Buena Esperanza School Transport 2020

UPDATE 4.1.20: We asked you for help to buy gas for boats to transport the children of Buena Esperanza to the middle school in Tierra Oscura and we are grateful to those who  made donations. Now schools have closed as CoVid-19 wreaks havoc around the world. The few mothers and fathers of Buena Esperanza who had jobs are now quarantined with no money coming in. To make sure children get the lunch they would have gotten at school and based on the expressed needs of the community leaders, we are shifting dollars to buy food for lunches rather than gas for boats. The cost is about the same, and we don’t have enough money to last. Please donate what you can!  We will resume with paying for gas for the school boats as soon as schools reopen.

SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION:

Eight miles south of Bocas del Toro in Panama, the village of Buena Esperanza, consisting of approximately 50 indigenous families, sits high on a hill overlooking beautiful Dolphin Bay. With the exception of a few families fortunate enough to own a solar panel and a small tank to collect rainwater from their roof, the village is without electricity, adequate toilet facilities, or running water. Translated to English, Buena Esperanza means “good hope”, and education for the youngsters is the best hope for a brighter future for the village.

Escuela Buena Esperanza, a public school, provides basic education for about 75 children in kindergarten through sixth grade. To the west, 4 “water miles” away, public school Escuela Tierra Oscura offers grades 7 through 9. To the east, an hour-trek across a swamp and through rugged jungle, Escuela Shark Hole offers grades 1-12. The Panamanian government does not provide transportation from Buena Esperanza to either of these schools.

In 2017 and prior, more than 80% of students dropped out of school after 6th grade. Only 5 middle-grade students, paddling a dugout canoe for an hour each way, attended the Tierra Oscura school that year. Often left idle in the community, these 11-15 year old children were ripe for trouble: girls pregnant at age 13 being just one of the unwelcome results. Uneducated youngsters were destined for a future of poverty and continuing a subsistence life-style. 

In 2018, neighbors, friends, and caring individuals joined Give & Surf and together raised $3,000 to cover the cost of gas for a boat to take middle school students to Escuela Tierra Oscura. Village parents were quite pleased and took turns driving the community boat. 15 students attended middle school that year!

In 2019, 22 students wanted to go to school in Tierra Oscura. The community was thrilled! Parents stepped up to provide a privately owned second boat and also volunteered to pay $1 per week per student. You and others came through again and generously covered the $5,000 needed for two boats!

In 2020, we again need $5000 for the cost of gas for boats to take 20 middle-grade students to Tierra Oscura. We are excited to have partnered with Soroptimist Bocas Islas. That  group has generously committed to covering the cost of one boat which will transport all of the girls, so we’re halfway to our goal! But we still need funds for the second boat for the boys. 100% of your one-time or monthly donation goes directly towards funding this transportation and it increases the possibilities for a brighter future in Buena Esperanza. Please help.

100% of your donation goes directly towards funding this transportation program for Buena Esperanza. Your donation may be tax deductible in the US under Tax ID # 27-3351048.  Contact info@giveandsurf.org with any questions.

THANK YOU ️

And stay tuned: Several organizations presently are studying the feasibility of improving the trail to Shark Hole including building a bridge across the swamp. A safe trail, in the long-run, is a more economically sustainable solution to school transport - and allows younger Buena Esperanza students to attend the same school as their older brothers and sisters.