Few for Change Fellowship Description 

Few for Change, a scholarship fund that provides financial assistance — covering tuition, uniforms, transportation and books — to high-achieving middle and high school students in Panama who would not otherwise be able to continue their studies, seeks a self-directed, compassionate leader to help expand its programming and coordinate operations on the ground in Panama. This year-long position will provide the fellow with opportunities to develop real-world skills and influence the transition of a fledgling student-run project to an independent, start-up nonprofit organization. The fellow will work with Few for Change staff and volunteers to improve the organizational infrastructure and the link between Few for Change and the communities with which we work. The fellowship will be challenging but rewarding and a great opportunity for a young leader interested in international education and development to gain valuable field experience.

Few for Change is a young and growing organization looking to strengthen its operations and its partnerships with communities, community members and partner organizations in Panama and in the United States. As a volunteer-driven organization without a paid staff, Few for Change relies on a small, passionate, committed group of 10 volunteers in the US and 4 volunteers in Panama. Having formed this strong volunteer base, we are now looking to establish a strong and sustainable local base of support for our students as well as mechanisms and processes to allow students and community members to have a stronger voice in shaping how Few for Change grows and develops. The Few for Change fellow will serve as a key link between the organizational leadership in the US and Panama and the communities, collecting information and input to guide our strategic plan and vision for expanding and improving our program.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Coordinate with local community volunteers to manage the scholarship application process and the collection of student paperwork and disbursement of funds
• Strengthen existing local communication network to improve sustainability of the scholarship program
• Investigate opportunities for engaging alumni of the Few for Change scholarship in giving back to the program and serving their communities
• Translate student reflections/journal entries and post to The School Fund website
• Provide input to improve scholarship application process
• Disburse, collect and send scholarship applications to Few for Change staff
• Communicate with students, help link students to Few for Change staff, members/donors
• Investigate education programs nationally (within Panama) and internationally that promote education access, multi-lingual education, and education as a tool for community development and empowerment
• Facilitate community discussions about barriers to education and strategies for overcoming those barriers
• Develop and organize a new summer tutoring program to be led by current scholarship students
• Organize monthly or bi-monthly meetings with scholarship students (goal setting, career aspirations, reflections)
• Identify other partnerships with organizations and communities in Panama
• Maintain regular communication with Few for Change staff, serve as a liaison between volunteers on the ground and staff in the states
• Write and update student profiles
• Write regular posts for the Few for Change blog with updates, reflections and analysis from Panama
• Form relationships with and organize exchanges between other education programs
• Research other educational organizations and scholarship funds and analyze models of community development and empowerment through education
• Investigate opportunities for student-to-student or community-to-community exchanges between Panama and the U.S. (e.g. pen pal program)
• Document work through photography, video, other media (digital or otherwise)
• Assist with education & outreach about Few for Change
• Other projects, as developed by the Few for Change Fellow in partnership with students, community members and other Panamanian organizations

Desired Skills

• Fluent, or near-fluent, in Spanish
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, in Spanish and English
• Experience facilitating community discussions
• Group problem solving
• Public speaking
• Microsoft Office Suite (especially Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Blogging
• Social Media – Facebook, Twitter
• Basic film editing (e.g. iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, etc.)

Desired Traits

The ideal candidate for the Few for Change Fellowship is:

• Very independent, self-motivated, and reliable
• Experienced with living/traveling in rural and remote communities in a developing country
• A strong listener
• A critical thinker
• Compassionate and patient
• Passionate about access to education and community development
• Resilient and adaptable under difficult circumstances; a ‘can-do’ attitude
• Eager to learn about the Ngöbe-Buglé people, their history, language, culture and current reality
• Able to understand and reconcile diverse views about what a better world looks like

For more information on Few for Change, visit www.fewforchange.org or

find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/fewforchange) or Twitter (@fewforchange).

To apply, send a cover letter, resume, and responses to the attached writing prompts addressed to Brooks Winner at fewforchange@gmail.com.

Few for Change Fellowship Application Prompts

Please answer the following prompts in 500 words or less, in Spanish.

