After serving in the Carribean and South America for the first 5 months, I didn’t want to go to Central America. Even though God had placed a small whisper in my heart years ago about Central America, I hadn’t experienced it yet. South America was all I knew and I loved the people and cultures. South America is generally much less conservative than Central and I wasn’t sure what to expect or experience in this culture change.
Our first county in Central America was Panama. The Panama Canal and the North American gateway to drugs, Panama tends to be thought of as being somewhat dangerous and corrupt. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. What I experienced was completely different. Most of Panama City is extremely western and Americanized, but they also still have many indigenous people groups and many undeveloped areas. From the moment I stepped out into the thick, hot air outside the airport I knew I was going to love Panama. The country is very culturally diverse as well. There are the indigenous, Latinos, Latinos of African decent, and Latinos of Asian decent. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the country so much, because of the diversity. Writing this makes me excited because I love Panama so much!
We primarily worked with the Wounaan indigenous people. They are precious and learning about their culture was fun and challenging. Those who live outside the villages usually live in mud/wood or concrete homes. Those in villages or in the jungle still live in grass huts on stilts. An entire extended family will live together. We lived in two different parts of Panama during the month. The first was about 45mins outside of Panama City and the second was the jungle in the Darien Gap. We were only about 3hrs into the jungle but the farther you go in, the poorer it gets. Many Americans have land and planations to grow plaintains or coffee, in that area. The area we stayed in the Darien was somewhat oppressed. Many of the Latino children are neglected while their parents work or are alcoholics. The children are left to be raised on their own. The ministry we worked with focuses on discipling a small group of children and focus on teaching them Scripture, how to study, to have good manners, table manners, to take care of their bodies, etc. They are doing an amazing work and have a huge influence in the children in their program.
I felt at home and alive in the jungle and even walking the streets of the little town or crossing on the small, sketchy suspension bridge to get to the other side of the river. The muddy paths infront of homes where people would sit in doorways with naked babies running around. Garbage was scattered around and dogs or a family pig would be seen running around the houses. Kids played soccer in a neighborhood park which was a practically a mud pit and a huge mud puddle was near the goal. They played with a flat ball in mud puddles and were completely covered in mud after falling and splashing around. Yet, they loved it. Their joy to just play soccer and run around and be kids reminded me how God takes so much joy in the little things and He loves His children. Panama is a beautiful country which will always be embedded on my heart. I would absolutely love it if the Lord chose to send me back there! God completely surprised me with how much I turned out loving Central America.
