Kick it Forward 2008 – Panama
I spent a night in Panama City so I could leave at the crack of dawn the following morning to take a puddle jumper flight to an area of remote Caribbean islands that are semi-autonomously governed by the indigenous Kuna Yala people. There, I was able to spend some fantastic days guided by my personal right-hand man, Orlando. I wouldn’t have been able to travel in this region without my guide, unless I was on a private sailboat. I managed to avoid sunburn, amazingly, because it was 90 degrees out by 8:30 in the morning, and I spent a good part of each day snorkeling, although the first day I wisely waited until 3:30pm to leave my shaded hammock.
I had intended to spend my entire visit on the more or less deserted island of Wailidup, but my hosts thought it improper to deliver an American woman traveling alone to such a location. Resigned to staying in a different village on an island not much larger than a football field, I played with the local kids each day, and we developed an immediate appreciation for each other. I was the *only* foreigner on the island of Wichub Huala where I slept, and a very white one at that (all the European yacht owners who show up at least have a pretty good base tan going by the time they get there!).
Not many times in my life will I be the only white person among 350 indigenous people. Once the kids figured out that I enjoyed playing with them, anywhere I went, they’d come running, shouting, “Katrina!” and we’d go from there. I was engaged in more drawn-in-the-sand tic-tac-toe than I have ever played in my life. When I would try to walk away, there was a throng of little ones, shrieking “pick me! pick me!” pressing up against me like I was Eddie Vedder and they were at the front of the mosh pit. I lost count of how many games I played. I am such a sucker!
I had read that they play volleyball there, and indeed, they have a net on Wichub Huala, so I took two volleyballs with me plus a soccer ball and a pump, to give as a gift from ReallyGive. My guide, Orlando, decided that I should leave two balls with the teacher on Wichub Huala and take the other to his island, called Nalunega. They walked me into the classrooms on each island where I made a small presentation. Lower elementary children don’t yet speak Spanish on these islands; rather, they speak their native tongue, so the teacher who read my letter to each classroom translated it into the native Kuna language. Orlando later told me, “Some day, if God permits you to return to this place, we also need a real baseball bat, and a small baseball bat for the young children, and a lightweight baseball for them to practice with.” I silently wished I had known this in advance; it would have been so easy for me to bring a wiffle ball and plastic bat with me. Meanwhile, I watched the kids play baseball with a sawed off 2×4, which didn’t seem to phase them a bit. Panamanians love their baseball.
I was in a hurry when I left for Panama and only had time to stuff three balls and a pump into my bag. That said, it’s amazing how far a simple gift like three balls and a pump can go–Senora Gladys informed me that they had not had a pump on the island for some time, and she was going to keep it in a safe place to facilitate their future physical education needs. Yet another opportunity for ReallyGive to make a real difference.
–Kat
