From Anne:
In ten years, UUMC and the Wesley Foundation have taken 11 teams to the communities of Jacu, Bongo, and Volcan in Chiriqui Province, some 250+ miles west (yes, west) of the capital of Panama City. Chiriqui is very rural, home of many indigenous people, a relatively poor population overall, but a beautiful part of Panama and very independent-minded, not always considering itself a part of Panama. (I think there may have been times when it considered declaring itself an independent state!)
In Jacu, it took eight years to plan and construct a church—the vision and mission of the community’s matriarch, Nina, who engaged Jan in that vision and commitment in his visit there in 2001. Thanks to the work of many “missioners” over the years (the people in Jacu remember each one of you!) and their Panamanian co-workers, there is a beautiful structure in Jacu that is both a place of ongoing, active worship and a center of community activity in which the locals take pride. It is well-kept and they have added much to what we did there—things such as the altar, sound system, pews, bibles, hymnals, and other furnishings. I feel confident that it will continue to be concrete evidence of the love of God expressed through the work and gifts of UUMC and others, friends and family, to this community that holds a special place in its heart for “Carolina del Norte.”
When we first went to Bongo to work in a clinic run by the Panamanian Ministry of Health (one permanent practical nurse, Mirna and a one-day-a-week physician, Dr. Lilla Jou), we never knew what particular challenge we would find in terms of either health of the people or services and available drugs from the Ministry of Health. For example, one year we learned that there was no iron available for adults and pregnant women. So the next year we arrived well supplied with iron, only to find out that since we were there last, iron was suddenly available, and our supply took years to be exhausted! Or there weren’t enough drugs for hypertension, very common in that community. But as we built relationships with our colleagues there in addition to Mirna and Dr. Lilla—Norma, Rosa, Zorida, Sandra, Pastor Marcos—we also built relationships with patients, many of whom we saw grow from children to young adults—with children of their own! And each year, Dr. Wes would explain daily to the patients on the porch who we were as Christians from North Carolina and that we were there to help them in the name of Christ. Many people from North Carolina, as well as friends and medical professionals from as far away as Seattle, participated in those medical teams. And our work paid off! This year our patient population was much healthier due to our work in previous years and the fact that they now have easier and fuller access to services and medications provided by the Panamanian government. So this year we departed with some sense of satisfaction in what we have accomplished and with hope that the government will continue to provide the necessary services for the people of this community.
When I think of the people we have served and my experiences there over ten years, two words come to mind—gratitude and hospitality. People are grateful for the smallest of gestures. Sometimes it seems that this may be the first time they have received something as a gift. And they are so generous with what they have, regardless of how little. Whether it be fruit or other food or trinkets or their life stories, they share with us and each other. We have always felt welcomed by their hospitality.
This year we had a small but great team. Wes Wallace and Raine Lee, Alan Hinderliter, Jan and I represented UUMC as members. Dawn Culmer, a returning nurse practitioner and nurse Gigi Clark, both ER colleagues of Wes’s, and Mary Hunter Benton, UNC rising sophomore and former UUMC member who served as translator, rounded out the team. We worked hard, but also had lots of laughs and opportunities to bond. I’ve included some photos to give you a little sense of our stay in David, provincial capital and location of our hotel, and work in Bongo. I hope you will enjoy these and think about whether you can be a part of a medical, construction, or other sort of team in the future to get an opportunity to better understand and connect with another culture. It’s very valuable to realize that while not everyone lives like us or has what we do in material wealth, we share much in common and love and peace are built on those.
