Panamá

Though the Kuna Indians have dealt with modernity better than most indigenous groups in Latin America, maintiaing their language and culture, and even creating a semi-sovereign country for themselves, there are now more than 40,000 Kunas living in Panamá City, facing poverty, discrimination, and the loss of their culture.  Over the last several years, we have been working with a Kuna artist in Panamá City, José Colman, to develop an arts program for children from the slum of Koskuna, north of the city on what used to be the US Air Force base.  Day before yesterday, I got to Panamá to help them make some movies about their lives.

It was amazing to walk through Koskuna yesterday, comparing it to the stories and photos I'd seen from two years ago, when the project started.  The place is poor, as one might expect, but very clean and well cared for; men were even cleaning out the open sewers that the city government refuses to fix.  There are murals all over, mixing graffiti with Kuna art.  (You can see some of the art here)  The leader of the community congress is an excited young man, and as we walked through the neighborhood, he saw issue after issue to fix, to work on, to change.

Rey, the community leader, told me that much of the change had to do with José and the young international volunteers he brought in.  "We see that we can do things to change this place.  We have more hope that we did before."  He probably overstated the case: it's also important that young men now have lots of work in the booming construction industry, that there is now direct transport from Koskuna to the city... but it still makes me proud.

More posts on the project coming up...