Enough play... back to work!

So, the last two posts were about what first comes to mind about the highlights of my time here, many of which are travels and fun cultural experiences. However, I have been busy! From December through the end of May I was super busy with several projects in which I was working closely with the office. The first was Group 72’s training, and the second was a conference for my group (Group 70). In addition to this, I helped other volunteers with the workshop Elige tu Vida (Choose your Life) for 9^th graders, organizing my own in March. I am also one of three volunteers working on a leadership seminar for English teachers and university students called Leadership Development for Global Education. Lastly, I’ve also gotten more involved with Ultimate Frisbee here in Panama, helping conduct some workshops with groups around the country, as well as hoping to start some projects in Pesé with it. I’ll go through them one by one and give a few more details.

G72 Training - Planning: December - February, Implementation: February-April

I was lucky to be asked by the office staff to help give some feedback on our training and help improve it for the incoming group along with 3 or 4 other PCVs. This turned out to be a much bigger task than most of us anticipated. We completely revamped the technical training (regarding teaching), reorganized the order of the sessions, created some new tools and guides to help them integrate into their communities and schools, and figured out who was going to present which parts of the training. Starting in early December, we held countless meetings, I made multiple trips into the city, and finally the new group arrived in mid-February! It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it. It also made me miss working in an office; the few days we had meetings at the PC Office or I stayed an extra day in the city just to be able to work in the office, I realized that I do enjoy that kind of environment where I can walk down the hall and talk with the person that I need to see, as opposed to being 5 hours away with a spotty internet connection. Overall it was a wonderful experience - I was happy that the office asked me to contribute, I felt like I was doing professional work again, I was enjoying the work that we were doing, and I enjoyed working with other PCVs in this manner.

The hardest thing about this entire process for me was when I went to actually present. Since I've been here, I have done many presentations and have gained a lot of confidence in my presentation abilities. However, through a few unforseeable events, I ended up having to present some material that I wasn't prepared for, as well as co-present some that I did contribute to, but did not really make the presentation. With these contributing factors, I felt very inadequate and like it did not go very well. That was a frustrating way to end the whole process that I, overall, thoroughly enjoyed. However, I think that at the end of training, the PCTs thought that it was a fairly good program (though certainly not perfect) and we felt that we had definitely improved upon my group's training experience, which was the main goal.

ELC (Educational Leadership Conference) - Planning: January-May, Conference: May 24-26

Soon after we started planning for G72 Training, I was asked to help plan and present the new TE PML (Teaching English Project Management and Leadership). PML is a sector-wide conference that usually occurs about a year into service when PCVs have identified a community leader and bring them to this conference to learn about how to manage groups, funds, and projects. While this is a great program, it is not pertinent to the teachers with which us TE work. So a group of about 6 PCVs in groups 67 and 70 met in January to review the feedback from G67 and to create a vision and goals. Through many more meetings, both in-person and online, we adapted the information from the traditional PML that would apply to our teachers (mainly the leadership portions) and decided on topics to help our teachers improve their teaching methedologies. We created the material to be presented and created the workbook/information packet that would be handed out to all of the participants. The first day ended up being leadership-oriented, and presented in Spanish, and the second day was teaching-oriented, and presented in English by PCVs (including myself).

The conference took place at a college in Santiago, Veraguas (The Normal School) the last weekend of May. I was permitted to bring two teachers, since I have so many, so I chose to bring César (my PC appointed counterpart) who teaches 12th grade, and Eliseo who is one of my best teachers at the primary school and teaches 3rd and 4th grade this year, in addition to being a very close friend of mine.

The conference went well, though not without a few hiccups. The housing was not ideal (dirty dorm-style rooms with bathrooms built for teenagers sharing those rooms), and the first few presentations (the material taken from PML) took longer to get through than expected, leading us to cut an entire presentation for the sake of time. But at the end of the conference, everyone felt highly satisfied, and that the attendees had gotten something valuable out of the presentations.


Elige tu Vida - Choose your Life

Elige tu Vida is a workshop geared towards 9th grade students created by a Panama PCV around 2010 to address the frequent lack of life goals, the high drop out rate, and the high rate of teen pregnancies. It has become very popular among volunteers, and I have now coordinated or assisted with 4 different sessions throughout the country. I, like many other PCVs, have come to see how valuable this workshop is since these are very real issues that we deal with in our communities on a daily basis. If this messaging can get through to at least one of those students, we can feel as if we have done our job. Though we will probably never know if it has made an impact or not.

Anyway, I decided last year that I wanted to conduct the workshop at my school. With 144 9th grade students, it's a little bit harder than having the office print a few booklets, so I applied for a grant, received it, coordinated with the principal, the social workers, and the psychologist in my school, printed the booklets, requested condoms for the demonstration and support from the social worker at the Health Center in Pesé, and requested the help of my fellow volunteers as facilitators. At the beginning of March it all played out. I had the books ready to go, volunteers showing up at my house, and the 2 social workers and the psychologist on-hand ready to help.

It went really well overall. There was a speedbump here or there - one girl got a little bit upset at some of the information regarding the risks of teen pregnancies (I'm sure it just hit a little too close to home), so the social worker took her outside and talked to her about it, and the first group that received a couple of extra condoms misused them and the principal asked me not to do that anymore. But other than that, it went smoothly. We conducted one workshop the first day, then two simultaneous ones the following three days in order to cover all 7 groups over the course of 4 days. We ended up receiving a second kit of materials for the 3rd and 4th days, so we didn't have to do the workshop out of order for one of the groups.

