Poverty Project International Stories

She sits in the park and watches the world go by. He races by She lives in a community that is not her own...and makes it her own She explores new territory thinking she is alone He munches on breakfast from a brown paper bag,  no worries,   in the simplicity of the morning. This is the park. Watching,  laura Please check out our FULL WEBSITE at www.PovertyProjectInternational.com Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/povertyprojectinternational/ If you want to chat, you can email us at povertyprojectinternational@gmail.com Or if you want to help us out and DONATE, you can go to PAYPAL and send your donation to   povertyprojectinternational@gmail.com All donations are tax deductible. Live is an adventure, Live it!

This is where we ended up--on the beach. Our guide Sam brought us here. We met him just by chance when we were walking through the Ngobe village on Solarte. Its set on a hillside and smells of fresh cut grass. Small houses, simply built, stand between banana trees and towering mangoes. All now in full fruit. Sam knew us from town and when he saw us he waved and said hi! It was only  moment before he was running out of his house and offering to show us around, I am so happy he did. The view from up on the hill was amazing. We could see the mountains on the mainland across the bay. And when we left the village and entered the jungle, we found a hobo (ceiba) tree--very important to the native people here and considered sacred. We found these huge spiked fruits which were not quite ready. Sam didn't remember their name, but I think it might be jackfruit, a soft white and very sweet fleshy fruit that we tasted when our friend William brought from the Dark Land for

Yesterday we braved the waves and slowly took our time to navigate around the reef and eventually found ourselves setting foot on Isla San Cristobal (named after Christpoher Columbus who landed here). San Crisotbal is largely peopled by the Ngobe Tribe. We met a couple kids on the dock and handed out lolli-pops. We walked up the path to a little store (and by little I mean it looks like a drive through window--well a walk through--where you can buy a few things you see behind the counter) They didn't have any water so we bought a cold coke. Kids followed us. The village is poor. Very poor. Most of the houses don't have complete walls. But bananas and chocolate grow everywhere. We walked to the soccer field and Lee played with the kids. Its his favorite thing to do. We saw this tiny girl carrying a heavy water bottle. And then we saw a familiar face. An older Ngobe man we'd met in town on the main island. He invited us in. We sat in re

We walked the paths of Bastimentos today. We climbed the hill to the top and spoke with a 76 year old woman who walks it everyday. I had a hard time jut getting up there. I am impressed with her stamina to say the least. We played basketball with the teenagers at the end of the path, on a real basketball court next to the beach. We laughed at the kids showing off their diving skills at the end of the dock. We had lunch in a tiny restaurant out on a dock. I had creole chicken and lentils and rice. It was 5 bucks.  But the most important thing we did all day was talk.  It is impossible to connect with people if you don't talk. Working with the poor is not just about putting roofs on people's houses Its not just about feeding people or buying school clothes. (although those things do come into play) How can we affect people's lives if we don't get to know them? How can they share their troubles with us if we don't talk to them? So why are