Team of 13 Health Volunteers En-Route to Panama

Medical/Dental/VBS Team To Panama

Our team all first met in Atlanta en-route to Panama City.  We had e-mailed and communicated by telephone during the planning phase.  The group hails from Shreveport, Louisiana, Ava Missouri, Venedocia, Ohio, Glen Ellyn and Effingham Illinois and Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  Six members of the group have visited the mission in Cienaguita on prior trips and seven are volunteering for the first time. Today (Saturday) is a day of sightseeing in Panama City and travel to David, Panama, which is near our mission site.  Sunday we will worship with our partner host church in David, get better acquainted and began preparations for our first day of clinic and VBS.  Stay tuned!

We Have Arrived!

Our team of 16 arrived safely in Panama City on Friday evening 2 hours late. We finally checked into our hotel by 1:30 am Saturday. We were all tired but glad to have made it safely. Early on Saturday, Linda, Janet and Jane rose at 5 am to travel to the local airport to fly to David in order to begin the last segment of the health promoter class while the rest of the team traveled by bus.

When we arrived in Cienaguita, the health promoter students were waiting and greeted us with a welcoming song and hugs. We taught the students in a new house that had been constructed by VIM volunteers for the local manager of the community center. It was nice to be in a new building with our old friends from the Ngobe reservation. We began class by asking how the students had used their new health knowledge since our last visit. There were many stories of how they were teaching their neighbors about sanitation, ways to disinfect drinking water in the sunlight and treating wounds using the medical kits they had each been given.

Tomorrow (Monday) the whole team will set up clinic and begin all of the programs; a new children´s program, a health clinic and continue with the health teaching. As we move through the next few days, we will try to update this blog with more news of our adventures.