Customs and Certificates

campo rodeo

In Panama, after a person passes away, traditionally there is a funeral and then neighbors and family accompany the surviving family members for 9 days afterwards, bringing food and candles and supporting them, keeping them company and helping them deal with the loss of a loved one.  I have made the mistake of not going to this event if I didn't know the person who passed away, thinking that it would be awkward, and I swore that for the rest of my time here I would always attempt to go and visit with the family. 

Sadly, Henry's aunt's spouse recently passed away, rather suddenly, and we went to go pay respects and stay the night.  I had been once before to visit with them and left with a very good impression of him, that he was a good person and they were happy together.  He had worked with a couple of Volunteer's in that community to do a world map at the school, among other things I'm sure, and it was very sad to think of him not being there. 

Now that I understand the culture more and more, I see that it's not awkward because it's not about you. (You might be surprised how self-centered we get living in our little fish bowl.)  It's showing support, just by being there.  You're not the center of attention, and all that is expected is a hug and to listen to stories and help keep the coffee and food going.  We spent the night in the hammock and then walked back to where we could catch the chiva out.

The next day, I was back in another neighboring community to pass out the certificates for the computer classes I gave in the beginning of January.  Unfortunately, the computadora madre, the one the whole system network is attached to, wouldn't boot-up and so we just talked a little and I snapped a pic of everyone.  Hopefully I won't get blamed, but the computer has been having issues and must have a hardware problem, or maybe just too much dirt has gotten in there. They just recently got covers for them, but it was a little late.

20+ hours got them a certificate

The NEXT day, was amazing and I am devoting a whole post to it.  Then I came out for regional meeting, where everyone received a copy of the magazine La Vaina that we worked so hard on a couple of weeks ago, and then we celebrated at the beach.  Which was great until this morning. Enguma'o doesn't even do justice to how awful I felt. Lesson of the day: stay hydrated, ALWAYS stay hydrated.  And don't drink a hodge podge of cocktails, just because you feel like celebrating.