Nearly 39 years ago, I arrived in Guarare, Panama, as a newly minted Peace Corps Volunteer to work in credit union development. Panama was one of the Latin American countries that was included in the Alliance for Progress initiative started under President Kennedy. Much time, effort, and money, were pumped into credit union development in Panama. We trained for 13 weeks in language, cultural adaptation, and cooperative development in Puerto Rico before going into country.
I was assigned to the Western part of Panama on the Pacific Coast. It's called the Azuero - the area of Panama that has the typical tiled roof adobe houses and much Spanish influence left over. The main towns were Las Tablas and Guarare. It's also the driest part of Panama. How fortunate I was to have been adopted by a local family (the family Diaz) who took care of me and made sure my transition into the Panamanian culture was as easy as possible. I still remember their daughter teaching me how to dance in preparation for the big 5-day Fiesta de la Mejorana (a 4 or 5-string guitar) in September. I finally got the hang of dancing the PINDIN or musica foklorica.
I had a local counterpart, Pipo. We traveled around 4 provinces in a jeep with a tin cabin to service 14 credit unions. We provided training for management and staff in accounting and loan operations. I don't know how much I contributed, but it was fascinating work for a 22-year old fresh out of UC Berkeley.
In June 2008, I'm heading to Panama for a 45-yr celebration of Peace Corps in Panama. We're expecting a big group of ex-PCVs for a week of catching up, eating, singing, dancing, and hanging out. I get to return to my village, Bella Vista de Guarare, for a 3-day visit before the reunion in Panama City starts. I'm again in contact with my adopted family - everyone is still alive and kicking. Ezequiel, the father, is now 86 years old, his wife Paula is 76, and their 3 children are all around my age. They are planning a big fiesta for me and I received a call from Panama this morning from Marta, their oldest daughter, who will meet me at the airport in Panama City and make the 5-hour drive back to the village.
I'm staying in a bed and breakfast on the water in the next village called La Enea. An ex-Peace Corps Volunteer just retired there and opened a B&B. Haven't seen Bonnie in over 38 years. There will be other ex-PCVs staying there.
I'm dying to see what happened to the 14 credit unions we worked with. Are they still operating, did they merge, did they go out of business? Truly, in my life time, I'm so blessed and fortunate to have this second opportunity and to be still held in high esteem by the Diaz family. They adopted me for life.
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