CULTURE + COMMUNITY DAY

Today we woke up at 6:20 to start our day. The morning started with a great breakfast as we led into our culture and safety seminar. The students split into multiple groups to present each section of the protocol to enact a situation where the instruction applies. It was very funny, lighthearted, and informal.

After the seminar, the students went on a trip to a local artisan with Nori Batista and Johan Batista. During our time with them, the students painted clay cups that they got to keep after, and some very lucky students got to throw their clay on a non-electric wheel made by the artisans. It was interesting to learn how ceramics became so important in their community, and it was also fun to paint cups and see how the artisans make their living.

After departing from the artisans, the students had lunch hosted by Señora Raquel and Elizabeth Moreno, who are part of AMURAM. They hosted us at their home and made us a very delicious homemade Panamanian meal.

After lunch and brief introductions, the students were split into two groups to go visit different families’ houses to participate in different activities. Group 1 visited Señora Sonia. The students made jewelry and learned weaving techniques for traditional tembleques. The heat made it difficult, but in the end we still had fun. Sonia was generous enough to give us fresh mangoes from her patio.

We also held our Líder del Día (Leader of the Day) meeting, where students John and Kendall passed on the role’s responsibilities and expectations to Nhi and Jayleen! Before that, the LDDs had to show off their talents.

The New LDD’s Jaleen and Nhi showed the group their awesome language skills as their talent. Nhi counted to 10 in Vietnamese, and Jaleen counted to 10 in Russian. After passing the torch, the LDDs for tomorrow went over the action plan for tomorrow’s activities.

Today, we learned about the kindness in the communities of Panama and how, despite having less than others, they are still able to lead happy lives and have something they are passionate about and happy to do. We were very excited to interact with the community and we look forward to continue learning about the Panamanian culture.

-Kendall M and John M