Taking it one small smile at a time

When I imagined Peace Corps, and what it would be like, the images in my mind fell into two catagories:


The Challenges - including, but not limited to: bugs, language, diarrea, strange food that still has hair on it, bugs, distance from family, crowded buses, hard physical work. All of those imaginings have been true to some extent, fortunately not all at the same moment (although I can imagine a possible senario that involves them all!)














(Caption: April carrying two twelve-foot-long, five-inch-wide, bamboo logs, a mile from the bamboo groove to the shore)

The "Peace Corps" Moments - including: walking along wooded paths in an exotic place while comfortably speaking the native language with a local friend; a spontaneous hug from a local child; being really dirty, tired, and happy after a day of working on a subsistance farm; being greeted with a phrase I taught in English class; watching someone try out a new skill that I taught them. PC moments also include the moments that, while not altogether positive, are moments that you just could have never imagined you would expereince...and never outside PC.

I have found that the reality of Peace Corps is peppered with a mix of these moments, of course. What I didn't realize was just how powerful the "Peace Corps" moments would be....and that I would have to remember to look for and celebrate them. At times these moments are the only indications that we have of success, and they help us to keep on working and planning for the future.

So, I want to share a couple of "Peace Corps Moments" that have helped us to stay energized and focused.

Bread Boy

We did environmental activities two days a week throughout February with the older kids during school vacation. For one day's discussion about the economy of buying larger sizes of common products both from a money and a trash point of view, we baked bread (mini rolls with herbs really), using the time for the dough to rise to do the math on what sizes to buy. That day we had 5 boys and one girl. Well, boys don´t cook in Panama...so when we announced what we were doing to the group, all heads swiveled immediately to her. She had never baked anything either so that wasn´t going to be the saving grace they hoped for.

(Caption: Both teams at the stove, wrangling their ingredients; Julian, Bread Boy, is in the white Tshirt at the far end)

We posted the recipe on the wall and formed two teams. They proceeded to make the dough with some minimal guidance. Well, of the two teams' efforts, one rose nicely (taste tests indicated that the other had way too much salt). They baked nicely and were all consumed (even the hard salty bread rocks).

Making bread was fun, but what has really made this a PC moment was that one of the boys came over later the same day and asked to borrow some of the ingredients to make some at his house. I went over a little later to check on him and he was making bread surrounded by relatives (giving him some grief about his efforts). He did fine. I thought that it was pretty brave of him to try it out at home despite cultural norms and the number of extended family who where around to tease him. He has since baked bread 2 other times, each time bring over a peice to share and get advice from me for next time.
(Captions: Members of one team kneading their ingredients, which included too much salt)

Overheard
One day Kevin and I were walking the shore to a friend´s house (about a 1 1/2 hour walk), stopping and talking with other people along the way. One spot we stopped and talked with a woman and her visiting adult children for 5 minutes and then moved on because of the hot sun. As we walked away we overheard her start to explain to her visiting daughters what was an Estufa Lorena. We had talked to her a couple of times about estufas. Wow, it felt good to hear her start to talk about it with real knowledge to another person (with no help or prompting from us). She wasn't talking to impress us, just to share information that she knew. It felt good to get some solid proof that someone has absorbed some new information and is thinking about it.


Full Moon Moment

I hope that everyone got to see the recent lunar eclipse. Kevin and I almost missed it just from not knowning it was coming (we hadn't been listening to the radio). Fortunately we talked with relatives that night and they alerted us. We ended up spending a couple of hours sitting up with the neighbor boys watching and photographing the eclipse. What made it a real PC moment was getting to explain to them, with fists and flashlights, what was happening. Yes, you can do that in the states too...but the difference is that in the states they could go inside and learn it on TV or the internet. Not only are those not possible in my community, but it is likely that their parents don't know what was really happening...and possible that their teacher doesn't know as well. (It is also easier to sit outside for hours on a February night.)

(Caption: A mostly eclipsed view of the moon from Panamá)

Little books, Big steps
I knew that people in our community would be interested in us, but I didn't realize that that would mean random children showing up at random times to sit and stare at me and not respond to questions I ask. Sometimes they sit and stare for more than an hour. It can kind of drive me crazy. One day I wanted nothing more than to keep reading...not interact with a kid who may or may not respond. So I went into the house and got out a small kids book written in Spanish we had purchased to practice, handed it to her, and then went back to my reading. It worked...she read it and didn´t stare for a while.

(Caption: Now her younger sister is reading the books, and sometimes we get them to read to the younger kids too)

The next day that she came over I did the same thing with another book. Again she read it. I kept giving her one small book a day until she had read them all. Then I gave her a small chapter book...she seem daunted by its size. Next thing I knew she was chuckling to herself over the story. Three days later she had read the whole book.

I am starting to hand the books to other kids now and I am thinking of doing an after-school story hour just to encouage literacy. Pleasure reading is not common in Panama as books are very expensive. I will buy more books while out in town, but only 3-4 of them because of the price. Bookstores and libraries are not very common, there is only one of each in Santiago.


We hope we continue to have these little moments throughout our service; they are definately what we will remember years from now as our true Peace Corps impact.

Babies abound...

First...no Kevin and I are NOT pregnant. Just didn´t want the title of this post to cause any confusion, bochinche (rumors or gossip in Spanish), or false hopes.

We would like to pass along some long overdue "Congratulations!" to our relatives and their newly larger families. To those babies born a while ago...talk to Sofia...she took her time and delayed this post.

Meghan (Kevin´s sister) and Justin Lockman welcomed Samuel Ewing Lockman into the wide world of Baltimore Maryland on October 11th 2007.

(Grandpa Cropper and Sam; Grandparents Cropper, Jus/Sam/Meg, Grandparents Lockman)

Hilary (April´s sister) and Nick Wizbenski welcomed their second child, Karina Autumn Wizbenski on February 11th, 2008. All reports are that big brother Eli is just as thrilled as his Grandma is.

(Hilary and Karina; Hilary, Eli, and Karina)

Most recently, "Congratulations" go out to Marisela and David (Kevin´s cousin) Feige-Parraguez. Their first child, Sofia Marie, was born around 9:30pm on Thursday March 20th, 2008 (on the first day of spring!). She was born by Cesaerian after the induction didn´t work. Both parents and baby are doing fine (at least they were when she was born...they are probably sleep deprived just now:).

(Sofia Marie; David, Sofia, Marisela)

Our thoughts are with our family from afar....and in light of the number of dirty diapers available for changing in the family, afar doesn´t always seem so bad. No really...we do look forward to meeting all the new family members when we come back home. Congrats again to all!

What is a Diva Cup?

Hello,
April here. Ok, I am hoping that all of you will stick with me on this post - even you men. I am writing this post because I firmly feel that it can have positive effects on the amounts of trash each woman produces while also creating positive quality of life impacts. Remember, I am a Community Environmental Conservation (CEC) volunteer in Peace Corps and you are a part of my community - distant, but part of my community.

When we think of menstration (which we would rather not think about I know...but stick with me for a minute)...we think about PMS, cramps, chocolate and wish that it was over already. In a couple of days it is over and we forget about it again for 20 some days. But we never think of how long our week long menstral cycle really impacts our environment.

Did you know:

• In a woman's lifetime, she is likely to use 15,000 sanitary pads or tampons....this is 250-300lbs of trash.
  
• According to the National Women's Health Network, annually more than twelve billion pads and seven million tampons are used once and disposed of. (Yes, there are reusable pads.)


• Plastic parts of pads and tampons (like tampon applicators) may not biodegrade for several hundred years.


• Most of this trash dwells in our trash dumps, but not all. Plastic tampon applicators from sewage outfalls are one of the most common forms of trash on beaches. According to the Center for Marine Conservation, more than 170,000 tampon applicators were collected along U.S. coastal areas between 1998 and 1999.
  

So, I am not using pads or tampons anymore. Nope...no more.

No pads, no tampons....what are you using?

I have switched over to using a menstral cup. It is a soft silicon or natural rubber cup that is inserted into the vagina much like a tampon or diaphram. Menstral cups have been around since the 1930s and are used in many parts of the world...but they are not widely known in the USA. They do exist in the USA; for example, the female scientists of Biosphere 2 chose a menstral cup as their form of feminine hygiene while in their enclosed environment in Arizona in 1992.

I switched over to a menstral cup about a year before coming to Peace Corps. I figured at the time that tampons would be hard to find while in Peace Corps (I was right...they are much harder to find here in Panama.) I liked the idea of something reusable that I didn´t have to worry about running out of.

At the time I didn´t know anyone else who used one (I now know one other woman who uses them and feels as positive as I do). I was out and experimenting on my own without knowing if I was crazy to try this. I had to order it through the mail. Later, our local health food store started to stock them...so getting a second backup one to bring to Peace Corps was easier (thus I don´t have to worry about getting another if I drop one down a laterine). After not knowing anyone who used one I was suprised to feel that the switch to using a menstral cup was the best thing I ever did (menstrally anyway).

Even if the trash was not an important issue to my enviromentalist's heart I would still be using the Diva Cup that I own...I like it better than any other option. Beyond being reusable, I find that menstral cups have many advantages over pads or tampons including:

• Less leaking and fear of leaks
• Less need to change, fiddle with, or deal with menstral issues (cups are emptied typically 1-2 times a day)
• Less need to deal with menstral issues in public bathrooms (because the cup is emptied only 1-2 times a day I have the power to pick when and where I deal with it)
• Less odor
• Comfortable...like a tampon but without the dry feeling.
• Less risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome - there is currently no known link of TSS to menstral cups
• No trash to carry around the bathroom (or woods -important to a hiker)
  or flush (less chance of plumbing problems)
• No menstral supplies in my pocket or purse
• No tampons accidently going through the washer
• No more running out of tampons or wondering if I should carry more with me

For those of you out there who are not swayed by any of the above, here is another thought for you. Money. The average menstral cup should last years with only minimal care. Imagine 5 or more years not going down the pad isle in the supermarket (or having to talk your guy into going down it for you)!

If you spend $4.00 a month on pads/tampons now X 60 months = $240.00

If you just buy (for $35) and use a menstral cup $240.00 - $35.00 = $205.00 Savings!

As far as I can tell, there are two companies making menstral cups for the USA market: The Keeper and Diva Cup. I own one from each company and they are more or less the same (Diva cups are a little easier to find and what I would recommend). I would recommend a silicon cup over a natural rubber one though (looks and smells cleaner).

More information, including FAQs and testimonials, can be found at:

http://www.divacup.com/

http://www.lunapads.com/department.aspx?DeptId=4&

http://www.keeper.com/index.html


If you are thinking of trying one and have specific questions about them you want answered first just ask. I would be happy to answer honestly and completly. I know that menstral cups are not the answer for everyone. Like tampons, they do take a certain amount of comfort with your own body...but I think that the vast majority of us women are capable of that (if we can just stop listening to all the companies that make money by convicing us that menstration is icky).

I know that you might think that I am a bit weird for writing this post, but for me it is the environmental message that will give me the courage to click "publish post". I hope you too will find the courage to talk to your friends about this subject (even if you have to start off by telling them how far off the deep end your friend in Peace Corps has gone as the starter for the conversation). If this gets even one woman to try a menstral cup the embarassment I feel in sharing this will be worth it.


Thanks for reading.
April

Phones in Panama (number change!)

(Just a quick update, but definately read the entire post to know about phones in Panama if you haven't: April got in touch with the guy who had the chip from our phone, and managed to get it back. So, we don't have the physical phone, but we do have the chip, and thus the phone number. It is normally easy to swap chips between phones in the same system, but the new phone we bought ironically glued the chip in. So for the foreseeable future, we'll be using the new number. Once we get another phone for the old chip, we'll post to let you know.)

It is my fault...I lost our cell phone the other day. I think it fell out of my pocket on a bus. Some lucky Panamanian is now using it (or so say the people who have called us) and does not seem tempted by my offer of a reward for its return. Replacing the phone wasn't too bad, just $15. It is the loss of all the info in the phone that really hurts.

So our new number is: 011-507-6639-1352

Yes it has one more digit than numbers in the USA. It is free for us to recieve phone calls, so we welcome calls when we have suficiant battery. We have week to medium phone signal the majority of the time, but we sometimes turn off the phone during the daytime to save battery. The phone is almost always on between 4-9pm (we are one hour behind EST right now because you wierdos have DST). If you want to call, we recommend looking for a prepaid international calling card for a cheeper rate.

While we are talking phones I may as well explain the phone system here...in brief of course. There is a land phone system in urban areas...getting one installed into your house is possible but effort and cost intensive. Pay phone use is more common than home phones in most urban areas and there are only pay phones in the country areas. There are many many country communities that do not have cell coverge and only have a single pay phone for the community (and those pay phones are natorious for dying and not being fixed for a long, long time).

Cell phones are common but not cheep by Panamanian standards. To put the following into proper perspective remember that a day's labor here pays between $5-$10, for the day not the hour. You can get a lower end phone for $15...and the options for more expensive phones include everything that you can buy in the USA. Calling cell phone to cell phone is about $.45 a minute for the person who makes the call. Reciving a call is free. Even calling payphone to cell phone is $.25 a minute so that isn´t cheep too. Text messages are common as are llamada perdidas (hang up calls which is a request for you to call the number that hung up).

Monthly cell phone plans do exist here, but the VAST majority of Panamanian cell phone users use pre-paid cards to "pay as you go" call. The cards differ in the amount of time the money lasts on the card and how much air time you get. For example: a $2 card will get you $2 of time and last only 2 days before the money disappears. A $10 card will last 15 days and is eligable for special deal days that triple or quadruple the value if entered on the right day. A $15 card is always quadrupled no matter when it is entered and lasts 30 days. But few people have the plata (money) to splurge on a big card and take advantage of the savings.

We tend to use roughly one $15 card a month. More at times. Calling the states at $.85 a minute eats calling cards quickly (but a prepaid calling card at a pay phone costs $.05 a minute which is why you tend to hear from us when we are in the noisey city). Thanks to those of you who are willing to call us back at times.

The irony that we never had a cell phone before Peace Corps is not lost on us. Just a warning...there is the possibility that we won't have one after PC either. We are enjoying it now though. Hope to talk to you all soon.