UUMC Panama Mission 2008
This will be the 13th consecutive year that University United Methodist Church will send a mission team to Panama and the eighth year we will work in Chiriqui Province, where we provide medical and construction assistance in support of the Methodist Church in Panama - Iglesia Evangelica Metodista de Panamá (IEMPA). While in Panama, we will be working to support activities through the office of the IEMPA Bishop in Panama City and will be supported in the United States by the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.
The team will work in the communities of Bongo and Jacú and we will stay in a Methodist Church complex, called “Volcan Camp” in the town of Volcan, some 30 miles or so up the mountain from the Inter-American Highway. Volcan is located on the slopes of Volcan Barú, a dormant volcano in western Panama near the border with Costa Rica (see map). Bongo is located down the mountain from Volcan close to the town of Concepcion, which is on the Inter-American Highway. Jacú is located approximately 20 miles east of Concepcion, near the Inter-American Highway, and very close to the Costa Rican border.
Purpose
The purpose of this trip is to provide clinical screening services to the community of Bongo and surrounding areas, and to assist in construction and maintenance of the church in Jacú. Specifically, we will work in a Panamanian Ministry of Health clinic in the upland rural community of Bongo. In Jacú we hope to complete construction on the Church with tile floors through-out and also tile the bathroom walls. We will start planning at this time for next year's projects, which may include beginning construction of a second structure that will include kitchen facilities to be used in development of a feeding program for some of the children in the community.
