New Vision

The Ngäbe people are the most impoverished people in Panama. 90% of people live below the abject poverty line, that means that they do not make enough to provide for their daily caloric needs. The average level of completed education is 3rd grade.  Add to this, the problem of the government built hydroelectric plants which flood entire communities and restrict access to waterways, polluting with strip mining, and other resource extraction. The fraction of a percent of young people that graduate from college rarely come back to the reservation and almost all choose to leave their culture and language. Those very few college-educated who return, are mostly all educated in primary education, nursing, and agriculture. These are the only programs aimed at indigenous peoples, which have the intent of reducing the need for Latino-Panamanians to live away from their families and staff the government schools and health centers inside the reservation. 

 All this means that the future of these people is getting worse and not better. They are becoming increasingly dependent on government and nonprofit handouts every year. Without a major change, they will be forced to leave their culture completely and be absorbed into the Latino community, leaving them physically, culturally, and spiritually impoverished. This a trend that has already begun in the last generation.

In May, as I was thinking about the turmoil caused by the Ngäbe-led blockades and riots of February, I felt God give me a revelation like I have rarely had before. He gave me a key to seeing the Ngäbe reservation lift itself out of poverty, live with dignity, and begin to share its valuable cultural perspective with the world. This key is a new generation of Ngäbe leaders, who love Ngöbö (God), love their culture, filled with integrity, and university educated. 

God began to give me a vision for a self-sustainable program that would facilitate this goal. It would be multifaceted. It would partner with local and national government, the education system, the church, and non-profit organizations. This program would be initiated by a Ngäbe-led committee starting their own NGO (non-governmental organization). This NGO would be committed to seeing this vision through. 

The first aspect would partner with the Panamanian Department of Social Development who give out financial assistance to those who cannot afford the $40 per student for books, supplies, and registration fees for public school. Believe it or not, this is the biggest barrier for Ngäbe families. Almost every family I know struggles with this amount—even though the education of their children is the biggest felt need next to feeding their families. A large problem is that many illiterate parents do not know how to navigate the bureaucratic paperwork to file for the assistance. This NGO would be liaison between the government and the needy families. This would benefit the government because they would have a trusted field-based organization to know which are the neediest families and which are merely taking advantage of the system. If the NGO only had this aspect alone, it would be a highly successful program as this meets an incredible need felt by all. 

The second aspect would be community based throughout the reservation and everywhere else the Ngäbe people live. It would be a type of culturally relevant after-school program where knowledgeable Elders together with culturally sensitive Ngäbe pastors would teach about tradition, Biblical values, and help with homework. This would help keep the children, who are benefiting from the scholarships, in school and be a consistent place for discipleship, and passing cultural values, arts, and language. This would be an inter-denominational partnership of cultural leaders that simply does not exist as of yet. 

The third aspect would partner with the existing Ngäbe leadership, the elected chiefs. The NGO, after building a positive reputation for a number of years (or sooner), will approach the leadership. The NGO will propose a stipulated college-loan program for eligible students from the program. If the leadership donates this money, which will pay for books and registration at the public University, the NGO will provide a Christian home for the student while they study in Panama City. They will study a list of degrees that will empower the Ngäbe people to administrate their land, government, and capital in a way that will lead their people out of poverty (I choose not to share them online, but if you would like to know, just send me an e-mail and I will share that list). This loan has the stipulation that, upon graduation, these students will return and volunteer 2 years to the reservation leadership. This is with the hope that they will land jobs, be elected into office, and become the future leaders of the reservation/province. 

Every Ngäbe leader that I have shared this with so far is beyond excited and wants to be involved in any way he or she can. After God gave me this idea, I began to think, how can we do this? I have no idea how to make this vision a reality. Then God, in His lovingkindness, wanted to bless me. 

This summer, in addition to learning Ngäbere, I have been taking a summer Libary Science class. In this class I have been given the liberty to research the topic of my choice and just like in other courses I have taken, I chose to research issues concerning the Ngäbe. The subject I chose was, "How can States and Indigenous peoples achieve both nationalized formal education and a traditional holistic cultural education without causing the detriment of either.” This is a hot issue around the world and the Ngäbe reservation is no exception.

 As I was searching an international database though my university, I came upon an interesting sounding article. As I opened it up I realized that it was about the Native Alaskans! Then I began to realize that it was about a topic that would really serve to help me in the vision God had given me. Then I read that a new program was started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (my university) to address the same issues in Alaska that I am dealing with here with the Ngäbe. Then I read that the name of the program was Rural Development with a concentration on Indigenous Knowledge! God was showing me that, a full year before, He had directed me to study the very (specific) degree that would help me with the next season of our lives before I even fully understood what the degree was for! Talk about confirmation! 

I know that was a long story, but I haven’t figured out how to say it in fewer words yet. So along with our international involvement with ALDEA, this vision, combining social development with ethno-arts, will allow this unique Indigenous people (and maybe in the future, others as well) to rise above poverty and be able to pass their beautiful culture to the next generation, sending ambassadors out to the nations to proclaim God’s goodness. 

So far, we have a potential committee meeting this month who are working on a name and funding ideas to pay the legal fees to become a nationally recognized NGO.