I still remember the look on my host sister Yasmin’s face as I walked away down the hill on the morning I left the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé. I had only spent one night with her family in their home, but she and I quickly became friends, despite the fact that I was more than fifteen years older. We played cards late into the night, teaching each other new games and new rules, and she taught me how to eat the chicken foot that my family had cooked for me as a special send-off meal. She cried as I left and followed me down the hill until her mother called her back. In that moment, I promised myself that I would not forget about her, that I would remember the cariño (love) that her family had shared with me. The memory of Yasmin and her family inspired me to help found Few for Change with companions from the SIT Panama program. I believe that providing children with the opportunity to continue their education is the best way for me to give back to the Ngöbe community that shared so much with me.
I graduated from Bowdoin College in May 2010 with a dual degree in Environmental Studies and Spanish. I now live in the beautiful city of Rockland, Maine and work for the Island Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to sustain the year-round island communities of Maine.
