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Nearly 80 years our fmily have been defending Indigenous children
in Panama
Child Friendly Panama, Bruce Panama....(Recent
Photos) .
(Agenda SOS International
- so Kuna, Gnobe Bugle, Embera can honour
their own families) |
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 | Celia,
Now Coordinator of our project with Kuna people in Panama. We are grateful to
be joined by Celia, and also thank Vincent and his friends who are making it possible
for Celia to participate with us in this challenging and rewarding project.. |
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A strength of
the Kunas to resist assimilation into conquering cultures -(They are
one of only four known tribes in the western hemisphere to maintain
their uniqueness these 4 centuries) is the Kuna social structure,
which is matriarchal . |
We
have had three schools operating, with an average daily attendance of 60 to 70
very poor Kuna children |
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| First school for
Kuna children
Located in Arrajan, a tropical area twenty minutes drive
north of Panama City, in the midst of a shanty settlement, where several thousand
Kunas live in extreme poverty: their children uneducated.
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| | The tribes of
Panama: Kuna, Ngobe, Emberá,
Buglé, etc.
Our contract
with them is to teach their uneducated children to read and write, but not do
anything to change their indigenous culture. |
| Getting Started in Panama - First staff, first steps |
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| Ana Tere,
Isabel (Facilitator), Nadiuzka (Community co-ordinator), First school (Arraijan
- 15 minutes from Panama City), Jan Van Erp (potential Co-ordinator) with Bruce,
& potential students. |
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| Panama
Open - April - With the participation of Kinder Zon we have opened our project
in in Panama, and started the first schools for indigenous children (& some
of their mothers). Our plan is to get enough schools functioning around the capital
city to be able demonstrate to the Government of Panama that the large population
of extremely poor children not in School must be urgently helped, as we are doing. | 
Our provisional
centre, in Arraijan - replaced by a hostel sharing in Old Town Panama City. |
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HIV / AIDS pandemic thrives in Latin America |
The publisher of the book "What's a Virus, Anyway", is
coming to volunteer, and giving a quantity of these books in Spanish..
| The UN has declared
that the number infected with HIV/AIDS in Latin America is greater than that of
Europe and the USA combined. If you live in one of these countries you would
not know this - it is not reported in the media, talked about in the chambers
of Government. They are in denial. But we know it is there, children and families
in the communities we help are suffering: and there is little help available.
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