(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Peace Corps volunteer David Clarke of Murrysville said he’s ready to come home after being in Panama since April 2009.
But before he leaves, he wants to build a playground for children in the rural village of La Honda.
“These kids have never seen a playground,” said Clarke, an agricultural specialist. “A family of five lives off $10 a day. Almost nobody has a job. They have to grow their own food.”
La Honda is a village of about 600 people near Santiago, the capital of the Veraguas Province. The village has a tiny general store, a church and one school, with two grades to a room.
Clarke said he mentioned adding a playground to one community member several months ago. Residents came back to Clarke, telling him that it “is something we really, really want,’ ” he said.
Clarke, 29, said he wants to name the playground after his friend Tony Canale, who died in July at 29 while on a trip to Cambodia.
Canale “was an international traveler,” Clarke said. “It was sad. We never found out how he died. Since he always wanted to come to Panama, I decided to name it after him, and the community was fine about it.”
Clarke said he envisions Tony Canale Memorial Park as a playground where 15 kids can play together on a jungle gym, rope climbing wall, slides, swings, swing rings and teeter-totters, with a picnic area nearby.
The community has donated $1,145 in cash, labor and land.
Clarke said needed an additional $2,770 to complete the playground, and about half of that has been raised, largely through his mother, Michele Clarke, Murrysville’s former recreation director.
“I’ve been e-mailing friends, trying to let people know what he’s doing, just basically reaching out to people I know,” she said. “I know money is tight, but people want to support the project. Most people know this is a good project.”
Michele Clarke said she is proud of her son’s work in Panama and the playground project.
“He’s very excited about this moving ahead,” she said. “He’s gained a lot from being down there. He’s gained a self-confidence he didn’t have before. He never felt he could be such a leader. That’s something he’s found.”
Clarke credits the villagers.
“We have the land and even have a work schedule, who’s going to work that day,” David Clarke said. “They’re that prepared in planning every step of the way. They’ve been fantastic.”
While in Panama, Clarke has spearheaded the construction of fish ponds, built into the mountain to provide protein for the villagers’ diet. One pond supplied 80 pounds of fish.
He started growing avocado trees and handed out the fruits to the community.
“I’m trying to bring more vitamins into their diet,” he said.
Clarke said he will miss the people he’s come to know the during the past two years, since it’s hard to stay in touch with people who have no access to e-mail or the Internet.
“There’s never going to be anything quite like that,” he said. “That’s going to be the hardest thing.”
He is scheduled to return home in June, after completing the playground.
“I’m not leaving here until it gets finished,” Clarke said. “Once you make this kind of commitment and see the hope the other people have, you can’t leave that commitment. You have to see it to the end.”