Diagramming Affinities (Wednesday)

All week long, I have been meeting with my students as they have done (semi) in-depth interviews (IDIs) of between 30 and 60 minutes to accompany the short (10 minute) interviews they did when I was away.  We met with people and spent time with them as they showed us how they use the web, especially to find information about education.

Today, we analyzed what we found from these interviews plus a comparative web site analysis that they also did.  Those of you in my profession will recognize an Affinity Diagram, but for those of you who are not, here's what we did:

• We wrote each observation on a different post-it note
• Then we went into the hallway and started with a "seed" - one of my notes.
• We compared a second note to this one and put it either close or far away depending on how similar or dissimilar it seemed to be
• We contented the process until we had posted all of our notes 
• Then we looked at each group or clump and further organized that into sub-clumps if it seemed that there were such sub-groupings
• We labeled each and then we "walked the wall" to move things as necessary

This is what it looked like when we were done:

Close up of one clump:
The needs of high school ("secondaria") students

We generated quite a lot of interest as we worked.  People came by, asking what we were doing, talking about how they could see doing something similar themselves and generally showing interest. 

It was only partly because we were using colored post-its (though everyone has been coveting these!)  

It represents a very different way of thinking about organizing information, a much more flexible and visual (not to mention physical) way to play around with different groupings and to try on different ways of organizing content.

(And just wait!  We have an even better - and certainly more colorful - Affinity Diagram coming - stay tuned)

Ballots and votes (Tuesday and Wednesday)

The administrative staff (above) and the faculty (below) voted for representatives to the administrative and academic councils.  There were poll watchers and everything!

But I have no idea who won.  Perhaps they do?

Proof! (Monday)

At last!  I'm an official "Docente" (teacher)  My badge actually came on Friday but I picked it up on Monday.  And now, I have proof that I am a Panamanian resident (so I can get the "descuento por jubilados" - a discount on food and travel for pensioners).  

Coffee, Costa Rica, and Rolling Home (Saturday)

Once again, we got up early, though not quite as early.  I headed to the showers first of all, and there were the Ngobe women getting ready for their days.  I returned to the room and packed everything up - not difficult since I never really unpacked.  The guys took all of our luggage out to the bus before breakfast and we trooped to breakfast.

Then we climbed in the bus and went on our way.  Onto the Pan American highway and into David's outskirts where we picked up Anna who was to guide us today and several professors from UTP-Chiriqui in David.  Then we climbed up into the mountains again.  This time, Elba had an antiemetic from Anna which really helped her endure the climb.  Winding and laboring up, then quickly heading down just to turn and climb again.  Once again, no AC - except in the rainy bits.

We arrived in Rio Sereno in sunshine.  I recognized the main street - the shops, the people, the traffic.  It felt really good to be returning somewhere that I knew.  We turned up to the border patrol and the official border crossing.  There, we immediately all queued up for the one toilet in the border patrol!  How funny!

While they were waiting, several of the lads posed with one of the Border police.

We walked up the muddy road to a station similar to the one we went to yesterday, except that this one was on the Costa Rican side of the border.  It was still under construction.  There, Anna explained what they were doing there.

Then we trooped back down to the border crossing, where we posed as a group.  Those photos are supposedly in a shared Dropbox folder and I'll add one once I have it.  But for the moment, these will have to suffice.

From there, we walked down and into Rio Sereno itself.  Some of the kids picked up snacks at one of the many M/S stores.

(It was the best photo of the parrot, not
of the woman, however)

Then we climbed back in the bus for our final descent.

Down we went, not stopping at the coffee fields as we had hoped because by now it was late, and the rain had started in earnest, no longer a gentle drizzle but rather an energetic downpour.

We reached David and dropped off our local colleagues, and then hurried back to get as far as we could before nightfall.  Unfortunately we didn't make it as far as we would have liked.  We bumped and slewed and shuddered across Chiriqui and then on into Veraguas where we took a brief pit stop in Santiago again before we hustled back on the bus to make tracks.

On through the dark we rode.  I had decided to make bracelets for the girls on the trip and was almost done, but I worked most of the way across the country to get them all done in time.

As the time grew later and later, it seemed that we sped up.  And so we did.  The driver was only authorized to drive the UTP bus until midnight!  So we raced the clock. And pulled into the entrance to UTP at exactly midnight!  By this time, the gates were already locked, and most of the people who were there to pick us up were locked in.  But with our arrival, they opened the gates and let us all out.

Wonderful Elba's cousin and aunt had driven to pick us up and they delivered me to my doorstep.  A long but fruitful journey.

