| Join El Bochinche
Mailing List |
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Dear PCPF
Member,
El Bochinche starts our second
year as an on-line newsletter!
Our biggest news
continues to be our 2008
Reunion next June in Panama City. We will
celebrate 25 years of service in the 45 years since
Peace Corps entered Panamá.
We've added a new Classified
section. You can sell or give away your surplus
stock of molas or out-grown
Panabrisas.
Enjoy!
- PCPF
Directiva
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| 2008
Reunion |
|
The Peace Corps
office in Panamá and the Peace Corps Panama Friends
alumni group cordially invite you and your family to a
Celebration of Peace Corps Panama's 45th anniversary of
entering Panama and 25 years of service.
Join us in Panamá June 25 - 29, 2008!
We
are developing a website: Panama 2008
Reunion
Check it for the most up-to-date Reunion
information! As we all begin looking for tickets
to Panama for next June, we'll pass along some travel
tips. If you find travel deals, please share them
at: editorelbo@gmail.com.
- COPA Airlines
flys to Miami, Orlando, New York, Washington and Los
Angeles. Check their "Web Offers". For
example, they recently had a two tickets for the price
of one deal.
- www.panamahotel-link.com
WHL
Travel lists hotels in
Panamá.
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| La Vaina |
|
By Jerry
Lutes
 Do you know these people?
· Mean Drunk Becca. · The force
of the Ngabe world
takeover. · Miss Closet Bochinchosa. ·
Our busty blond bombshell. · La panameña gringa
.
Meet them and
the rest of Group 56 here: · La Vaina - October
2007 · Group 56 COS
special issue · Index of La
Vainas
Décima for Despedida in San
Juanito, August 2007
Written & Performed
by Vanessa Kirn
A Panamá llegue hace dos
años
Y no sabía que esperar
De tan hermoso
lugar
Aunque bastante lejos.
Me dieron muchos
consejos
Cuidado en el caminito
Con la lluvia se
pone lisito
Picadura de alacrán
Y otras cosas
habrán
Pero la pasas
bonito.
|
| Panamá News: Toxic
Toothpaste |
|
From El Bo readers Steve Orr
and Justin Mortensen:
How a Kuna saved
the world from China
 "The whole questioning about
Chinese goods began in Panama with our deaths", says Dr.
Jorge Motta, director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute,
in a New York Times article. In a twist on an
old Chinese saying, "A little butterfly in Panama beat
her wings and created a storm in China." See New
York Times: · Article · Video |
|
Planting
Empowerment |
|
By Andrew
ParrucciYou remember
that scene: the sputtering motor, the whiff of
lubricated gasoline, followed by a low, steady whine and
masculine grunts.
Most RPCVs from Panama
identify it as a portent of the destruction of 1000s of
hectares of old growth forest during the five month dry
season. Especially if you're a former
Darienita, you remember the semi-trucks plying their
route to Panama City , laden with enormous virgin timber
logs.
It's tough to see.
But, some Panama RPCVs are doing something about
it.
Planting
Empowerment is
a new enterprise founded by Panama RPCVs Chris Meyer,
Andrew Wulf, and Andrew Parrucci.
Read their innovative
ideas: www.plantingempowerment.com |
|
Alumni
Corner |
|
|
Got
news to share? Email Valerie Whiting:
valeriewhiting[AT]yahoo.com
-
 Sarah Schmidt and
Sarah Berghorst enjoy an evening with
the President of Panama, Martín Torrijos.
President Torrijos was being honored as the
Leader of the Year by Latin Trade for
his accomplishments in Institutionalizing
Economic Growth.
(Click photo for
full-size.)
- Bonnie Birker (1967-69, Los
Santos)
 Bonnie
Birker, Group 14, is back living near her old Peace
Corps site in La Enea de Guarare, Provincia de Los
Santos.
She
has been remodeling her house on the beach at El
Puerto de Guarare for the past 10 months and is now
ready to open up her 4 BR guesthouse on the Pacific
oceanfront.
- Read Bonnie's
Dear
Friends letter
- Visit
her website: www.panamacasadelpuerto.com
- Rachel Chertok
(1999-2002, Buena Vista, Panama
Oeste )
 Rachel Chertok
founded EachOne TeachOne, Inc, a non-profit
organization in 2006. EachOne TeachOne, Inc. inspires,
educates, and supports rural Panamanian children to
become community leaders. www.teachone.org
The
Educational Attainment Project
provides scholarships, academic support and leadership
development seminars for young people who seek to
continue their public school education.
