Bienvenido a Panama

Ok, I am starting my Panama journal right NOW. Truth is, I have been too lazy prior, so to keep me from remembering all the wondering things about this trip, I will start writing now!

This is completely personal, but friends feel free to read to know what I'm up to if you're interested!

So Panama...where do I seriously start? I guess I'll start (understandably) with what I'm doing here.

the basics

My two close friends, Monica and Rina, and I are here doing a service-learning project under the direction of Fulbright scholar and UD professor, Suzanne Tierney. I cannot even begin to explain how amazingly inspiring this woman is, so I guess I'll explain through how she's helped us.

Mon, Rina and I all studied abroad in Chile with Suz last winter (which was absolutely INCREDIBLE) and that's how the relationship really formed, even though I had had her in class beforehand. We were with her when she found out she received the Fulbright grant, which is also incredible, to go to Panama for a year to improve the English education system there. We had numerous ideas of joining her and assisting her in her plans during our winter break, and somehow these ideas took actual form with the immense help of Sue Serra, coordinator in the Office of Service-Learning. We each applied for Alumni Enrichment Awards from the Alumni Association at UD, aka grants to help us with our Panama program, and each received them. When we found out this trip was legit happening, we seriously couldn't stop smiling.

So, I haven't gotten to what I'm doing here yet. I'm a slow idea-processor. I like to write the details. We wrote our grant applications thinking that our sole project in Panama would be creating and teaching (with Suz, of course) a free TOEFL-prep course to Panamanian students (the TOEFL=Test of English as a Foreign Language, a standardized exam that many foreigners have to take and succeed on in order to attend certain universities, get certain jobs, etc in America, Canada, the UK...). However, when we arrived here, Suz immediately informed us and we immediately saw that the needs of Panamanian students expand so far beyond our initial goals. Therefore, we expanded our project. Thus, I'm going to provide a more generalized statement of the purpose and goals of our project (because as other opportunities arise, specifics may change):

We are in Panama under the supervision of Suzanne Tierney to improve the education process of Panamanian students, and also to learn ourselves about the culture, language barriers, and all walls in general keeping these students from achieving what should be completely possible for them, and of course...how to break these walls down.

So those are the basics. Obviously, specific projects and such will be talked about as they come up! But I will say this....I know that this trip is going to be so much more work than play, and I am so excited about it. I never realized how many people are looking for help in this world. It never really hit me as much as it is now. I am thrilled to be of assistance in any way that I can, but what kills me is that I know other people would want to help, I know other people could help, but so many people are completely disconnected from those who are struggling. How do we connect them better? Suz told us the other day that we could stay here for a semester and be kept completely busy with service projects...cleaning up schools, teaching english, one-on-one tutoring, trail clean-ups...It's crazy. But when I vacation around the country, I just see the good stuff, the tourist stuff, which I'm not complaining about at all...but it's always refreshing and a bit humbling to see the real stuff underneath. Especially when you're given the opportunity to help it.