Ngobe Bugle Schools Growth 2002–2003
2003 Two Weeks of Teacher Training
Written by Dr. Randie Gottlieb ©2003
The sweet smell of cedar sawdust fills the air, and the rhythmic back-and-forth of a lone hacksaw harmonizes with an insistent tap-tap-tapping of oversized tropical raindrops announcing an imminent downpour. Suddenly, all clouds burst, and the entire sky becomes a waterfall, its deafening beat thundering off the corrugated tin roof of the Ngabe-Bugle Cultural Center in Soloy. Sra. Maxima is inside preparing yet another meal of rice and lentils, while Victorino Rodriguez is hard at work, along with fifteen other indigenous school teachers. They labor in silence, oblivious to the rain, preparing instructional materials to take back to their schools. One is on government salary; the rest are volunteers, serving full-time as teachers for the native children who live in the remote mountain communities of Chiriqui.
The teachers were attending an intensive two-week training, where they earned three credits towards the fourteen required to become government-certified and receive a salary. Roberto Palacio has been serving as a volunteer for eleven years. His wife, Maria Teresa Bejerano, also a teacher, participated in the workshop as well. All of the teachers have worked long years under harsh conditions and at great personal sacrifice. 
This course represents a significant step towards their goals. The training is sponsored by the Mona Foundation and includes classes in Curriculum Development, Lesson Planning, Teaching Strategies for Active Learning, Basic Health and Hygiene, Methods of Teaching Elementary Math, and the production of hands-on materials.
Most of the teachers are members of the Bahá'í Faith, who have arisen in service to others, without regard to race, religion, gender or economic status, and without thought of personal gain, in accordance with the principles of their faith. They are learning to set instructional goals that meet Ministry of Education requirements, and that are in harmony with Bahá'í teachings as well as local cultural values. They have generated a list of topics which they feel are of high importance to their people:
- moral values and good character
- practical skills for useful work
- sustainable agricultural techniques
- technology in service of social, economic and spiritual development
- combining the best of traditional and modern medicine
- health and hygiene, with an emphasis on childhood illnesses
- development of native handicrafts as a local industry
- preservation of traditional culture, including songs,
dances and games - evaluation of modern culture using spiritual principles as a guide
After setting goals, the teachers practiced writing educational objectives using an integrated thematic approach. They worked in teams to design interesting lessons based on those objectives, and they demonstrate a variety of teaching strategies, including the use of art, music and drama. While the training is in Spanish, some of the more difficult concepts are translated into Ngabere, the local indigenous language, to facilitate understanding. A step-by-step approach with plenty of encouragement and constructive feedback, soon has the teachers eager to test new lessons and materials on each other.
In the math workshop each afternoon, participants took turns using the hacksaw, the drill, and other tools which have been brought by the trainers, and which will remain at the Bahá'í Institute there. The teachers were crafting practical materials to help their students learn to sort, classify, count, understand the decimal system, and perform basic math operations. These items must be produced using hand tools, since there is no electricity in the area. They must also be inexpensive and easy to make using local materials. (It is amazing what can be created with recycled cans, old milk cartons, clothespins and contact paper.) In addition, the materials must be durable enough to survive the bugs, mud, rain and all-consuming humidity of the Panamanian jungle.
For most of the teachers, it was the first time they have used these tools. Spray paint is a novelty, and one person uses the entire can. Even a ruler was foreign to some, and instruction was needed in how to measure, starting from zero instead of one. The teachers were motivated and learned quickly. Hesitation gave way to confidence, and soon, even the women were using the large saw. It is an impressive sight: young Ngabe women in their colorful floor-length naguas (the traditional dress), cutting wood and measuring right angles with a T-square, a pencil tucked behind one ear. During a break, one teacher slips off to a corner to nurse her baby, then returns to cut more wood, making the short numerical rods used in the Montessori system of education.
Despite the long hours of the workshop, the teachers' thirst for learning seemed unquenchable, and they asked for classes on Saturday and in the evenings as well. Even dinner is regularly postponed while the late afternoon session is extended until dark. After dinner, some of the teachers continue their work by candlelight. The night sky in Chiriqui fades to velvet black with a spray of glittering stars. The Milky Way lights a path to the dorms, and a cold shower felt good at the end of the day.
After two intensive weeks, the training course came to an end, and a photo session was scheduled for the last afternoon. The teachers are eager to display their wares, and to pose for individual portraits. It was touching to watch, as each one claimed a table in the dining hall, and neatly set out his or her hand-made creations, carefully arranging and re-arranging every piece until the composition was perfect. One teacher asks for assistance as he had never had such a large number of possessions to organize. Before their photo is snapped, some of the teachers request bandaids to cover blisters from using the saw. The artisans pose with great dignity and obvious pride, ignoring the enthusiastic cheers and good-natured teasing of their colleagues. Many have not had their picture taken before.
That night, a small closing ceremony was planned by the participants. It began with prayers and singing in three languages (Spanish, English and Ngabere). There are eloquent speeches, a demonstration of math materials, an exchange of gifts, laughter and a few tears. Finally, the name of each "graduate" is called, and one-by-one they come to the front to receive their gift - a teacher planning book with a small calculator attached.
"Why didn't you just give us the calculator in the first place?" they joked. "Then we wouldn't have had to struggle through this class!" Their official certificates were being signed by the Ministry of Education, and won't be delivered for several days. But the teachers are not dismayed. They are already making plans for the next course.
top2002 Molejon Women's Handicrafts Support their School
Mona Foundation authorized Dr. Randie Gottlieb to purchase $200.00 worth of items made by the women of Molejon in support of their school. These items were marketed, with all the proceeds going to benefit the school. Some of the beautifully handcrafted items were: purses, jewelry, hats and a child's dress. The women who offered their work were: Ilvia Montezuma, Carmencita Montezuma, Felicia Contrera, Amalia Espinoza, Milvia Arauz, Ester Maria Arauz, Agueda Santo, Cristina Montezuma, Florentina Santo, Margarita Santo, Higimia Palacio, and Dioselina Arauz.
