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About Embera Puru

Embera Puru is home to about 211 people and has around 40

homes. The community is located in the Darien province, in

Eastern Panama alongside the Pan-American Highway; the closest

hospital is in Chepo, which is about 3 hours away by car. Embera

Puru is an indigenous community consisting of the Embera culture.

Most community members primarily work in agriculture or raising

livestock, and a few support themselves through small stores.

Embera Puru is known for its strong community leadership and

willingness to partner with outside organizations like Global Brigades.

The leader of the community has worked alongside brigades on
many projects over the past few years.  The community is very open

to strangers and gladly presents its traditional dances regularly.

 

Embera Puru's Public Health Situation

Embera Puru is located in the Darien province, in Eastern

Panama. Embera Puru does not have its own health care center;

instead, the community members must travel to Santa Fe to receive

medical treatment. The community has a gravity aqueduct water

system, with the majority of families connected to it, but the system

is not entirely reliable; families in Embera Puru do not receive water

during the dry season.  The community is highly aware of this issue

and resorts to using the nearby river for water only when it is

absolutely necessary. Very few homes in Embera Puru have

concrete floors; the community members prefer to construct their

homes in the traditional Embera fashion: wooden floors raised above

the ground by 6-8 feet.  None of the members of the community have

in-home water filters, but a few families do add chlorine to their water

to purify it.  Families do not boil their water for cultural reasons.

 

The Public Health Solution for Embera Puru

With the cooperation the Comite de Salud (Health Committee), and the support of local families, Public

Health Brigades has constructed and plans to continue constructing composting latrines for family homes

throughout Embera Puru in future years. One particularly valuable aspect of Embera Puru is the nearby river. From this river, families can gather sand and gravel to use in the cement and concrete mixes for their latrines. This ensures the support and partnership of the families, but allows them to contribute in a low-cost manner.  Additionally Business Brigades is establishing a community bank in Embera Puru; this will allow community members to take out small loans in order to fund future public health projects.

 

Public Health Brigades Chapters that Worked in Embera Puru
Public Health Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
Boston University	January 2013	16
Pennsylvania State University	May 2013	10
University of Colorado	May 2013	15
SUNY New Paltz and University of Kansas	May 2013	20
Stony Brook University	May 2013	11
University of Missouri	May 2013	5
Rutgers University	May 2013	9
CUNY Macaulay	August 2013	15
Oregon State University	September 2013	25
Munich University	October 2014	20

 

Current Status

Last Visit: October 2014
In October 2014, a group of volunteers from Munich, Germany came to Panama to complete a hybrid public health and environmental brigade.  The 20 volunteers worked very hard to complete the construction of three composting latrines in four days.  The community members within Embera Puru and its health committee were very excited to work alongside the group's efforts!

Project Photos

 

Visit Other Programs in Embera Puru

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Embera Puru:

Business Dental Environmental Human RightsMedical    Microfinance