Few for Change awards scholarships at fourth annual “Entrega” Ceremony
On Saturday, February 23, 2013, members of a remote Panamanian village gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of 16 high-achieving middle and high school students participating in Few for Change, a scholarship program founded in 2009 by alumni of a study abroad program in Panama coordinated by the School for International Training (SIT). Four Few for Change volunteers were on hand in Quebrada Guabo, 250 miles west of Panama City, to congratulate the students, who would not be able to continue their studies without this critical financial assistance. Few for Change Co-Director Brooks Winner...
Read MoreThe Entrega Ceremony: Celebrating Agents of Change
“It smells like Panama.” This was Tim’s first observation as we exited Tocumen airport in Panama City. It was true, it did smell like Panama and it felt so good to be back.
Read MoreTwelve Year Olds and Poise
My standards for twelve year olds are low. I base them off my own career, which was quite grim: fights with my mother over PG-13 movies (all my friends were allowed to see Pearl Harbor in theatres, why couldn’t I) and drama over my choreographed dance routine for my sixth grade graduation. If you were to look back at my schoolwork from this time, you would notice that I still hadn’t mastered my “theres” and certainly didn’t know how to spell definitely. So, though I know that we do fund a handful of twelve year-olds, I tend to think of all our students as sixteen, the age where I...
Read MorePanamanian Music 101
What cultural blog isn’t complete without a musical post? I have to say, attempting to cram all of my favorite Panamanian music into one blog post is a little daunting. I may just have to write a second installment for all the great tunes I can’t fit into this post. The music of Panama is as diverse as its people–mestizos, blacks, Chinese, Ngöbe-Buglé, Emberá Wounaan, Kuna, Naso Teribe– and the foreign cultures that have played a role in the country’s history–Spanish, Caribbean, African and American influences. Whether it’s salsa, merengue, cumbia, plena, saloma,...
Read MoreWelcome to Guatemala
Few for Change Co-Director Gillian Locascio returned from Panama last spring after spending over a year working for a community health organization in the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé (or Ngäbe-Buglé, as it is sometimes spelled). In this post, she reflects on the protests that she witnessed while in Panama (featured in a recent post about the Barro Blanco dam) and why she has decided to serve as a human right accompanier in Guatemala. – February 5, 2012. Panama. The roads had been closed for five days. In Bocas province, cars were stranded along the roadside without gas. In Panama City,...
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