Discussion about entry: Rainwater Catchment at Indigenous Schools in Western Panama
This is discussion about Rainwater Catchment at Indigenous Schools in Western Panama.
This is discussion about Rainwater Catchment at Indigenous Schools in Western Panama.
Comments
Congratulations on a very innovative and important project! I was curious if the children, and the communities on a whole, will have access to the safe drinking water at all times or is it only accessible when the children are in school? Also, will adults in the communities participate in watershed and reforestation workshops and activities as well as the children?
Best of luck!
Jim
Ashoka's Youth Venture
Hello,
I'm so sorry for taking so long to get back to you, getting email in Central America is not always possible.
Thank you for your message and questions.
During the rainy season, all members of the community will have access to the rainwater. The communities tend to be built around the schools and because of this the latrines that are built at the school are already used by many community members we are pretty sure that they will be receptive to drinking rainwater from these systems as well. The drawback to this project is that during the dry season, the rain water will be far less. However, hopefully within a few years we hope to find funding to build a year round water system for the community at large.
With the reforestation program, we will have workshops for the adults, especially farmers, most importantly the effects slash and burn and farming on the forest.
Although adults will be included in both projects, my hopes are that we mainly focus on the children. This is because I believe that the change in these communities will be gradual and this assures that within 10 years when the children start to have their children, there will be more of a chance that changes happen. Also, many of the children's parents have not attended school, and I find that the children bring new information home to their parents that they learn in school.
Thank you, and I hope to hear more from you!
My best,
Amanda Gabster
This is a fantastic application with potential for tremendous impact, in so many ways. Clean water is the very primary source of improved health, social and economic development. Areas such as this, which are coastal, are particularly important when it comes to protection of water resources. Climate change is effecting everything, as noted by the September disaster you mention.
Do you connect with any traditional healers, midwives? What is healthcare like there? ie how do people access medicines, treatments? Do women give birth at home or in hospital? How do you obtain clean water for drinking in your travels?
What an adventure! I hope you keep a diary, write a book, take lots of pics, dream and keep dreaming! This is an excellent application. I can imagine it as a documentary that would be most interesting to viewers.
Thank you for your comments and kind words. I agree that we must start at the basal problem of lack of clean water before tackeling any other issues.
Health care in this region is intersting. There are traditional healers (Curanderas), spiritual healers (Sukias), and Western Doctors. The Ministry of Health (Western Medicine) tries to link the more traditional mid-wives into their system as well to work with them on birthing methods. However, there is mostly friction between the Western Medicine professionals and the traditional healers and neither are fond of eachother´s work. I am currently applying for other grants in hopes of setting up workshops where traditional healers and western medicine doctors work together to give health education workshops in the Comarca.
My best to you!
Amanda
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