Help Elias Rebuild His Life After Prison

Elias was only 12 years old when my mother and I met him in Panama City, Panama. At the time, to generate money he sold roses and chocolates in a popular neighborhood, this was how we met him. His mother was in prison and his grandmother's hands were full raising her other daughters. Elias would accompany me on photography shoots and I grew to see him like a younger brother. But Elias was really on his own, raising himself and waiting for his mother to get released from prison. When Elias was picked up by the police shop lifting, we helped him get out of jail and found him an internship learning carpentry. His mother was released from prison and they were reunited. We fell out of touch until a few years ago when Elias, revealed he was in prison for burglary. With Elias's family history it is easy to see how he could wind up in this position to make ends meet. Elias never finished high school. His early life was full of precarity and a lack of domestic stability. There is no prison reform in Panama. Prisoners have a very hard time receiving remedial education and there is no social safety net for him when he is released. Elias is hoping to make a real change in his life and how he earns a living upon being released from prison this Fall 2024. To start his new life and ensure he does not fall back to his learned ways but needing to provide for his three children, mother and former partner, Elias aims to purchase a pick up truck with the aspiration of beginning a business growing and selling plants and fruit using a small piece of land belonging to his mother. Elias loves growing plants. Please help him reconstruct his life, in a country that offers no prison reform or support for people seeking to make a change to their lives.