The Community Education
Project supports the broader community. The
CommunityEducationCenter
will host a modest library and computers for
scholarship teams and community members. Summer
preparation is offered to all interested students in
sixth through tenth grade.
Rachel
Chertok, Founder, EachOne TeachOne, Inc.
chertok[AT]teachone.org
(727)
687-0090
-
Janice Jorgensen, Former PC
Panama Director
So
sometimes you wonder what does Janice do when she is
not working at FEMA.
 As a result of my living in
Panama, I have become involved and on the board of
Native Future which is working with the Wounaan
indigenous group in Panama. Here is a fabulous
story about one young man that we are financing
through law school and his life. He was in Santa
Fe with me this summer
Read full story: The Panama
News
And of course if you are interested in
making supporting Leo and his people; please give to
Native Future. I am co-chairing the sustainable
development program.. so please select that. On
line donations can be done at: Native
Future
In
Memoriam
Karen
Peterson Carpenter, group 9, died last
March. She served from 1967 - 1969 in Tigre &
San Ignacio in San Blas and in
Chiriqui.
Vernon
Salvador, Group 13, 1967-1969, died on February
13.
Earl
Whitlatch, group 14, died August 9, 2007.
Earl served from 1967 - 1968 in Panama City. He
was an associate professor in the Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science at
Ohio State University until his retirement in
2002. |
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PCPF-Supported
Projects |
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By Sarah
Schmidt
PCPF, through you,
contributes to all Peace Corps Partnership Panama
projects. Thank you for your continued
support!
Your donations sponsor 30%
(up to $500) of funds needed by Panama volunteers. Here
are some of the projects your money has recently gone
to:
Altos
del Cristo is located between the communities of Santa
Fe and Metiti. This project helps the community with
their inappropriate pit-latrien buildings and others
that do not currently have septic tanks or
latrines.
This
project is designed to address the needs of small,
organic cacao producers in the Bocas del Toro region, of
the Republic of Panamá. The project objective is to
provide technical and on-hand training to 21 cacao
producers in methods of production of cacao, management
within an agroforestry system, and organic fertilizers
through a series of eight seminars conducted by a local
expert Orlando Lozada.
Cerro
Puerco and Cerro Puerco Abajo are located in the Ngabe
indigenous reservation. At the moment in Cerro Puerco
there are 27 families benefitting from the existing
aqueduct system. The aqueduct consistently flows less
than an hour a day due to the poorly constructed spring
capitation boxes located at the source. There are 25
families who have asked for a line to be run to their
house who at the moment are getting their water from
springs and streams which in the dry season become
hardly more than a trickle, which can be as far as 20
minutes away.
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|
Celebrate Independence Day - Nov
28 |
|
By
Jaime Holland
Are you feeling that November nostalgia for
Panama? Do you miss the ENTIRE month of Panamanian
holidays this lovely month holds? Well, PCPF is here to
help.
- Wednesday,
November 28, Washington, DC:
Date: Wednesday,
November 28
Specials: $5
wine, $1 off mixed drinks,
Free Appetizer Buffet
Suggested
Donation: $5
All
donations support PC Panama Partnership
projects.
If you are not in the DC Metro
area, but want to connect with other Panama
RPCVs near you - we can help! Contact Jaime Holland to
get a list of RPCVs in your area. JaimeHolland@gmail.com or call (919)
548-5539.
- Report on September 14 PCPF
Party:
Nearly
30 DC area RPCVs representing more than 40 years of
service to Panama gathered at La Tasca in Chinatown.
They shared great food, tasty beverages and, of course,
the most recent
Bochinche.
If you have any questions or want
more information please contact Jaime Holland at
JaimeHolland[AT]gmail.com
or call (919)
548-5539. |
|
Classifieds |
|
 Jobs
- Part-Time Executive
Director
This is a temporary (1 Year)
position to manage a small grant from DC Government to
the Mt. Pleasant Business
Association.
See
Job
Description
 The Crisis Corps has changed its
name to Peace Corps
Response.The Peace Corps
Response website lists currently available
positions.
This may also be an ideal time
for you to update your application with a new resume,
degrees or certificates earned, or changes to your
availability.
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| Tú
Opinión |
|
Feedback and Articles Ideas for
El Bochinche
 Write an opinion piece or article for El
Bochinche.
- Promote a non-profit you work for or support to
PCPF members.
- Share an update about yourself with Peace Corps
Panama alumni.
- Publish photos on www.panamapcv.net or link to
an on-line photo album.
| |
Thanks for reading El Bochinche.
Send us Tú Opinión.
Sincerely,
Jamie Thornberry & Stephen
Spangler
Peace Corps Panama Friends
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