Panama: Four days, four new experiences, and four new outlooks

Bocas del Toro, Panama

I arrived in Panama this past Sunday, and so far it has been incredible. I’m here with Floating Doctors, a non-profit dedicated to serving Caribbean communities that need medical aid. We reach many of the communities by boat, hence the name “Floating Doctors”.

On Tuesday, we left our main location on Isla Colón (a small island off the coast of Panama) to take a water taxi to another small island called Almirante. From there we took a shuttle to reach the base of the Talamanca mountains.

Here are the four things I’ve experienced these past four days that I’ve never experienced before:

On our way to the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca

1. Hiking for 8 miles. Once we reached the base of the mountain, we began to follow a trail for 8 miles to reach the Indigenous Ngöbe (NO-BAY) community. Our team consisted of 24 volunteers (pre-meds, med students, physicians, nurses, translators, photographers, etc). We were a big group, and we made it in record time: 3.5 hours. The weather and nature were beautiful. We surely reeked and were dripping with sweat by the time we reached the community. My scrub pants (don’t ask why I would wear that on a hike -_-) were covered in mud and dirt, and my hands were dirty from grabbing onto things to keep my balance during the rough, deep muddy parts of the trail. It was very strenuous but gratifying once we reached our destination! 

 2. Sleeping in a hammock. We all slept in a hammock with a mosquito net over us for three nights. I slept very badly the first night because my hammock slipped and my back ended up touching the ground. My back was also cramped; I wasn’t able to lay out flat like I'm used to on a bed. The next night was a bit better once one of the other volunteers came and tightened my hammock for me. The last night was the best night. By then I was a hammock sleeping "pro".

   3. Bathing in the river. I’ve gone swimming in a river, but never bathing. The rules were shorts for men, and shorts and a T-shirt for women (we couldn’t bare our shoulders). Have you ever tried to bathe yourself with clothes on and people all around you? It was really something. The trick was being discrete about washing certain areas without too many people looking in your direction. The water was also freezing cold, so the next trick I had to learn was bathing myself quickly as well as thoroughly.

4. Using a latrine. A latrine is basically a toilet with a huge hole in the ground. Needless to say, it reeks because of the waste buildup in the earth. One of my biggest challenges with the latrine wasn’t the smell, the lack of toilet paper (we had to bring our own), or the lack of running water to wash our hands. It was the location. I’d needed to go to the bathroom many times at night, but I didn’t get out of my hammock because our place of sleep was a little far. It was also pitch dark outside, and even if I had a flashlight to use, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my hammock at 2AM in the mountains to use a latrine. Again, like bathing in the river and sleeping in a hammock, this is something that you grow used to if you have nothing else.

Here are my four new outlooks:

1. You have to be a certain type of person to do this type of international volunteer work. You’re not just working in a general hospital abroad; you are working as part of a team that brings its medical services in various communities. Floating Doctors is, essentially, a moving hospital. We carry our supplies with us wherever we go.

To do this type of volunteering, you have to be adventurous, caring, curious, teachable, patient, free-spirited, motivated, and willing to make mistakes and learn from them. If you also don’t mind taking risks, jumping into strenuous activities like hiking for 8 miles, encountering weird bugs, making yourself more vulnerable to certain sicknesses (that are treatable), or going for several days without a hot shower, plumbing, or a soft bed, then this kind of work is for you. It’s refreshing to encounter other individuals who are so willing to sacrifice comfort in order to give back to others. That is exactly what we did this past week by setting up a clinic for the Ngöbe, who are geographically cut off from any medical aid.

2. It’s important to be proactive, especially in a context such as this: busy, Spanish speaking environment that isn’t highly funded and is happy to use whatever help it is able to get. At certain times throughout my volunteering, I felt as though it wasn’t clear what my responsibilities were. I may have started off one morning on the admin shift (where I checked people into the clinic) but later was sent to Intake (where we took people’s vital signs). Your responsibilities at each station almost entirely depend on your willingness to step up, take charge, and just go for it, even if you’re not 100% sure how to do something. That’s when admitting lack of knowledge about something comes in and you learn from those who are more experienced. However, you would have never learned if you hadn’t decided to jump into the work or offer help.

3. If you do get the chance to experience anything like this, experience it again! These are circumstances that forge you into a more humble, understanding individual.

4. Gratitude (not new, but I needed a fourth thing to fulfill the title of this entry). Living for a few days without a bed, plumbing, or hot shower inevitably makes you grateful for what you have back at home. I am always grateful for my life in the U.S. whenever I travel to developing nations. It’s easy for us to complain about what we don’t have, but it’s important to realize that many, many others who don't have half of what we do have, so we need to be grateful.