Happy Mother’s Day from Panama

December 10^th was Mother’s Day all across the country, so we celebrated appropriately by inviting one of our most beloved Panamanian Mothers, Veronica, and her family to join us for dinner at MayaPoint.

Veronica, her partner Sandalio, Luis, Beatriz, Abigail, Alfonsina, Little Luis, Ricardo, Juan Pablo, and her nephew Ruben all showed up in their boat Sunday afternoon.

Everyone came looking sharp especially to take a group photo on this special occasion. It’s almost unheard of around here for a family to have a photo of everyone together. Veronica came up with the idea a week or so ago, and finally allof the kids were on vacation from school, including Big Luis and Bea, who both study out of town.

The whole crew made it up to the house and we put on a movie on for the kids to watch while we got started in the kitchen. Erick made (i.e. burnt) popcorn for everyone while Veronica and I made pizza dough. I asked the kids if they had tried pizza.

“Once,” they replied. Well, good thing we bought a giant block of mozerella cheese that morning…

Being the hard-working woman (and amazing bread maker) that she is, Vero massaged that pizza dough with her homemade coconut oil until it stretched perfectly. The girls were eager to help cut veggies and shred cheese, and we let them top the four pizzas to their heart’s content.

Big Luis played DJ as the movie ended, and our pizza party turned into reggaeton dancehall booty-shakin’ fiesta (oh, wait, that was only me).

As the pizzas came out of the oven one-by-one, the kids lined up with their plates. They house was alive with music, Aashman and Juan Pablo chasing each other all around, Erick and I joking and giggling with the big kids, and the smell of PIZZA!

Panza llena, corazón contenta.  A full belly, a happy heart. Mother’s Day was proof of that. Our ten dinner guests were chatting, smiling and laughing. Veronica and I exchanged glances in that unspoken language only shared between mothers… Her eyes thanked me more than a million words could say.

By this time it was pretty late to take photos, which had been part of the plan all along. It was too dark and Juan Pablo fell asleep on the floor, but

That’s when we really had fun…

We tried to get a couple of shots on PhotoBooth. Most of the kids have never used a computer, so it was hilarious when I put the silly effects on, like

blockhead- 

Frog-  

Space Alien- 

And Bug Out- 

At first they couldn’t even stand to see their own faces so distorted, but after I took a couple good ones of my self, they got a little more intrigued. I have honestly never seen kids laugh so hard in all of my life!

To wind down (we were all pretty wound-up) I showed them all of the photos that we’ve taken in our time volunteering at the kids’ school. I have seen the photos so many times, that I watched their faces as they saw themselves in the slide show. Folks around here rarely have their photo taken, so it really was a special treat to see their daily lives in still motion.  

I watched Veronica’s eyes swell with tears as we flashed through pictures of Luis driving the boat,

Alfonsina, who is already eager to learn, 

And Ricardo, the only boy in first grade.

Here is the only mother on the island who works a paying job.

The mother who had her first son at 16 years old.

The mother who has naturally birthed eight babies by the age of 33.

The mother who does ten people’s laundry by hand in a little river.

The mother who is the first to wake up and the last to go to bed each night.

She’s one of the toughest women I may ever meet in my life. And the thing that brought tears to her eyes was watching her beautiful babies at school.

This entire night and everything about it was the epitome of Mother’s Day.

Thank you MayaPoint, for the wonderful gift.