2002 Ngobe Bugle School Teachers Association
During the educators' seminar in Soloy, the teachers met on their own for several hours on the evening of July 22nd. They formed a Ngobe Bugle School Teachers Association and elected their officials as follows:
Coordinator: Victorino Rodriguez (Quebrada Venado)
Secretary: Ismael Atencio (Molejon)
Treasurer: Maria Teresa Bejerano (Soloy)
Speaker: Roberto Palacios (Alto Naranja)
Publicist: Nicano Bejerano (Centro Balsita)
Teacher Identified Needs for the schools:
- Basic school supplies
- Urgent need for one nutritional meal a day for the children
(Presently the children's diet is very poor,
and they come to school without breakfast and hungry) - Clothing and shoes for the children and teachers
- Teachers' subsistence salary of $100.00/month
2002 Youth Arise to Help
the Ngobe-Bugle Teachers
At the end of our 3-week service project in Panama, after observing the desperate needs of the rural school teachers, our group of youth decided to donate our 10 tents to the Ngobe-Bugle teachers, along with 11 pairs of rain boots, a duffle bag, assorted used clothing, rain ponchos, water bottles and some bungee cords to fasten supplies to the pack horses. We hope this will make them a little more comfortable on their treks through the mountains. These are the youth who accompanied Randie on this trip: Badi'Abdu'l-Wahid, Sam deMaintenon, Jonathan Gottlieb, Jordan Gottlieb, Genesta Landram, Safa James Lohrasbi, Rashawn Moses, Ruhiyyih Olsen, Ariel Olson, Jamaleh Reneau, Moira Shaw, Elham Simmons, Nasim Simmons, Laura Stokes, Tiara Urlacher, and Payam Zarehbin. The chaperones were: Mr. David Simmons, Mrs. Jilla Simmons, Dr. Randie Gottlieb and Dr. Steven Gottlieb
Another youth group, led by Nasim and Elham Simmons, has also decided to actively provide these schools with all the school supplies they need. Hurray for our youth!!
2002 Medical Services and Clinic
Dr. Steven Gottlieb served as medical officer for our service group of 20 people (16 youth and 4 chaperones) as well as our guides and program collaborators, as we traveled in Panama for a three-week period. He also attended people in every community we visited, suturing lacerations, splinting a broken foot, removing ticks and splinters, and treating infections, acute febrile illnesses, stomach problems, heat stroke, nausea and vomiting, presumed strep throat, miscellaneous skin and eye problems, sinusitis, and other ills. In addition Dr. Gottlieb conducted a pre-trip medical orientation for the group in Yakima, Washington. He held two, day-long clinics at the Soloy Health Center in Chiriqui, Panama as well as several other clinics in the area. The clinics were open to the public and Dr. Gottlieb was able to treat approximately 25 children and adolescents each day. He purchased and made arrangements for the delivery of medicines for the Boca de Remedios health auxiliary worker, and for Dr. Jimenez at the Soloy Clinic, in follow-up of patients with specific conditions where treatment was otherwise unavailable. He prepared emergency medical kits and trained team members in their use, for each of five groups traveling to the remote mountain schools. The kits included anaphylaxis treatment, as well as antibiotics and medications for asthma, diarrhea and allergies. He also trained each team to use a water filter and purification tablets. Overall, Dr. Gottlieb was able to serve approx. 150 people during the trip.
Some of the particular challenges he encountered included: treating someone with heatstroke and dehydration in a remote mountain area, ten hours from the nearest hospital; treating a 19-year-old woman with congestive heart failure, who had been carried on a stretcher for seven hours down from the mountains by six family members; treating and referring several children with kwashiorkor; mixing and administering oral re-hydration solution improvised from local ingredients, grinding antibiotic tablets to provide appropriate doses for babies and children, and teaching the local people how to do the same; making up and labeling numerous packets of medicine for treating pneumonia, asthma and dehydration, and writing out instructions for their use, all in Spanish; and suturing a leg wound under a carport in fading daylight, using sterile technique, with an audience of family members and friends.
2002 Teacher Training Seminars
Dr. Randie Gottlieb leads a 20-member team to spend an incredible 3 weeks in Panama, most of it in the indigenous area working with the Ngobe-Bugle teachers, their schools and communities.
Dr. Steve Gottlieb was able to provide a short health clinic for the school teachers (most of their problems had to do with sore muscles, blistered feet, injured knees and back pain - from so much walking). They also asked for information on how to treat sick children in their mountain communities, so Steve offered an afternoon workshop on how to diagnose specific problems, with a packet of medications for each teacher and instructions on how to use them. Along with the assistance of several youth from our group, he also treated patients at the Soloy health clinic for 3 days, and provided medical advice (almost constantly - day and night) to people in every community we were able to visit.
Randie gave a two-day workshop for 23 teachers from 8 rural schools on the theme of "Classroom Management and Discipline". The schools represented were: Venado, Molejon, Soloy, Alto Naranja, Centro Balsita, Vista Flor, Boca de Remedio, Sabana de Juso. Our group divided up to take 5 trips to the mountains to visit and encourage some of the schools. There were also several opportunities to consult at length with the teachers and the sponsoring institutions about the needs of the Ngobe schools. David and Elham Simmons also gave a hugely successful one-day drama workshop for the school teachers and the Baha'i Radio staff in Soloy. Our group also gave a 3-hour English class for the teachers one night, while they returned the favor and taught us all a few phrases in Ngabere. It was lots of fun!