My family (that' us!) live in Panamá in the rain forest in an off-grid home.

The closest school to us is La Esquela de Altos de Pacora in the small village of Altos de Pacora. It is situated just south of parque nacional chagres (Chagres National Park) on the top of a mountain in the Cerro Azul. Like most small communities in Panamá there is relatively little money. The school itself has four classrooms, 1 lunch room, and a single bathroom for all the children (about 80) and teachers (5). The five classrooms have one teacher for pre-kinder and kindergarten, another for first and second, another for third and fourth, another for fifth and sixth, then the seventh, eighth and ninth graders all share the lunchroom and a single teacher.
 
We do all we can to help, and we purchased 4 laptop computers last year and brought them back as a donation to the school. We were surprised to find that Profesor Tomas (photo below), the teacher for the older children (grade 7-9) started a technology program and the students shared the four computers - 4 to a laptop (there were 18 kids then). He taught the first day by drawing the complete keyboard in chalk on the blackboard! Four out of the five graduating students qualified for university that year, and  it was the laptops which helped make the difference for them. We were ecstatic and happy for all the children.

Profesor Tomas:


My wife, Jena, teaches English (volunteer) at the school and we recently found out that someone had broken into the school two weeks ago and stole the laptops among other things. We are now hoping to replace them. School starts here the second week in March and we are scrambling to find what we can.

Without university (which is much like a trade school for kids just out of high school) these kids really have no chance, being from the "country." Employers see them as uneducated even though many of them are very smart. We had no idea the impact those 4 cheap laptops would make, but now that we've seen it, we've decided to ask for help.

We're looking for enough money to buy 15 refurbished laptops and all the fees associated with importing them. That is enough for each child to have a laptop for the year while in the upper grades. We also want a solidly built security locker to install in the school to keep them safe. We will post all receipts and be in charge of purchasing the laptops (around $200 each + 30% shipping and import fees), importing them, configuring and setting them up, and taking them to the school, including the security locker in which to store them.

Please help us help these kids!