The "No Basura" Project

One of the ugly things about Panama (actually, all of Central America) is the trash. Trash is thrown out of car and bus windows, dropped wherever it is no longer needed, and just pushed aside when the grass is being mowed. Newcomers to El Valle are appalled when first arriving. El Valle is so beautiful but litter is everywhere.

A number of were talking this situation, and hit upon recycling. Our thesis was that the only way to motivate the locals to not throw trash was to pay them for it; they are so poor that we felt this would work. As Gerlinda was calling around to find out information about various recycling operations (few, few and far between), Jackie found a recycling company down on the coast. This is a Colombian company, which containerizes the trash and ships it to Colombia. Can you imagine!

Completely independent of our project, Carlitos organized a town clean up day. It was enormously successful, collecting 300+ huge bags of trash plus piles and piles of tires. We met with Carlitos and described what we wanted to accomplish. We agreed to combine forces, with his co-op taking the public face and lead (much, much better than a couple of gringas trying to ram something down the locals' throats). He is putting his team and their "brigades" in place, and we expect them to start up in August.

In conjunction with my current interest in trash, I decided to make a sign spelling out "No Basura" (no trash) out of trash. One day I left the house with my big green garbage bag to collect trash for the sign; Tommy was standing on the front porch, yelling, "No wife of mine is going to collect public trash."

Well, this wife did, and after a couple of false starts, figured out how to cut and fold the colorful juice cartons and then thread the folded bits onto wire to make the letters. When my mother visited, she was pressed into service to help out. She and I completed about half the letters, and this sure was getting to be a bit tedious. Then one Thursday, Maritza called to say that she needed an alternate project for the kids for the art project and would I consider bringing the stuff to make the sign. Wow! Would I ever! The volunteers and two teachers led the cutting effort, while the kids folded and quality controlled their work. A couple of the boys pounded the holes in the folded papers (everyone wanted that job!), and two of us threaded the papers onto the wires, which I had pre-bent into the letters. By the end of the class, all but one letter was finished, which I did the next day.

"Our" welder made a black metal rectangle for me, and Tommy drilled lots of holes in it. We tied the letters onto the rectangle, and now the sign is almost done! I just have to paint the names of those who contributed to this project. And then the sign will be hung in some public place, in conjunction with the recycling project. Pretty neat, isn't it?