By Dalys Rodriguez | Executive Director
We are proud to share with you the latest news about Fundacion Calicanto's CAPTA program. After a long application process, CAPTA was chosen the regional winner for the Financial Times/Citi Urban Ingenuity Award. The award celebrates innovative projects that bring solutions to the world's most pressing urban challenges through education and other development efforts. CAPTA was chosen for its contribution to education, training Panama's poorest women through a psychological and vocational course that opens employment opportunities for single mothers.
The Financial Times article that positioned CAPTA among top contenders, featured the program through the eyes of Luzkeira, a former gang leader who got her life back because of the CAPTA program. Luzkeira was forced by her parents to deal drugs at the age of 10; she went to prison for the first time when she was 13 and was arrested two more times since then on other serious charges. Luzkeira lives in a dangerous part of Panama City and has witnessed the death of close family members due to rival gang violence. To support her daughter and her nephew, she sells stuffed bread and coffee every night to nearby construction workers.
Luzkeira was recruited into the program by the social worker that gave her an informational sheet on the street. CAPTA offered her formal training and taught her skills that she can now use not only to find employment, but also to live responsibly away from violence and gangs.
Read more about Luzkeira using the links attached. Her marvelous turn around is proof that if we all work together as we have been, we can save women from violence and instability.
We are grateful for all of your kind donations, this prize belongs to you too; you have all contributed to rescuing nearly 600 Panamanian women.
Thank you and congratulations to you all!
By Dalys Rodriguez | Executive Director
By Carolina Esslinger | Project Volunteer
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