifer, Alex, Lyndsey, Daniel, Me, Andrew, and Dave. Interestingly, the basic "parties" (eg; the parents and administrators in one, and the missionaries in the other) lined up as shown in this diagram:  The open outdoor lodge functions as a covered outdoor basketball court, but has a stage (not shown) at the other end from where we all stood. Its dimensions are approximately 25' by 55'. The two "parties" faced generally toward the center of the lodge, but slightly towards each other.
 
It seemed much more "parlimentary" than anything we had seen among the Waunaan. A good question to ask is: How much of this behavior is 'Ngobe' traditional behavior; or is it more customary of Latin-culture parlimentary style? Discussion points included: July 29 After a very hard rain, we came to Bahia Honda again to start the work. No students had come to the school for class, and no men came to help us get started. We went ahead and set up stakes for the work--which we would return tommorow to do. July 30 We men returned, dug 4 post holes and mixed concrete to set up the posts. Tebu went with us along with 1 of the local Ngobes and helped mix concrete and transport it to the holes.
 
After lunch, Dale and I worked to get 1 post 2" back into alignment. July 31 Full crew: 6 or 7 Ngobe men helped us (this was a sunny day) along with 5 of us including Dale who left Dave in charge so he (Dale) could get other matters complete back at the base.
 
Some one of the older Ngobe men had the hammer and chose to do nailing on the other side of the structure, Dave on the one side. Digging seems to be a job for the youngest. Sawing seems to be the job for older but stronger men. 2 of them did this. We cooperated nailing roofs, beams, and digging out soil to level ground. Good Day!
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