This past winter I had the opportunity to travel to rural Panama with Global Business Brigades. Last year I was a freshman, and I was looking into organizations to join. I got an email from GBB, and I decided I wanted to take part in the unique opportunity. GBB allows students to work as consultants for micro-entrepreneurs in Panama. Last year we did a tele-brigade, so everything was virtual. But, this year we had the chance to go in person and my experience was totally different from last year.
I arrived at Houston International Airport on January 2, 2022, and basically met everyone for the first time. We instantly all got along really well. After arriving in Panama, we took a four-hour bus ride to a town outside the city. We stayed at the Iguana Eco Resort, which was incredible. We ate authentic Panamanian dishes for three meals every day.
The first day we were all exhausted from traveling, so we had our dinner, explored the grounds, and went to bed. The girls were split into two rooms and the guys had one room. I stayed in one of the rooms with the girls, and we all had a great time. We got up around 7:00 every morning and had breakfast at 8:00 am. There was always coffee, juice, filtered water, and homemade meals. On the second day we left to meet the community, but not to do any work. We went just to meet and get to know everyone. It was about an hour bus ride to the community. The community members were all so welcoming. They answered all our questions and tried to get to know us as well. On every trip back from the community, we stopped at a local grocery store so everyone could get snacks to try. On the second day, I believe we all ended up swimming. The resort had many pools to choose from, it was amazing. On the third day, we left for the community to start asking our clients questions. We were given our groups on the first day and worked with our groups to figure out our clients and their problems. We had lunch at the community, and after a few hours, we headed back to the resort. Groups got together to come up with ideas for their client, and we all had dinner at 6:00 pm. At 7:00 pm every night we had a group reflection in which we talked about our day and did a group activity. The next few days we traveled to the community, worked with our clients, and created our solutions. My group and another group spent one day creating a sign for our clients to use for marketing their business. Most days after getting back from the community everyone would swim and/or nap. Then on most nights, groups would work together on their solutions and deliverable for GBB. On two days, we got to give small presentations to the community about leadership and simple things about how to run a business. One day everyone got to play soccer with a few kids in the community, which was a sweet moment. On the second to last day, each group got to present their solutions to their clients, and the community members sang and danced for us. It was bittersweet leaving the community for the last time. On our travel day back we got to go to an area near Panama City and try a restaurant. We then flew to Atlanta and then to Houston. The whole experience was one of a kind!