1.  Talk to us about your experience, formal and informal, with education. What are some of the challenges that you have seen for students in finishing their studies, in the United States or abroad?
2.  Have you ever been abroad? Where and for how long? Please tell us something about your experience.
3.  Teach us your favorite educational game, song, or activity.
4.  You are in a Parent-Teacher Association meeting in Panama. The teachers have proposed to parents that they begin enforcing the national rule that girls who have children cannot attend public school classes. A father stands up and expresses his support, explaining that girls who have started a family should not mix with the other students because they will be a bad influence. How do you respond?
5. The pace of life in rural Latin America is very different from the United States, and your day will often include hand-washing clothes and bathing in streams, mosquitoes, tropical heat/humidity, latrines, unpredictable control over your diet, and noise during the night (radios, dogs barking, roosters, crying babies). Over time this can become exhausting. When you are anxious, tired, feeling isolated, or overwhelmed, what are some things you can do to take care of yourself emotionally and physically?
6. This fellowship leaves a lot of time for self-directed projects. What about this fellowship excites you, and what are some small projects you might consider starting while in Panama?

Few for Change Co-Director Brooks Winner and his fellow volunteers conceived of the program after a semester studying in Panama through SIT. They saw it as a way to give back to the communities and families that had hosted them during their studies, and have raised nearly $20,000 over the past four years, awarding 19 three-year $1,050 scholarships for students. These awards cover educational expenses for the students, such as tuition, food, clothing, transportation, and books. Few for Change serves multiple communities in the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé, a semi-autonomous Indigenous state in Panama, similar to a US reservation.

Few for Change volunteers celebrate with students, family members and volunteers in Quebrada Guabo, Panama.

The Ngöbe-Buglé is Panama’s largest indigenous group and the second largest Indigenous group in all of meso-America. Ninety-eight percent of the population in the Comarca lives in poverty and ninety percent live in extreme poverty – defined as not having enough to eat on a regular basis.  According to Winner, the cycle of poverty in the area is perpetuated by a lack of access to education — nine out of ten students from the area don’t reach seventh grade. He is certain that none of the Few for Change scholars would have been able to continue their education into secondary school without the support of the scholarship.

“The unique thing about this project is that it started with an educational experience and grew into a natural reciprocal exchange,” Winner said. “We learned so much from the people who hosted us, and we wanted to reciprocate that gift of education through the scholarship program. We believe that education is a basic human right which can facilitate and sustain transformation for these students and their communities.”

The trip was the first by Winner and his colleagues since the founding of the scholarship. ”After four years of getting to know these amazing students through their photos, essays and journal entries, it was incredible to finally meet them and talk to them about their aspirations and dreams for the future,” Winner said. “These young men and women are the future leaders of their communities and they are all committed to working to make their homes better places to live. With a little help from Few for Change and the support of their families and communities, they are able to pursue their goals of becoming teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, and agents of change in their hometowns.”

Few for Change Co-Director Brooks Winner (center) and volunteer Katie Clay (right) present Few for Change scholar Aquilino Andrades Santo with a certificate.

“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.

Until this year, Gillian, one of our volunteer staff had been working in Panama and right before the school year started, she would host an “entrega” ceremony to present the students with their scholarships. This year, Gillian is working in Guatemala, but we really felt that we needed a presence at the entrega ceremony so Brooks, Lily, Tim and I decided to make the trip to Panama to meet our students for the first time and present them with their scholarships.

Few for Change volunteers celebrate with students, family members and volunteers in Quebrada Guabo, Panama.

Tim and I arrived in Panama on a Wednesday night and spent the evening taking in the Panama City warmth. Thursday was spent running errands, making copies, and making sure we had all of our supplies ready for the ceremony. Brooks joined us for last-minute preparations on Thursday evening and then, bright and early Friday morning, we were on a bus out of Albrook Terminal headed for the other side of Panama.

Few for Change Co-Director Brooks Winner (center) and volunteer Katie Clay (right) present Few for Change scholar Aquilino Andrades Santo with a certificate.