Coordinating this, hosting volunteers at my house every night, and presenting for 4-5 hours every day was absolutely exhausting. But there is no way that I could have done it without the help and support of my PCV friends! I was so grateful that they spent their own money to come and help me with this. At the end of the week, I got home and went straight to bed! Napped for a solid few hours before coming-to and being able to be satisfied at the success of the week.

LDGE: Leadership Development for Global Education

LDGE is a seminar created by a PCV who COS-ed in March of this year. Before leaving, she passed on the main work of her service - creating a leadership seminar, in English, for advanced university students and professors - to Chelsea, Miranda, and me. We have taken up her mantle and started implementing these seminars at the University of Panama in Panama City. The core of the program is centered around personal development, knowing your strengths, and putting them into practice in order to reach your potential and create progress in your workplace.

The first session was a 5-week long seminar, with classes twice a week for 2 hours in April and May. The three of us facilitators took turns being there for the two sessions each week. We had a few significant challenges with this first round. Since the course was during normal class hours, many of the students did not see the course through, or missed a significant number of sessions even though they had special permission from the dean. This led to us only having 3 students on a regular basis, when we had originally expected 15-18. On top of this, we also had a few scheduling difficulties towards the end, which threw both the students as well as us facilitators for a loop. Additionally, the students level of English, while good, made it a little bit difficult to delve deep into the complex ideas from the articles. With the combination of these challenges, and the fact that it was our first time going through the entire program, it wasn't quite ideal.

But what's the Peace Corps mantra? Adjust your expectations.

So we did.

And we were blown away.

In July we conducted a one-week long intensive course for professors from the University. They attended from 8am - 1pm for 5 days, with additional homework each night. We had 22 signed up originally, and when the course finally started that Monday, we had 11 show up. But those 11 were there, committed, and engaged every single day of the course. These professors truly are the cream-of-the-crop at the university because they had already given up one week of their vacation to attend an English seminar (coordinated by one of our participants) and were then giving up a second week of their vacation to attend our workshop. Professors who are that dedicated to improving their language and teaching skills in addition to their personal growth are truly the audience that we want to reach.

Throughout the week, we worked through the articles, watched several Ted Talks, and had extensive conversations about the personal growth each could achieve, how this could affect their work and their colleagues, and how they could use this new growth and motivation to inspire change in their workplace. They had some amazing ideas, and I truly saw them grow a lot, even though they are already very experienced professionals. That being said, of course there were a few bumps in the road here and there, but we got them smoothed out as well as we could that week, and are learning from them so we can improve future sessions.

Dimas adding his drawing and strengths to "The Island".

Group/pair work. Notice the tanques de amor/warm fuzzy envelopes on the wall!

Chelsea and Miranda facilitating awesomely, as they did all week!

The whole group - 3 PCV facilitators and 11 amazing participants.

At the end of the week, Chelsea, Miranda and I all agreed that it was one of the best experiences we have had in Peace Corps. Connecting with those motivated, experienced, thoughtful teachers and seeing them grow personally throughout the week was satisfying (that the work we put in paid off), inspiring (in my own personal growth, my work as a PCV, and my plans for the future), and motivating (to continue the program with other participants around Panama).

We're planning for other sessions and to adapt it in different ways to reach different audiences, so I will keep you updated on what becomes of LDGE in the future.

A couple of the best videos and conversation starters we had throughout the week were Brene Brown's The Power of Vulnerability, Margaret Heffernan's Dare to Disagree, and Simon Sinek's How Great Leaders Inspire Action. Watch them! They are very powerful and I think everyone can relate and/or apply it to their lives.


Ultimate! UWB, Teaching Ultimate, Playing Ultimate.

Recently I have also been getting more involved with Ultimate Frisbee down here in Panama. Two volunteers started their service with the knowledge that they wanted to use Ultimate as a youth development tool, and have since gotten plugged in with an RPCV who founded Ultimate Without Borders (website and Facebook page) a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. that promotes youth development through Ultimate Frisbee. The pilot program is here in Panama, and they are doing some work in South Africa as well (where the co-founder is currently working). Their goal is to work through Peace Corps Volunteers and host country nationals to create Ultimate clubs and encourage the values and behaviors that are reinforced by the Spirit of the Game in Ultimate.

In February, I attended the first Training of Coaches for PCVs to start teams in their sites. In the next month or two, I am hoping to finally get a team going (other commitments prevented me from doing so before now). But I have also helped teach a youth group at a near-by town as well as assist with a Spirit of the Game Workshop in the Darien. I've seen, first-hand, how Ultimate can promote personal as well as team growth.

Teaching the rules of Ultimate to Emily's youth group in Menchaca (about an hour from Pesé).

Trying to get a game going - they did decently for being young and many of them never having touched a disc before!

Ultimate Frisbee team in Lajas Blancas, Darien. They've been at it a little while and are really improving!

Spirit circle at the end of the game. Telling your teammates and opposing teammates something that they did well that day. Such a huge part of Ultimate, and such a foreign concept to these kids.

The UWB Panama team is planning a 4 day Ultimate Frisbee and Leadership camp in February of 2014. I have been closely involved in planning for this camp, and I am excited to see how the participants improve their Ultimate skills as well as grow in their personal development and leadership skills. Here is an article written by the UWB Panama Co-director that explains it further.

We are funding the camp through the community's support in conjunction with personal donors. If you are able, please consider donating to this project! Even $5 would help - that would feed one of the youth participants breakfast and lunch! 100% of the funds will go directly to the camp. I am super excited about this camp, and think it is going to be wonderfully impactful for the participants. Please consider helping us make this a reality.

Here is the link for the Peace Corps donation page.

See? I do work some too.... It's not all just travel and pretty sites ;) though that is a pretty good perk...

More to come soon...