5:30 am I wake up and roll out of my hammock. I put some water on the stove to boil for my coffee. Drink some coffee, make some oatmeal, feed my cat and chickens, lock the house, and hit the path out of site. 1 hour 12 minutes later and 1500 vertical ft I make it up to my road. Time to wait for the chiva, a caged in pick up truck, that takes me to town. Today’s a little different tho, when the chiva comes it’s filled with a women’s soccer team. Doesn’t look like your average soccer team, they all have brightly colored dresses on and hair brushed hanging all the way down their backs. Ohh and the mayoress is sitting shot gun, dressed the same as well. When we get to town the rest of the team meets us there, we pile in and head to the field. Half the girls have to be commanded (by the mayoress nonetheless) to take off their naguas and put on some shorts and a t shirt. Not the average pre-game talk.
It was an incredible day. To see these young women break out of their shells and transform into soccer players beneath my eyes was astonishing. Almost, as if they become different people on the soccer field. Now they didn’t have all the talent in the world but you could not fault them for their aggressiveness and drive on the soccer field. I was playing forward with them and was fortunate enough to be playing along side the two most talented players on the field. It was a tournament of four teams. We dominated our first game against another Ngabe team from a different region and we were quickly through to the championship. Now talk about a well competed and intense soccer match. I still can’t believe what a game it was. 1-1, halftime, 2-1, 2-2…. With one minute left in the game my teammate slide tackled the ball into the goal for a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL and the win. We were presented with a trophy and some great memories. Oh and a sore body from the triple teaming haha…I was one of the tallest players on the field, which lead to some good header goals (being tall is fun!)
So you are probably a little curious about the title of this blog. How was this just another day at work? Seems like a day of play? Maybe a vacation day? This actually falls under my peace corps goals and is just as much considered work as building a latrine in my community. The second goal of Peace Corps is the host country (Panama) understanding Americans and the third goal is teaching Americans about Panama. By me showing my confidence playing soccer, in shorts and a t-shirt nonetheless, and that it is okay to express yourself and take leadership as a women, I am sharing my culture with my people. Not only am I demonstrating this to my teammates but also to the fans, especially the men. Now goal three, I am doing that right now. I am teaching ya’ll about Panamanians.
Erin Storck 