It got to where I was too embarrassed to talk about it.
I first had the idea to start a school at Los Islotes 15 years ago.
Every year since it has been my priority New Year’s agenda.
This time last year, I shared again my plan to open my Los Islotes Learning Center.
It would be, I continued to imagine, a place for students in this Veraguas region to come to access the internet. They don’t all have it in their homes.
We’d create a lending library—the first anywhere on this coast.
We’d offer English-language lessons as well as tutoring and classes in basic computer skills.
Panama’s glorious but still unsung Veraguas District is where Lief and I have sighted our longest-term plan. This Sunset Coast remains unexplored even among Panamanians. We value privacy and elbow room, making it the perfect location for the beachfront community we’re creating at Los Islotes.
Join us January 8. for our annual global index reveal.
At first, Los Islotes was about making money. More than a decade-and-a-half into the most challenging undertaking of our lives, we’ve finally recognized that this is not about cash flow or profit.
Los Islotes has been our bridge to a secret world. Connecting with this realm has gifted me purpose. Giving the next generation here a leg up is the most worthwhile use of my time I can now imagine.
A new economy is emerging on this hidden coast. Los Islotes is leading the way. We’re installing infrastructure, building houses, and planting gardens.
We’re the first and right now the only ones undertaking these kinds of activities here, but others will follow. And we’ll all be in the market for staff.
We’ll need construction crews and woodworkers, housekeepers and landscapers, security and cooks.
Local schools have small budgets and limited resources. I’d like to help supplement.
Ultimately, I’d like to offer a fully fledged curriculum for children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
However, putting together the pieces for that was daunting. Thus the 15-year delay getting this project off the ground.
Earlier this year, my righthand at Los Islotes, the young woman named Dalys who runs things day-to-day, made a suggestion.
“Senora Kathleen,” she began, “I know you want to start a school for all the children in these parts. But that is a very big idea. What if we started smaller? What if we offered a summer camp?”
Summertime in Panama is January through March. That’s when the weather is best and kids are out of school.
“And what if,” Dalys continued, “we focused on the girls?”
In our Veraguas world, girls don’t grow up with big dreams. Dalys is an exception. As she told me straight up the day she came to interview for a job at Los Islotes, she wanted a “real career.” Her mother had nurtured the idea, sending Dalys to Panama City to be educated and making sure she learned to speak English.
Like Dalys, her mom isn’t typical.
“Mothers in these parts,” Dalys told me once, “they teach their daughters that the key is to find a man. I try to tell my friends that they shouldn’t worry about boys. They should focus on school. Get jobs. Learn to take care of themselves. But they’re afraid.”
So, when Dalys suggested that I rethink the approach for my Los Islotes school, I understood. She had come up with a strategy to help local girls build confidence.
Dalys’ idea has evolved into the Los Islotes Summer Camp For Extraordinary Young Women.
“Because that’s what we can show them that they are,” Dalys said. “They’re extraordinary. They just don’t know it yet.”
Our camp will take place in three three-week sessions—Session I for girls aged 6 to 9; Session II for girls aged 10 to 14; and Session III for girls 15 to 18.
The camps are free, sponsored by Los Islotes, and each will finish with a graduation ceremony. Each girl will leave with a certificate of accomplishment.
Dalys posted flyers around Quebro town. Within two weeks, we had 12 girls registered for Session I and 16 girls each for sessions II and III.
“Senora Kathleen,” Dalys came to me to ask in a panic, “can we handle all those girls? What will we do with them all day?”
Dalys and I have conceived a program. Our goal is for each girl to leave able to hold a basic conversation in English. And we’ll show the older ones how to prepare a resume and write a cover letter to apply for a job—maybe with us!
The first session, for the little ones, starts tomorrow.
It’s my long-held New Year’s goal coming true.
It’s not a school. But it’s a start.
Until next time,
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter
