Coclé, Panama
Briefing Report
Coclé briefing began in Panama City with a late-night pizza dinner on the rooftop of the hotel, which provided beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and the capital’s skyline. The group then drove two hours to the province of Coclé to a verdant and tropical Panamanian Girl Scout Camp – full of butterflies, sloth and streams, where we spent three terrific days carrying out training activities, getting to know each other and meeting Panamanians. We were welcomed by the wife of the Governor of Coclé, who expressed her gratitude for our work on behalf of local and national authorities. All local Ministry of Health staff that work with us in the Health Promotion division in Coclé, with whom we partner to carry out activities in communities, attended a lunch to meet Volunteers and welcome them to the province.
Panama Verde, a local youth environmental group, spent the afternoon with our Volunteers on Saturday leading team-building activities. They taught Volunteers and Project Staff local Panamanian sports and games, songs in indigenous languages and numerous energizers and cheers to use with local youth and children in communities. They also gave a very helpful talk about youth culture in Panama to give Volunteers a sense of the context in which they will be working with local rural youth and finished up with a colorful slide show about biodiversity in Panama. The Volunteers unanimously evaluated these activities as the most fun and inspiring of the entire training. We were also joined by the Panamanian National Emergency Preparedness Agency for a couple of hours to teach Volunteers how to reduce health and safety risks in their communities.
Despite Panama’s incredibly rainy winters (That’s right! It’s winter in Panama!), Panama welcomed the Volunteers with nearly three days of full sunshine. Right before dinner on their third day, there was a fabulous rainstorm that led to lots of playing in the rain. The Volunteers will have many opportunities to do this during their seven weeks here! The Volunteers were wonderfully engaged in the activities and made many friends during the three days that we were together; the Project Staff was very impressed by their passion and commitment to the work that they will do.
They also had their first Panamanian meals, which they absolutely loved. We closed the training with a bonfire ceremony where we heard some local legends that highlighted the importance of persistence in the face of new challenge. We look forward to having the Volunteers attend, along with five youth from their communities, the Youth Festival of Penonome on July 7th, where they will present skits and other activities that they have carried out with youth in their communities during their first weeks in their new homes.
