Fight Poverty: Educate Women in Panama

We have graduated more than 700 women since 2005, of which 64% are working in hotels and other businesses; and 8% chose to continue their studies.

So far, our area of action had limited itself to San Felipe, El Chorrillo, Curundú, Santa Ana and Calidonia but in 2015, we started the process of expansion outside our traditional sectors.

The province of Colon is located near the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal. It is commercially important for the country because of the Free Zone (the world's second largest) and by its ports activities. We aim to change the reality of families living at dangerous and marginalized areas, this effort is supported by the Embassy of the United States that rely on the viability of the program and have chosen the City of Colon as the perfect candidate for social change. 

Why is it important?

Colon City has big problems such as unemployment, education and social support, which is why many of the young people end up associated with gangs. However, women have an entrepreneurial spirit and desire to succeed with their families. They represent 48% of the colonense population, within this percentage the majority is under the figure of "head of household" and must address their homes by themselves.

Our desire to help

Calicanto Foundation, ensuring the social restructuring of the province of Colon and believing in strong women living in this sector, decided to extend its training program (CAPTA) to areas such as Barrio Norte, Barrio Sur, Buena Vista, Puerto Escondido, Villa Caribe, reverted areas and Arco Iris located in the City of Colon. During the next two years, we plan to train and locate more than 220 colonenses women in the Hotel industry.

A CAPTA woman increases 70% of her self-esteem; 60% of them became leaders in their community; 90% received health certificates. 85% of women culminated the course and 64% of them are located into the labor market.

Expansion has not been an easy task, but we have had the support of the Embassy of the United States during this journey of hope. We have approximately 75% of the funds needed to develop our program in the sister province of Colon. In 2015 we managed to perform: 

• Community research
• Geographical recognition of Colon
• Reconstruction of the class room
• Installation of furniture
• Manual and Training Plan
• Hiring full-time staff

Our work does not end there. We need your help! we want to educate each of our beneficiaries with the right equipment and provide them the tools they need to achieve their goals. Once accredited to take part in the tourism-hotel sector, it will attract other women to improve their lives and their environment. 

Help us build a new Colon City, full of opportunities and decent work for colonenses mothers. Hundreds of homes, children and communities will be influenced by this wave of social restructuring. You can be part of this change!

Abigail’s story

Abigail gave birth to a young girl just days before her 15th birthday. She never took a sex-education course before or had access to birth control because she was born and raised in an indigenous region with a very strict culture that believed bearing a baby during childhood is a betrayal of the family and a sin. After giving birth to her child she was forced to leave the house.

She dropped out in the fifth grade and moved to her aunt’s house at Cerro Batea (makeshift houses atop a mountain).  She didn't have stability in her home, shifted from house to house until she finally met her partner. The instability and long distances between these homes and her school made it impossible for her to continue her studies and led her to drop out at a young age. 

No access to water or electricity, Abigail’s lives in a makeshift home, roughly the size of a regular bedroom, with her partner, daughter and two cousins. She is now 20 years old and faces the reality of many poor women living in Chepo (district in the outskirts of Panama). 

She found the Project CAPTA (Fight Poverty: Help Educate the Women of Panama) through her aunt, a CAPTA graduate, who told her that there were job opportunities for her in the hotel industry and all she had to do was call and ask about the job.  At that time she neither worked nor studied. “I have a daughter. I need to work and do everything  possible to survive for her”she said. Doubtful at first, she was finally encouraged by her aunt to participate in our intense seven-week program that would conclude with a job opportunity.

To participate in this program, Abigail faces many difficulties and makes tough choices  everyday such as: leaving her four year old daughter alone, not knowing what they will eat or where she will find the money to feed herself and her daughter. In the wee hours of the morning when most of us are still sleeping she is already on her way to San Felipe where the foundation is located. It takes her two hours, walking by herself at dusk, a bus and a train to arrive on time. 

One of the most valuable things she has learned in the course is to control her anger. Assertive Communication has taught her to think things through before speaking, to be more tolerant of others and to improve her attitude. In order to make the most of this opportunity she tells herself: “I have to fight for this, I have to achieve this!”.

“I want to work to protect my child’s life”. In spite of all the obstacles she faced, Abigail finished the program with a better self-esteem and is now ready to pursue a professional career that will help her pay for her daughter’s education expenses. This will be the way out of poverty for Abigail. Now she counts with the tools and skills to find a job and she has the confidence and ability to deal with the challenges ahead.

(The names in this report have been changed to ensure the privacy of our beneficiaries.)

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