In February 2023, Maestral started a new project to strengthen community-level multi-sectoral coordination in the early identification and referral of children and families at risk. We knew it would be interesting work with community-based para social workers, but we didn’t realize that navigating Mother Nature would take such a prominent role in reaching those communities.
Migdalia Vila and Elizabeth Valencia, Maestral national consultants, have the role of accompanying the teams of para social workers and social workers living and working in different communities. The objective of the visits is to provide ongoing capacity strengthening around core social work competencies necessary to implement the work. One of the project sites is in the Emberá Wounaan Community located in Darién. The community is in one of the largest and most dangerous jungles in Central America.
To get to Embera in the dry season, one can cross overland advancing green and often suffocating landscapes. You have to cross a daunting suspension bridge offering little security (recently the bridge collapsed, so that is no longer an option, for now). But as challenging as the land route, is, it offers spectacular views. One feels 100% within nature. In the rainy season, our team have to be creative in the modes of transport needed to reach the communities. You have to use a “Piragua” or canoe and must make sure that the river is high enough so that the canoe does not get stuck and you have to go down to the middle of the river and push to continue paddling. Another aspect is that, although the sun is opaque, the heat and humidity are powerful and ever present. The planning of the visit must be perfect and depends on many things. You must leave very early in the morning, it takes about an hour from Meteti (port of departure) to Lajas Blancas, a community where the teams are concentrated. When our team travels to Villa Caleta, it requires five hours round trip, with one often begging the universe that nothing unforeseen happens or Migdalia and Elizabeth will be sleeping in a hammock in the courtyard of one of the houses of their colleagues or community member because there is no hotel in these areas.
Transportation is a variable to consider in our work, but it takes on new meaning for our colleagues in Panama. Logistics, weather, and various modes of transportation are all part of the equation when planning trips to visit communities that are part of this interesting work. Migdalia and Elizabeth are frequently reminded of the daily calculations that community members must make as they live in an environment that is naturally beautiful but ever-changing.