High up, high on the mountain... (Friday)

Friday dawned very early - as in 5 am.  We all trooped to the showers and I noticed a number of Ngobe-Bugle women both in the bathroom and working to sweep, cook, and clean.  Then I remembered that we were staying in dorms run by the Jesuit Foundation of Nuestra Señora del Camino, which is dedicated to improving the lives of the Ngobe-Bugle.  Their objective is to provide "creative alternatives to improve housing and food security and to reduce maternal and infant deaths among the Ngobe-Bugle." So it was hardly surprising that they were there.

The students excitedly explored the beautiful grounds which were jungly and lush.  They eagerly tromped up and down, while Elba and I decided to forego the tour.  Instead, we sat briefly in one of the many chapels on the grounds, and then sat and talked. 

After breakfast, we piled into the bus and headed up the road above San Felix.  Up.  and Up.  and UP.  The bus struggled and at times was barely moving - or so it seemed.  The bus driver had us open windows so he could turn off the air conditioning in the bus.  

The hills were dotted with settlements and everywhere the clothes lines were decked with Ngobe dresses.  It was a gorgeous day as we climbed higher and higher.  We passed people walking up and walking down the steep incline.

Men and women.  Fathers, mothers carrying infants, children.  Young girls and babies.  Sons walking behind their fathers.  

We reached the hamlet of Kato Chami, where we were due to meet the women from the UN who would be our guides, and also to pick up lunch.  School was out, so there were kids playing instead of being in class.  

The sun was hot, so we went back into the shade of a building.  Soon, a pickup came and several Ngobe women piled out.  They quickly went to what turned out to be the toilet.  

We asked for permission to take photos of the women of course, and they agreed.  And while we were there, we asked a bunch of questions about their experiences with mobile phones, computers and the Internet.  Then the woman in the orange dress asked for a copy of the photo.  It turned out that she had an email address too!  So I sent the photos to her - though I had no internet access until Saturday in Santiago.  

Back in the bus, soon, we were engulfed in a cloud - one of those hugging the mountains.  Then out into the sunshine again as we climbed above it.  The countryside was gorgeous and as we reached the top of the mountain, we could see for miles.  

Then a quick turn to the right, down a bit of a hill and stop.  It's the end of the road.  And there is the center we have come to visit.  A bright shiny new building with a concrete floor and kitchen served as both a and latrines.

There, we heard very interesting talks about the programs to improve maternal health, reduce HIV-AIDS infection, increase education and deal with health issues stemming from the annual migration from the mountains to the coffee plantations in western Chiriqui (Panama) and Costa Rica, as well as other issues that result from this migration  We heard from several very interesting Ngobe-Bugle people - this young man described how they have a computer in his school, but, upon more conversation with him, Elba and I found out that they haven't been able to use it yet since they are waiting for Microsoft Office.  (Lydia told him about OpenOffice)

We also heard from these young women as well as others.

We had expected there to be 10 women to meet with Elba and me as part of our initial needs assessment, but only one woman was there.  It turns out that the women needed to get their husbands' permission to attend since there were men present.  The woman who came no longer has a relationship with her husband (although he still lives with her).  We asked a number of questions with the help of the young man above since she spoke no Spanish.

While we were talking with her, one of the girls who had spoken earlier, named "Anna", came over and wanted to make a necklace herself.  So of course I opened up my bead bag and helped her find beads that were easy to string on elastic cord.

Martha from the UN

Then, suddenly, it was time to go.  Immediately!  

We twisted and turned down the mountain.  Poor Elba!  She had felt ill on the way up, and had closed her eyes while I sang to her (at her request)  This worked only to a degree.  So on the way down, she moved to a seat where she didn't have to perch and where she could sit by the window which gave her lots of fresh air since they were opened on the way down.  Until it started to rain.  But she seemed to feel a bit better.

We hurried to try to get to Soloy before the health workers left, but alas, we were too late.  The kids didn't have a chance to make an in-depth site survey, but they did find solar panels that appeared not to be working.  

We returned tired but feeling like we had accomplished quite a lot.  A very good day.

On the road again... (Thursday)

We set out for Chiriqui in an elderly UTP bus just after noon in a blinding rain squall.  As usual, we drove up the Pan-American Highway, over the hill, and then through the suburbs around Panama City.  The rain slacked off by the time we picked up one of the students who lives out that way at a Mall.  

The now-familiar landscape unfolded around us.  Small towns with their M/S ("mini-supers" or "Chinese stores") and bus stops - all the same, with the same pitch of the roof and benches and sides throughout the countryside.  All painted differently - many red for Digicel or Claro, others still wearing their political skins declaring the parties of Varela (purple) or Arias (pink on sea green) or Navarro (red, white, and blue)  Most of the billboards are now available - billboards that were covered in political posters on my first trip to Chiriqui.  And many of the flags have come down, although there are still many fluttering by the sides of the road.  Most of these are in tatters or at the very least mud-stained and you're think someone would take them down as they are quickly becoming eye sores.  But they are still there.