In Panama, the vast majority of cities lie west of the capital along the largest highway in Panama, the Carretera Interamericana. As long as you get on a bus that’s going as far or farther west than your destination, you can ask to stop at any point. We headed for “El Cruce de San Felix,” the crossroads where the Interamericana meets San Felix, a town that borders the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé. Some of our students go to school in San Felix because, unlike many of the towns in the Comarca, they have a high school.

Our journey: we traveled from Panama City, the yellow/red star, west to the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle
(www.worldheadquarters.com).

The bus ride from Panama City theoretically takes about five hours, but that estimate doesn’t count for the inevitable stops along the way. Lily was coming from visiting a friend in Costa Rica and, in the absence of good phone service, our plan was to meet her in San Felix around 3 pm. Five hours into our ride, we realized we were running at least an hour late. At 4:30, we pulled into the bus stop and I instructed the taxi driver to take us to “the most central place in San Felix.” He dropped us off right outside of the supermarket—Lily was nowhere to be found. We asked a couple of the storeowners if they had spotted her (it’s pretty easy to find a gringa (white girl) with blonde hair and blue eyes in the countryside of Panama). I started wandering down the road to see if Lily had landed in a different part of San Felix. As I walked, I stopped anyone who I thought might have seen her if they had seen “una gringa rubia con ojos azules” (a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes). No luck.

Twenty minutes later, back outside of the supermarket, a bus flew by and Brooks jumped up yelling “wait, I see blonde hair and a blue scarf, I think that’s her!” As we chased after the bus we really hoped he was right, fearing that we might miss our rendezvous chasing after the wrong blonde. Ten minutes down the road, a black car pulled up next to us and out popped Lily, looking slightly disheveled, but otherwise safe and sound. We looked around, confused, until a man got out of the front seat, looked right at me and said “found her!” He was one of the men I stopped while I was walking around town—he saw her at the bus stop and decided to bring her back to the supermarket, where I had told him we were waiting. That’s the Panamanian sense of community for you.

One more taxi ride later, we arrived in Quebrada Guabo, one of the main towns within the Comarca. Doris, one of our volunteers in the Comarca, greeted us, showed us where we would be spending the night before the Entrega, and served us food. Suddenly I was able to put a face to a name I had heard dozens of times—one of the faces that makes Few for Change work while we are all in the United States.

Dinner, reflections and planning with Doris, one of our volunteers in the Comarca.

The scholarship ceremony was scheduled to start a 1 pm, so with our 8:30 am breakfast the next morning, we planned on having plenty of time for last minute preparations. Around 9 am, as we were still eating breakfast, two young girls walked up. “That looks a little bit like Analida, doesn’t it?” “Um… kind of, but why would she be here so early?” We’ve only ever seen our students in the few pictures we have from other Entrega ceremonies—and some of them have grown so much since the last picture we’ve seen that they were almost unrecognizable. It turned out that the girl who came in was, in fact, Analida, who had seemingly arrived four hours early for the ceremony. We asked Doris why she had arrived so early and Doris said “hmm… I was telling people 11, but I’m pretty sure Ramon (our other volunteer) might have been telling everyone 1.” With people traveling for up to five hours to get to the ceremony, it appeared that we were going to need a new game plan.

As we debated between hosting two ceremonies and trying to have all the students together, more and more students showed up. It was an amazing feeling to see the 16 students whose applications we had read, pictures we had seen and lives we had followed from afar for the past few years. Some were extremely shy at first, while others began talking to us right away. Aquilino walked straight up to Brooks and gave him a big hug. We ended up starting the “first” Entrega ceremony at 11 am, by which point all but 2 or 3 students had arrived. The last few trickled in within the first few minutes. After everyone introduced themselves, we called each student up and presented them with their scholarship. We talked a little bit about Few for Change, how it was founded, what the program is and what the requirements are and then split up into two groups: parents and students.

Students and families before the start of the scholarship ceremony.

