Brigading For A Cause: Global Brigades Panama Day 5

Written by guest blogger Bethany Bowen

I swear the roosters started crowing at 5 AM, but I didn’t care because day five was my 21^st birthday! This was our last day in the community, and we were all ready to stop sleeping under nets, but sad to be leaving our new friends.

The final workshop was that morning and we had a bigger group than the first day for the marketing workshop; I guess word got out that ours was the best. During this workshop, we focused mainly on packaging and labeling. A big obstacle the community faces before they can sell the processed chocolate is finding a mold for the chocolate and figuring out what materials are best for packaging. Right now, the chocolate hardens in 4 oz. balls and is wrapped in foil, which doesn’t make for a very appealing product. With the community members in the group, we came up with a few different packaging options, including using PVC pipes to create a mold, and then a label to put on their chocolate. I was very proud of the group, because they created very good labels and used some of the skills we had taught them the day before when coming up with options.

That afternoon we had our final meetings with the community. We started by announcing how we chose to invest our $1800. Facundo, one of the Spanish-speaking members of our group, read the allotment of money; it was a very emotional moment. Everyone in the community seemed very thankful, and happy with our decision.

During the final meeting there was time allotted for “cultural exchange”. Our group sang our school song, the Aggie War Hymn, for the community, and gave them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don’t think they liked either, but they smiled a lot and thanked us anyway. Then members from the community performed some sort of cultural dance for us, which involved a lot of stomping and clapping; it was mesmerizing. After they finished, the same group sang me happy birthday, and it made me cry. A few of the women that had been in my marketing workshop gave me small bags as a gift for my birthday; it was very touching.

Leaving the community was hard; even though the majority of us couldn’t communicate very well, we had developed a mutual respect for one another. Many of the people asked us to return, and told us that we were always welcome in their homes. I was happy to tell them that another A&M brigade will be returning in August to Rio de Este to follow up and make sure that the business is on the right track.

After we left, we rode to Almarante, and then took a ferry to Isla Colon, where we were staying for the night with one Adrianna’s friends. That night we all had showers, which felt amazing, we went out to a nice dinner, and then went to a local bar. The bar was on a pier, and the water there was the clearest water I have ever seen. In fact you could see a sunken ship right under the pier.

At the end of the day I felt really blessed to be surrounded by friends in such a beautiful place on my birthday, and I felt very good about what we had accomplished in the village. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to celebrate.