Purpose: Community Improvements Support
Start Date: 2013
Funding Level: $20,000
Lives Directly Impacted: 500
KUNA & EMBERA PEOPLES - Community Improvements Support
KUNA YALA ISLANDS & DARIAN GAP, Panama
SUMMARY
Inti Raymi Fund visited Panama and provided financial support to two Indigenous Communities in Panama. Funds were provided to the Indigenous Kuna Peoples in the San Blas Islands for improvements to their community kitchen, community school, community lodge and other improvements. Additional funds were delivered to the Indigenous Embera Peoples who reside in the Darian Gap region of Panama. Their funds were used for various community projects for sustainability.
CENTRAL AMERICA’S PAINFUL HISTORY:
If you want to fully understand most of the reasons for the poverty and crime in Central America and in Panama, this requires you to revisit history and familiarize yourself with the past colonizations of Central America by Spain from roughly 1521 up until independence in 1821. By the late 1800’s a new economic colonizer, United Fruit, helped by the US government and its military, appeared and swindled most of the Indigenous Peoples and Mestizos (“mixed people”) out of their native lands and their future economic sustainability by creating “Banana Republics” in Central America. These enormous land grabs turned the Indigenous Peoples and Mestizos from land owners/operators into peasant workers on lands which previously were owned by them. United Fruit attempted to mask its “identity and vile past” by creating multiple subsequent subsidiaries like Chiquita Banana. These prolific land grabs and genocides, caused the Indigenous and Mestizo Peoples of Central America to not have a chance at individual prosperity and hope. This perpetual 400 year marginalization and oppression by Spain then indirectly by the USA with its unscrupulous businessmen of United Fruit, caused the Central American People to lose all hope. Out of desperation, some resort to crime and violence, and many resort to mass illegal migration to the USA as their only coping mechanism.
WHO ARE THE KUNA?
The Kuna is the name of the Indigenous Peoples of Panama and Colombia. In the Kuna language, they call themselves Dule or Tule, meaning “People”. Their language is called Dulegaya, meaning literally, “People-mouth”. Many make their home in the Darien Gap. This area is a break in the Pan American Highway consisting of a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest within the Panama Darien Forest in Central America and the northern portion of Colombia’s Choco Department in South America. Because road building through this area is expensive, and the environmental impact is so great, political consensus in favor of road construction is nearly impossible to achieve. Consequently, there is no road connection through the Darien Gap joining North America with South America. This area is the “missing link” in the Pan-American Highway.
THE INTI RAYMI FUND AND OUR ASSISTANCE
The Inti Raymi Fund visited the Kuna Tribe living in this area November 2013 because there was a need, as there always is, for assistance in the preservation of cultures and due to the encroachment from modern developments. The village agreed that the best use of the money was for some very needed structural improvements for their Yala Community School as well as the Yala Community Support Center. This school and community center provide a strong focal point for the preservation of this tribal group by continuing their unique traditions, songs and language. It was agreed that new ceramic tile floors, fresh paint, a solar panel and a new bathroom facility were some of the improvements needed. Inti Raymi Fund provided the funds and now, their community center and school are updated.
Because of an unfortunate experience the Inti Raymi Fund encountered just prior to our meeting with the Kuna Yala, we were only able to assist this very worthy community with $10,000. Since our customary gift is $25,000 and that was the original intended amount, we feel that we should share the circumstances that prevented our gift from being given in its entirety. Hence the following story:
The Inti Raymi Fund aspires to be unique in its approach to giving. Our mission is to assist “ with Dignity and Respect” so that the way the funds allocated to each project is determined by the group as a whole. It’s simple, pure and transparent. This is what differentiates us from other non-profits and makes us special but in this method there is always the possibility of deception as our gift is given in trust directly to the people. Our mission in Panama actually started in El Porvenir Island where we were intending to help with the customary $25,000 gift. During our transactions with the group “leaders” it is estimated that $3,000 went unaccounted for (and was stolen) at the time we presented them with that portion of the gift (the $3,000). We revisited El Porvenir and investigated the situation, halted further distribution of funds and moved on, but from this experience, our resolution going forward has been to coordinate through the entire community, with an emphasis with the elderly women or matriarchs of these communities and not the elders or leaders. Because these women are nominated by all members of the community for their principles and trustworthiness, we felt they were the wisest choice to receive, protect and distribute the funds. We have since held to that plan and have not been disappointed. A fuller account of this incident is below:
THE NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY
In June 2012, the Inti Raymi Fund visited the Islands of San Blas, a semi-autonomous region of the Kuna Indians, in Panama. Very specifically we arrived on the island called, El Porvenir and met with the island’s head of tourism, the island’s minister and treasurer. Next, we notified the community of our interest to assist them in self-help projects of their design and then we held several traditional meetings with the community elders to discuss the best use of this gift.
During our final meeting we delivered to the community $3,000 as a deposit for the improvements they asked for. Shortly thereafter, and upon receipt of an itemized budget for the entire $20,000 budget, we wired $2,000 into a bank account controlled by the head of tourism, with an e-mailed confirmation from the island’s minister and treasurer. With $5,000 in the bank, the three El Porvenir leaders requested additional funding for the next set of improvements, but fell short of delivering satisfactory photographic proof of the use of the initial $5,000. ($3,000 deposit + $2,000 wire).
Given our concern, Chaski, one of our directors from Peru, flew to Panama City to investigate the situation. After an arduous trek and salient discussions with these men, we were able to put the project back on track and wired the next $5,000 for the next stage of “improvements”. Over the next three to six months, we worked and struggled to get substantial proof of additional improvements from the 3 leaders of the community. Because of their lack of cooperation and suspicion of theft by these three men, who supposedly had their community’s interest at heart, we cancelled the remaining $10,000 of funding for El Porvenir and redirected the remainder of the Panama budget into the communities of the Embera Peoples in the Darian Gap region of Panama. These are photographs of the 3 men who stole from their people in El Porvenir.
LESSON LEARNED
It is our estimate that $3,000-$5,000 of the $10,000 gifted to the El Porviner Island was stolen. This was a valuable lesson: first and foremost, we realized we should not trust leaders of communities in “private meetings” but we should meet with entire communities for transparency and for “everyone to see everything”, especially when delivering funds. We also realized that the elderly women, which were missing in these meetings, should always be present and be involved as spokespeople for their communities. Everyone trusts the elderly women, and they know everyone. Who could better look out for the benefit of the group? Our resolution from this early experience onwards is to coordinate through the the entire village with an emphasis on the matriarchs nominated by all the members of the community, due to their wisdom and trustworthiness.
TEAM MEMBERS
