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Mission trips are typically accomplished in two stages. First, a working group is convened. This group makes contacts with potential partners and decides in what specific ways the mission work will be focused. A mission team is sent following the recommendations of the working team. This field update was recently sent from Chris Ballard of the Panama working group.
 

Dear Family and Friends:

My first report from Panama was to be sent on Saturday, after our arrival, but as I tried to login to my account, my password was not accepted. After being locked out, I discovered that I was using a Spanish keyboard where some of the characters are in different places. Ah, here´s to learning about different cultures in the most personal ways!

Our very early flight departed JFK at 6:30am and arrived before 11:00am Panama time. This meant that we had a half day for a tour of the city. Panama City´s growth is remarkable with numerous skyscrapers going up everywhere. One could be left with the impression that Panama is without poverty, but in fact the enormous growth is an indicator that the rich-poor gap is growing especially in Panama. Our initial meeting with Bishop Murray confirmed our fears when he explained that during Sunday's excursion into the countryside we would see the great disparity between the wealth of the city and the poverty in the countryside. Sunday evening we were dinner guests of Bishop Murray, his family and the Diocesan staff at the Bishop's home.

We divided our group into two groups of three people - one group headed west to visit 5 churches and the other group headed east to visit a church near the Darien province (near the Columbian boarder) and the Kuna tribes who have settlements there. Both groups shared similar experiences at the churches - radical hospitality and extreme faith-in-action. Each congregation joyously welcomed their guests during worship and then after the service with a meal. Even though the language was different, we are all Anglicans and shared the same prayer book. We may not have known what each word meant, but we knew what we were praying together with our Panamanian brothers and sisters. It was spiritually profound and connected us in a way only Christ can do. After worship our hosts served us their very best and placed seated us at a table in the center of their dinning area. Our hosts sat in a circle around us in a sort of hoop. We were completely accepted as part of their communities without reservation or hesitation and we were served the best food they had while our hosts ate different food. We were honored beyond my ability to describe.

After the meal, my group visited two very different tribes: the Kuna and the Ipeti. The Kuna are a patriarchic culture governed by a chief elected by the community. They have strict governance of their people. We were lead down an alley lined with large rectangular dirt-floored huts with palm thatched roofs and walls to the Sacred Building were we met with tribal leaders. The Sacred Building is a large space with two banks of benches each facing the center where 10 hammocks hung. The hammocks were reserved for the tribal authorities and were used during religious and political ceremonies. There the Kuna explained how getting clean water was an issue, but the sustainable farming project initiated by the Diocese of Panama was successful. This project taught them how to grow numerous agricultural produce using organic methods. They grow coffee, plantains, mangos and numerous other fruits that they sell at their roadside stand.

Right across that same road where the Kuna sell their produce are the Ipeti - there could not be a more different culture. The Ipeti are matriarchic and build their huts on stilts and in a circular style. They are space apart allowing for breezes with flow threw them while the Kuna pack their huts tightly together. The Ipeti place everyone in the circle including their guests for whom they had many questions about our experience with agriculture. The Ipeti explained how the Dioceses´ sustainable agriculture project known as Promesa had helped them. Before they knew how to grow things organically, they were sick from the herbicides and pesticides they used to grow their produce.

Peace & Blessings,

Chris Ballard