Brooks and Lily took the students outside to play “yeehaw”, a loud and ridiculous ice-breaker game, and then have them write journal entries and reflections on the year past and the year ahead. As with any good ice-breaker, the students were initially really shy, and maybe slightly terrified, but after a couple of good “yeehaws”, they were laughing and enjoying themselves.

Meanwhile, Tim and I met with the parents and our two volunteers, Doris y Ramon, to listen to their thoughts on the program. The meeting with the parents was extremely positive. We asked for feedback, criticisms, what was working and what wasn’t. Most of their reflections about what “wasn’t working” were things from the beginning of last year that we managed to resolve by the end of the year. We knew the problems, we knew what solutions we tried to put into place, but we weren’t 100% sure whether or not they were working. It was great to hear that all of our hard work had paid off and that the parents seemed extremely happy with the program.

Students writing reflections about their hopes, aspirations and goals for the future.

After this, we re-joined the groups and had a meal with everyone, allowing us to chat with and get to know our students, parents and volunteers. When the meal was over, the students and their families dispersed, some of them starting their four or five hour journeys home.

The strength, determination and passion that it takes for these children to continue going to school every day amazes and inspires me. Some of them walk 3-4 hours a day to class. Others live with relatives, friends or rent a room near their schools but are hours from their families at a very young age. I was very excited about was the fact that all of the students came to the Entrega (two couldn’t attend personally but their parents came as representatives). The fact that all 16 families were represented really showed me that Few for Change is being taken seriously in the Comarca. What once was a slightly thrown together group of college students raising money for scholarships has turned into a true organization and agent for change. Ramon, one of our volunteers, stood up at the Entrega and said “this money and help that is being given is not just for the student to study, but for the students to study, learn, grow and bring back what they learn to their communities. This scholarship is not an individual gift, but a gift to the community as a whole to help us create change in the Comarca.”

Since we started Few for Change, one of the main characteristics we look for in student’s applications is a desire to create change in their communities. To hear one of our volunteers state so clearly that this crucial mission of our organization was truly occurring with these 16 students was amazing. Talking to the students, it’s evident that they’ve taken this to heart. Karmen, a senior in high school, has already picked out a university that she wants to attend in Honduras. She will study agricultural engineering so that she can work in the interior of the Comarca, where farming is very difficult and slash and burn agriculture is commonly practiced.

Brooks presenting Karmen with her certificate.

Aquilino and Rubiela are also seniors and both are planning to attend university. All three of our seniors and their families asked if our scholarship would cover university. While we might not be able to cover full university scholarships, we will work our hardest and do whatever we can to ensure that these students get to achieve their dreams of being leaders and creating change in their communities.

Meeting our students in February forced me to reevaluate. The truth is, that of our sixteen scholars, nine are under the age of sixteen and four of those students are twelve. And the twelve year-olds in the group are tiny. Like, really small. So small that when Ana Melisa arrived at the ceremony after our initial round of introductions and was asked to state her name, age and community to our group of forty, I wanted to jump up and say that for her it just wasn’t necessary.

Brooks and Ana Melisa

Ana Melisa had a different idea.  She turned to the group, squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and in a guided, calm voice, spoke. She provided the necessary information with true poise, and then went on, conveying her thanks to our group and stating her happiness to be at the ceremony that day. My jaw was on the floor. Twelve-year olds. Go figure.

When we arrived back in Panama City, Brooks, Tim, Katie and I spoke with the current SIT students about Few For Change.  One of the first questions we received was about how we were able to make funding decisions based off applications completed by twelve-year olds. I  recounted the story of Ana Melisa.

Though Ana Melisa might be the coolest twelve-year old ever, this shouldn’t be a requirement to finish high school. Any twelve-year old, whether they are a star-student or are more concerned with the cute boy in the class across the hall, has this right.  And it’s our goal with Few for Change to make this happen. We’re starting small, sometimes literally, and growing a program that helps the vibrant, beautiful Ngobe-Bugle community help themselves. Ana Melisa does not have the resources to finish high school without our assistance but I’m more than confident her children will.