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Local volunteers donate supplies, labor to help schools in Panama
By Justin Goble
A group of area volunteers recently returned from a trip to Panama where they helped repair schools and provided medical assistance to locals.
The effort, dubbed Project Panama, is a collaboration between the Sylva and Cullowhee Rotary Clubs; Smoky Mountain High School’s Interact Club; St. David’s Episcopal Church; Western Carolina University’s service learning department; and members of the community. According to organizer Sandy Frazier, the group’s goal is to deliver money and school supplies, along with providing volunteer labor and medical assistance, to areas of the country in need.
Frazier said the volunteer effort started after a couple he knew moved to Panama a few years ago. After hearing about conditions in the country from them, Frazier said local groups made a partnership with the newly formed Rotary Club in Boquette, Panama in 2004. The first volunteer trip to the country took place in 2005, when Frazier and Rotarian Mark Jones delivered 300 pounds of school supplies and $400 to Boquette.
Sylva Rotarian Charles Wolfe, right, helps other Project Panama members put up framing for a kitchen wall at La Escuela el Banca in Boquete, Panama. The team, which included 32 members – 14 students and 18 adults – travelled to Panama last month, delivering more than 1,000 pounds of school supplies, valued at more than $4,000, along with $8,300 in cash to remote areas of the country. Members also provided more than 1,600 hours of labor, repairing classrooms and helping to build a school kitchen.
A year later, 26 team members visited the country, Frazier said. On that trip volunteers delivered 800 pounds of medical and school supplies along with more than $4,500 in donations. Volunteers also performed more than 1,000 hours of labor, helping improve schools and hospitals.
This year’s effort expanded upon the 2006 trip, with 32 team members taking part. That number included 14 students and 18 adults. Eight of that number were medical personnel.
Frazier said the team did as much preparation as possible before heading to Panama. To that end, members met every Monday evening for several weeks, taking Spanish lessons and learning about Panamanian culture, history and political issues.
“We split the team into groups of five, and after each program a group would have to create a dinner around a Panamanian dish,” he said. “We also did a lot of team-building exercises and things like that. All in all, I think we were really well-prepared before we left.”
Time was also spent collecting donations of school supplies and money in the community. Frazier said that more than 1,000 pounds of school supplies, valued at more than $4,000, along with $8,300 was raised for the effort.
After all of that preparation, the group flew into Panama Feb. 29 to begin their 10-day trip. Before getting to work, however, Frazier said the group took some time to tour parts of the country.
“We got to tour the ruins of Old Panama City and see the historical areas and markets the second day of the trip,” Frazier said. “We also got to see the Panama Canal. The third day, after we flew into Boquette, we even got to take a zip-line/canopy tour, which was really neat.”
After the sight-seeing, Frazier said members got down to work. The first major project the group undertook was rebuilding a kitchen at La Escuela el Banca in Boquete. Frazier said kitchens play a big part in the rural schools of Panama.
“There have been statistics showing that attendance increases when they cook the beans and rice for lunch,” Frazier said. “If they don’t cook lunch, the attendance numbers drop. One of the volunteers from the high school was even doing his senior project on food in schools and how it affects attendance.”
Frazier said group members spent most of their two days at the school putting up walls and part of a roof. However, the group did not count on the elements preventing completion of the building.
“We did as much as we could to get the kitchen built in the two days we had working in Boquete,” he said. “Unfortunately, the second day a really hard rain came up on us and we weren’t able to finish the project. A mission group that came in after us got it completed.”
While construction was taking place, the group’s medical team spent time examining local students and their parents.
“For some of them it was their first time ever seeing a doctor,” Frazier said. “The team spent a lot of time giving routine exams. Lice was one of the problems we encountered while we were there, so we ended up giving a lot of kids haircuts too.”
The group also helped make repairs to the Volcancito Mission and School and Tierra Oscutta School. Frazier said these included simple tasks, such as painting classrooms, to larger undertakings like pouring concrete walkways and installing building trusses. More than 1,600 hours of labor was performed during the group’s stay in Panama.
The group’s medical team also examined patients at each stop, with the group making a trip to the state run home for children to provide medical care.
All told, Frazier said the medical team saw 537 patients while in Panama – 336 of which were children.
At each of the group’s stops, Frazier said many team members would often take the time to get to know some of the children and play games like “Duck, Duck, Goose.” While the team’s overall goal was to provide assistance to the schools in need, Frazier said he thought that part of the trip was just as important.
“It allowed them to get to know each other and just have a good time,” he said. “It was great to see the local kids and some of the team members laughing and playing. It just shows that, no matter what the cultural barriers, there’s always a common ground between people.”
Frazier said there are plans for another team to go back sometime in the future, but with this trip recently completed it isn’t certain when that will be. However, he said the generosity of the people in Jackson County is sure to make that trip as successful as those in the past.
“I’m not really that surprised by how much this has grown,” he said. “The people in this community are some of the most generous I have ever met. They don’t hesitate to give to people who are less fortunate. That’s something I’ve definitely seen throughout our work with Project Panama.”
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