My essay is going to be about the interesting journey of a group of migrants from Panama to

Costa Rica. The Guaymi ,or Ngabe, are an indigenous group of people who originated in the small
villages of Panama. Their territory originally extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, but
there was never a distinctive empire or set territory for them. Very few Guaymi people occupied the
mountainous region, which is where they mostly live now. In 1502, Christopher Columbus and his men
were made known of the Guaymi's existence. Because of this, Spanish conquistadors tried to force these
native people out of their own land, which pushed most of the Guaymi people to relocate to the most
promising Costa Rica. Whether it was better agriculture or more religious freedom, the Guaymi knew
that Costa Rica would provide some better living conditions.
The Guaymi are very sweet people with a strong personality. Crookham states very clearly, My
Guaymi friends are very simplistic and dont need that much to live upon (Crookham, 2007). The
Guaymi were poverty stricken and often went without food. These natives also lived in grass houses and
slept on wooden boards at night (ibid). Although the Guaymi had very little, they were amazingly
generous to others. These people would go searching through the jungles and mountains to find people
who were stuck or lost, and needed help (ibid). A small fraction of the Guaymi still remain in Panama
because of migration. (Zimbio, 2008). Many Guaymi slowly migrated to the most southern tip of Costa
Rica in hope of better living conditions. Being in poverty with little food and wood beds are definitely
push factors. Another big push factor was the fact that many people of this culture were in search of
work on the coffee fincas in Costa Rica. Since the Guaymi didnt have ships or cars, they walked to new
places, not knowing where they were going. The Guaymi had many pull factors to migrate also. One
Guaymi woman explained how her tribe went on a missionary trip to Costa Rica (Marie, 2010). The
Guaymi have a helpful nature and wanted to explain faith to people who had not yet been taught. The
Guaymi also wanted to start charities and organizations that would be helpful to the people in Costa
Rica (ibid). Another pull factor was the hope to find better living conditions such as plentiful food supply,
fertile soil, and a more sanitary environment. Overall, the Guaymis reasons to migrate was just the
support to help others in need, although they were in need, themselves.
There are many effects that occurred after the Guaymi migrated to the southern tip of Costa
Rica. In modern times, Guaymi people have been sent to live on reservations and are still very poor
people (Carty, 2011). One great thing that came out of the migration was the fact that many Guaymi
were able to find jobs in the coffee fincas. The Guaymi did achieve their biggest goal, though. These
migrants helped to turn most of Costa Rica inhabitants to Christianity (Joshua Project, no date). The
Guaymi also have the choice to farm because many of them are located on very fertile land (Namu, no
date). All the effects of migrating to Costa Rica turned out to be positive for the Guaymi and Costa Rica,
itself.
Many Guaymi still live in Costa Rica and Panama. Although it was very hard to survive on the
small amount of supplies that they had, the Guaymi stayed on the right path and helped others. The
Guaymi are still in need of money because of poverty, but are surviving on the bare minimum. The
Guaymi helped a lot of people throughout their life, and havent ever got much in return. In the present
day, reservations and territories are set aside for all the Guaymi. I am very proud of the smart decision
that the Guaymi made to migrate to evangelize. They started missionaries, charities, and a lot of non-
prophet organizations.


http://www.zimbio.com/Panama/articles/88/The+Natives+of+Panama
http://voices.yahoo.com/a-look-guaymi-indians-panama-224192.html?cat=70
http://www.joshuaproject.net/countries.php?rog3=CS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaym%C3%AD_people
http://www.cartyfamily.org/the-guaymi.html
http://alyssamarie217.blogspot.com/2010/02/guaymi-ngabe-people-mission-trip.html

A lot of Guaymi people have many hobbies, such as the man in the picture above. Many guaymi
paint religious figures, or meaningful symbols on stones. Mama Taba is one religion of the Guaymi that
began in 1961 and is very disputable. It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to a Guaymi woman,
named Besiko, over the Fonseca River. The Virgin Mary gave this particular woman several messages as
commands to her people. The commands given to Besiko were very similar to the Ten Commandments.
The original commands have been distorted and have been combined with Christian morals. Mama Taba
is more of a folk-tale in present day, and although most of the commands were ignored, Mama Taba
created a stringer sense of brotherhood among the Guaymi culture.