La Vaina     "The toughest revista you'll ever love."

• February 2010

• Archives of La Vaina

•  Featuring: Growing the Peace Corps, by Brian Riley; PTO Insight, by Jennifer Albee; How Integrated Are You? by Your La Vaina Staff; My Religious Experience, by Philip Mahaffey; After I went to all the trouble to get a working oven … by Shirley; y mucho más . . .

El Bochinche Newsletter
The quarterly newsletter of Peace Corps Panama Friends.

  ► See December 2009 issue
  ► See September 2009 issue
  ► See Archive of El Bochinches

A Thank You from the Peace Corps

In honor of Peace Corps Week, the Peace Corps Office of Private Sector Initiatives thanks PCPF for our continued generosity in supporting the Peace Corps Partnership Program.

  ► See Thank You Note

Panamá Verde Association

Youth, Environment and Development… The perfect alliance!

Panamá Verde is a social and environmental youth movement in Panamá and the Central American Region focusing on education, values, and environmental conservation.  Its goals are strengthen group identity and sustainable development projects which in turn improve the quality of life and society.

  ► See Panamá Verde

One Night in Panama City

Time magazine's Travel Global Advisor asks Mariano Rivera (40, pitcher, New York Yankees), Spiros Vamvas (57, architect), and Danilo Perez (44, jazz pianist and composer) what to do with one night in Panama City.

  ► See One Night in Panama City

Gender & Development Conference a Great Success

GAD organized a Taller Juvenil in February 2010.  GAD volunteers worked with youth to talk about self-image and self-esteem and and how they effect their values and decisions. They looked at their future, short and long term, focusing on early pregnancy (are they really ready?) STDs, and HIV/AIDS.

  ► See Gender and Development

I've Still Got that Fire in My Belly!

Bob Arias from Salem, Oregon, is a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Panama on a six month assignment. He works on projects for the United Nations Development Program

  ► See Bob Arias video
  ► Read Peace Corps article 

 2011 Panama Calendars

PCPF will receive the 2011Panama calendars early this fall.  Check back here for details this fall.

The Volunteer Advisory Council in Panama creates a Panama Calendar each year from photos submitted by volunteers. PCPF sells the calendars to support volunteer projects in Panama.

  ► See 2010 Calendar web page

PCPF General Fund

Your donation funds grants to volunteer projects in Panama and PCPF operating expenses. Volunteers count on these grants to provide meaningful and rapid assistance to Panamanians in their communities.

  ► See Donations web page

Bud Keith Scholarship Fund for the Blind

Your donation funds scholarships for blind students in Panama.

PCPF has entered into a partnership with Patronato Luz del Ciego (Light for the Blind Foundation) in Panama City.  The Patronato recommends blind students for stipends that enable them to go to high school or college.

Details at Bud Keith Scholarship Fund for the Blind.

  ► See Donations web page

On Saturday, April 3, PCPF volunteers packed 450 bikes for shipment to Panama.  See photos...

The donated bikes were collected in the Washington, DC area by Bikes for the World and shipped to La Asociación Panameña de Industrias de Buena Voluntad.

   •  See more photos and videos
 

Brian Riley is New Country Director in Panama
Brian Riley served as a Peace Corps Volunteer (Forestry and Natural Resources) in Ecuador from 1985 – 1989.

He served as Peace Corps Country Director in Samoa.

► Read Brian Riley

Aaron Williams is New Peace Corps Director
Aaron S. Williams was sworn in as the eighteenth Director of the Peace Corps on August 24, 2009.

Mr. Williams is the fourth director to have served as a Peace Corps volunteer. He served as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic from 1967 to 1970.

Mr. Williams is fluent in Spanish. He is a graduate of Chicago State University, and has an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Williams met his wife Rosa during his service as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic.

  ► Read Peace Corps news release
  ► View Director Williams' YouTube Greetings to Peace Corps Community

2008 Reunion in Panamá
  45 Years in Panamá -- June 25 - 29, 2008
2008 is Peace Corps' 45th anniversary of entering Panama and 25 years of service.

The Peace Corps office in Panamá and the Peace Corps Panama Friends alumni group hosted a Celebration of Peace Corps Panama in Panamá June 25 - 29, 2008.

Click on photos at right for full-size views.  More stories and photos to follow.

Here are three shared photo sites from the Reunion:

• Pane Pane Nuedi photos of Aligandi by Justin Mortensen
  
• Reunion photos by Steve Spangler
  
• PCPF Picasa website

Super Small Project Assistance
Read the latest news about volunteer Super Small Project Assistance grants supported by Peace Corps Panama Friends through the Volunteer Advisory Council in Panamá.

Peace Corps AIDS Work
Leading the Way to a World Without AIDS
By Tricia Wood

Peace Corps Volunteers educated over 10,000 Panamanians on HIV/AIDS in 2006.
These projects included youth health seminars, health promoter trainings, health fairs, and dominos and volleyball contests to encourage community participation.
                
  • See Tricia's article

Nina is now a cultural anthropologist with a specialty in Panama. See film synopsis at www.customflix.com.

Ngabe Coffee School
Third-year Peace Corps Volunteer Bryan Richardson coordinated the Ngabe Coffee School, a partnership between indigenous coffee producer cooperatives and leading producers of Panama's high-quality specialty coffees.
                
               • See Bryan Richardson story 

Farmer Training Supported by PCPF
 Volunteer Pete Caligiuri thanks PCPF for donation for training of farmers in rice tank and fish tank production.
                
               • See Photos and email from Pete 

Pajaro Jai

She was sailed to the U.S. by a crew including Embera-Wounaan from Panama and Chris Meyer, who just completed his volunteer service in Panama.
    •  See Washington 2006 Visits
    •  See Pajaro Jai

Native Future
Protecting Cultures Conserving Land 
Returned Panama PCV's have founded Native Future, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to work with the Wounaan in Panama to protect rainforest and prevent the cultural extinction of a unique indigenous people.
    •  See www.nativefuture.org for more information
 

Sustainable Harvest International
Florence Reed, PCV in Panamá 1991 – 1993, founded Sustainable Harvest International in 1997 to address the global issues of poverty and deforestation in Central America.