Well when you think about Panama you probably think about this, possibly the greatest feat of human engineering on the planet.

The Panama Canal is immense and 35 to 40 huge vessels

transit here every day making the journey between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

But this is the stuff that you probably know a bit about in Panama.

So in this week's podcast from assignment I'm going to transport you to a very different

Panamanian world. The world of the Kuna, one of Latin America's most savvy and fiercely

independent indigenous groups.

Hopefully if you like what you hear,

you'll write a review on your podcast provider

or maybe just spread the word among the audio themes you know.

Anyway, here we go. Welcome to Kuna Yala.

This week's assignment comes from the Guna Yala Archipelago on Panama's Caribbean coast.

These low-lying islands belong to the Kuna, one of Latin America's most independent and progressive

indigenous peoples who number around 80,000.

But the Kuna are in trouble.

In an era of climate change, sea levels rising and the population growing.

I'm Linda Presley.

Oh, this is Victoria's house.

Victoria, she has the many family.

A lot of family.

The sister, the brother, a lot of family here, the grandson here,

the second sister here, everyone living here.

...