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Our involvement

We’re deeply com­mit­ted to work­ing with the Bahia Honda com­munity to improve the lives of all who live here. In practice, this means a lot more than fair wages and charitable donations. Over the past decade we’ve collaborated closely with res­id­ents to estab­lish a num­ber of com­munity devel­op­ment pro­jects. Through edu­ca­tion, envir­on­mental aware­ness, heath, cul­tural pride, and income gen­er­a­tion pro­grammes, we hope to help empower people to over­come the many obstacles of daily life.

In 2011, our com­munity work in Bahia Honda received a huge boost as we partnered with a non-profit organization, Edu­ca­tion is Power, a found­a­tion estab­lished spe­cific­ally to fun­draise for edu­ca­tional pro­grammes in Bahia Honda.

We also work closely with Give and Surf, who recruit volunteers to work on the ground to deliver many projects both in Bahia Honda and throughout the Bocas del Toro archipelago.

Bahia Honda

Bahia Honda, the bay in which La Loma resides, is home to roughly thirty indi­gen­ous Ngäbe-Buglé fam­il­ies, with a total estim­ated pop­u­la­tion of close to 200. The Ngäbe fam­ily homesteads of Bahia Honda are scattered around the deep man­grove bay on the lee­ward side of the island of Bas­ti­men­tos. At the heart of the com­munity is a small primary school with 50 or so students.

Help us to continue making a difference

Many former La Loma guests donate gen­er­ously to the Bahia Honda com­munity, as do oth­ers who have heard about our projects. Through these gifts, and through the help of collaborative organizations, Bahia Honda now proudly has:

  • A preschool, ‘Monso Chi’, with 20 delighted students

  • A play­ground made from recycled materials

  • An after­school club with sports and arts activ­it­ies and lots of Eng­lish lan­guage conversation

  • 10 fam­il­ies with new flocks of chick­ens and new coops

  • Solar power installed at the school, 3 laptops, a pro­jector and stereo

  • A fully equipped junior base­ball team

  • Spon­sor­ships for 10 high school and uni­ver­sity students

  • An adult Eng­lish lan­guage group

  • Count­less dona­tions of books, school sup­plies, cloth­ing and medicines

 

If you’d like to sup­port Bahia Honda, you can make a tax-deductable dona­tion online.

If you have a little space to spare in your bag, please consider participating in Pack for a Purpose, a wonderful initiative to bring low-cost and extremely beneficial items to local communities.

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