Radio Shows

Here are some links to download and listen to the radio shows I've done in Darien!

These shows are obviously in Spanish, so. . .if you don't speak Spanish this might be a little boring.

AIDS on Your Radio (HIV/AIDS Awareness): Dec. 11, 2013
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18OtlFGxYuMbEQtR2s2RHl1M1E/edit?usp=sharing

African American Music in the US (Motown R&B): May 29, 2014
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18OtlFGxYuMZ0F4UlR0QnNoN0E/edit?usp=sharing

Copy and paste the URL to your browser to get to the .mp3 files of the show from Google Docs. Shout outs to the PCVs, PCRV, Peace Corps Office Staff, and Voz sin Fronteras radio station for helping to make these programs happen!

There will be more in the future! Look out for some more public health/music related radio shows!

Aja

All of the Things (a.k.a.: The busiest two weeks ever)

Things that have happened in the past couple of weeks:

-My teachers went on strike

-Shelby came from the States to visit me!

-Going away parties for my friends that got kicked out of the Comarca

-My one year visit with the Peace Corps Office

-My fellow East Siders and I ran a Frisbee Tournament for about 80 kids

Things that are happening today/tomorrow:

-A goat being killed at my house (this makes the third in the span of a year)

-A radio show about Motown R&B

-Regional Meeting in La Palma

It’s been a crazy busy two weeks, and I’m looking forward to some hammock time in the future once things settle back down!

There have been so many things happening in the past couple of weeks, I barely know how to process it all and report back to you blog-readers.

Mostly I just want to give a shout-out to SHELBY LAKE for making the trip all the way to Darien province to visit me and wish him the best of luck when he moves to Japan, soon!

Now the gauntlet has been thrown, so my Dad better make his way out here to visit. (Has his passport come in the mail yet?!)

Having visitors is so exciting. They give you an excuse to do touristy things. (For example, I saw the Miraflores Locks at the Canal for the first time last week—even though I’ve been in this country for a year and the Peace Corps Office is within walking distance.) Having visitors is also a little mind-blowing because the challenge is to see how much of your life you can fit into their visit. It’s taken me over a year to get to know Darien (and Panama as a whole) as much as I do at this point, and I want my visitors to get as much of that understanding as they can while they’re here. But alas, the laws of the universe force me to operate within the constraints of time, space, language barrier, my work schedule, etc.

Having a few family and friends from home read my blog on occasion is great. It’s awesome! I get to share cool things about a country that I’ve come to consider my second home (or third? How many homes does one person have?). At the same time, there’s something about having your family and friends see things here in Darien in real time that makes them understand a little more about what my life is actually like. It makes them care a little more about learning the geography and the culture of Eastern Panama. (Because otherwise, phrases like ‘My Darien bus took the Corredor AND skipped Santa Fe today!’  or ‘Chenchito’s has BROCCOLI!’ mean nothing to you.)

So for this, hats off to Ebony and Shelby for having cared enough to save their pennies and sit for hours in planes, cars and buses in order to learn a little bit about my life here in Peace Corps!

To all of you in the States, don’t think I have forgotten about you! I know it’s a lot easier to skip the country and sleep on someone else’s floor under a mosquito net when you’re young and have no responsibilities to kids or ‘grown-up’ jobs. You guys definitely do a lot to hold me down by reading my blog and talking to me on the Skypes! I love you all!

Finally, I want to give one last side eye to my father, Mr. Anthony Ray Kennedy, to HURRY UP ON THAT PLANE TICKET! My neighbor keeps asking me when my dad is coming to visit, and we’re getting antsy over here. When is that passport coming?! Panama is excited to welcome the biological organism that provided 50% of my genetic material and is therefore responsible for my existence as the world knows me today.

Alright, that’s the end of my rambling. I don’t have time to be typing this right now; I only have 11 months left in Panama! My clock is ticking!

See you guys later.