Elba and I were sharing a row - which is tight for her, so she folded down the spare seat to give herself some more room.  Unfortunately, that also meant that she had nothing to stop her crashing into the doors should we encounter a problem.  She tried the seat belt, but that wasn't working too well.

Meanwhile, we talked.  I beaded.  We talked some more.  She talked with Alexander in Germany.  She tried to use her computer which was a complete lost cast.  She called her advisor in Germany because changes to a provisionally-accepted paper for MobileHCI were due and she hadn't been able to make them all before leaving.  She had counted on being able to use her laptop, but now that she couldn't, she was concerned about the paper.  But it turned out that all was OK.  The editing I did last night had been passed along to Germany, and apparently all was well.

Whew!

We continued on our journey.  The countryside stretched far into the distance at times, and at others, it was "up close and personal" as we twisted and turned over hills.  The poor bus labored.  Unlike the "Dean-mobile" that I last rode in, the bus was old and really struggled.  I told Elba of the story from my childhood (and Anna Rachel's too) of the "Little Engine That Could" that conquered the hill by sticking to the task, and repeating the ultimate in positive self-talk:  "I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can."  And then, as it got close to the top, , "I know I can" and breasted the hill, "I knew I could.  I knew I could."  In my mind's eye, I could see it...  "I think I can,  I think I can, I think I can..."

The sky spit rain at times, and cleared up at others.  By the time we made Santiago, it had cleared altogether.  We stopped for an early dinner at about 4:30 - trying to hurry because the rough road after Santiago lay ahead of us, and it's not great to be driving on it after dark.

We trundled back into the bus and continued our journey.

As always, there was heavy truck traffic on the two-lane road from Santiago.  Traffic backed up and we were passed by all kinds of cars - from sporty cars to ordinary passenger cars - frequently.  Every time we would get to a passing lane, we had to pull over into the right lane with the trucks because we were laboring so.  And even when we were in the 2-lane parts, cars passed without regard to the double yellow lines or even visibility.  On more than one occasion, we all winced collectively as a car would speed by us, only to jam on the brakes and squeeze back into traffic right in front of us.

Night fell.

We entered Chiriqui, with its hills and a check point at the border.  We were not stopped, although people said that, had we been a commercial bus, we would have been stopped and our IDs examined. One of the students had forgotten his ID, so we sighed a sigh of relief to be past it.  

The night grew darker.  Lydia and Immaculata, the 2 professors leading the trip, began to worry.  The rule was that if we were not inside by 8 pm, we would not be allowed in.  And it was getting closer and closer in time.  7:30 passed, and still no sign of San Felix, the town where we were staying.  Their phones and iPad didn't pick up where we were.  Anxiety mounted until suddenly, the sign to San Felix came into view.  

But then, WHERE in this tiny town was the accommodation?  It was a Catholic center - I wasn't clear what kind - where we were to stay.  After several phone calls, the bus turned into a tiny street where, at the end of it, was a gate with a welcome sign.  We were "home"!

The guys unloaded the luggage and we tromped into the Men's and Women's Dorms, respectively.  The center had been in ruins but had been restored lovingly - and all of the surfaces were painted with lovely ethereal paintings of angels, and clouds, and flowers.  

Elba helped me put up my mosquitero (mosquito netting) - a lovely pale pink drape that I climbed under quickly to escape the mosquitos.  But there weren't really a lot of them (although Elba killed a wasp like the one that stung me so scarily several weeks ago)

The "kids" were outside goofing around, as kids will, until Lydia read the instructions on the sliding door to our dorm.  When she told them that "the dog is let loose at 10 pm", they all scampered into their respective rooms and we all quickly fell asleep.

The Ngobe-Bugle, healthcare and the UN (Wednesday, 4 June)

Today was a most interesting day and a harbinger of what is to come on our trip to Chiriqui tomorrow.  These books are used at health centers to make it possible for Ngobe women to communicate to health workers there.  It's a cross-cultural challenge when the women speak only Ngäbere and the health care professionals do not, so the UN has funded a project to create a book (shown above) 

Tomorrow I will go with Lydia Toppin, a professor here, and her students to Chiriqui to meet with Ngobe women and to do a very preliminary needs assessment for a grant she and a number of colleagues are putting together.  Elba is coming too and I'm very excited!

Stay Tuned!

(P.S., it's also my daughter Anna Rachel's birthday today!