The Yellow Jackets are in Power

I just thought I should at least MENTION the fact that Panama elected a new president. His name is Juan Carlos Varela. Fun fact: He’s an alumnus of Georgia Tech, how ‘bout that? Woo-hoo, ACC wins again, right?

The Panamanian presidential race was expected to be tight, with the three major competitors consisting of a candidate from the party currently controlling the presidency and two opposition party candidates that were making a strong showing in the polls leading up to the elections on May 4^th.

Varela, the immediate past Panamanian vice-president who broke with the governing party in order to field his own candidacy for the presidency, ended up winning the election.

But really I didn’t want to talk about the politics of the elections. I wanted to talk about actual Election DAY. Because that was a trip.

I’ve never been in a foreign country during their elections, so this was a first for me. Leading up to the elections, I noticed increased security at the Tribunal Electoral next to my house. (The Tribunal is the governing body officially responsible for counting the votes during elections.) Also, a couple of presidential candidates helicoptered out to my site in Darien to make short speeches to the voters. I found this pretty surprising, since Darien is so rural and not that many people live out here compared to in the other provinces.

Anyway, so the day before Election Day, I went to go hang out at one of my fellow teachers’ house. The topic of conversation led to the elections, and he mentioned to me that during elections, the different political parties would no doubt be handing out free food.

Free food? That’s all I need to hear.

I notified a couple of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers of this information, and we made plans that lunch on election day would be on some Panamanian political entity—we’re getting this free food! And thus, I experience the Panamanian democratic process.

I the States, voting is a very private matter. You go to your assigned voting location in your precinct (or receive your ballot in the mail in the case of absentees), you quietly wait in line, then you secretly fill out and submit your ballot. When you finish voting, you leave and go back home/back to work/back to your life as previously scheduled.

This does not hold true for Panamanians on their Election Day.

As my roommate and I approached the school (my town’s polling location), I saw a lot of people milling about, sort of in block-party fashion. We made a bee-line for the first food that we saw being handed out—arroz con pollo and beef—not bad. This food was being handed out by one of the opposition parties, but being that we are gringos and we can’t vote, we didn’t even care who was handing out the food—IT WAS FOOD!

Afterward, we milled about and people watched. It’s amazing how, here in Panama, voters wear their political parties like sports teams. Navarro/Democratic Revolution Party supporters were decked out from head to toe in blue and red, with matching ball caps and vests and everything. Varela/Panmeñista party supporters wore what can best be described as purple softball jerseys with their candidate’s name printed on the back. José Domingo/Democratic Change party supporters had on their José Domingo SWAG, coordinating from their shoes to their hates in the pink and green that you see on José Domingo’s campaign propaganda. It seemed that every vehicle, whether a personal vehicle, public transportation or a commercial vehicle—was sporting a flag supporting one of the major three candidates. Voting this day was not a secret event—people flaunt it as obviously as they can!

After milling about to say hi to some of the people that were hanging out at the polls, my friends and I decided that we were hungry again. Time to have a taste of the gastronomic offerings of another political party! More rice and beef from the Democratic Change party. Pretty delicious if I do say so myself. They also gave us free, cold juices to wash it down.

After playing a short came of HORSE involving our plastic bottles and the garbage cans at the school, we decided to head on home and await the news of which candidate would be Panama’s next political leader. That night around six or seven we found out that Varela won, and thus began the noise in the streets. Varela supporters drove up and down main street honking their horns and screaming in their excitement that Varela had won. I fell asleep that night listening to the sound of spontaneous celebrations in the street.

I was excited that I had the opportunity to really observe the democratic process outside of my home country. It was also a great opportunity to share with Panamanians about how Election Day differs in the United States (voice of Phoebe from The Magic School Bus: In my OLD school. . .)

In other news, shout out to the visitors I will have coming soon! Shelby’s coming later this week and my dad is coming into possession of a passport and has plans to come visit Panama (yay!). My neighbor keeps asking when my dad is coming, so that needs to happen ASAP.

Much love to everyone in the States! Abrazos!