Advancing Health and Nutrition for Panama's Children

Ana Eugenia Gonzales Ruiz de Cordova — Panama

March 6, 2008—Ana Eugenia Gonzales Ruiz de Cordova works tirelessly to make sure the children in Panama have enough to eat. A psychologist by training, she volunteers for Nutre Hogar, a Catholic organization that works to improve childhood nutrition.

In addition to providing care for children at the organization’s headquarters, Nutre Hogar sets up off-site nutrition centers run by volunteers.

Ana works with the volunteers to ensure they are fully trained in tending the gardens, preparing meals, and overall administration of the volunteer centers. She also is responsible for administration and tracking of the organization’s funds.

Many of Nutre Hogar’s offsite nutritional centers are in indigenous provinces throughout Panama. Ana says it is especially important to reach these areas, where up to 50 percent of people live below the poverty level.

Many children in these areas do not attend school, Ana says. “The constitution says that [education] is free and obligatory, but...there are parts of that population that do not make it to school, perhaps because they are too far away.”

Getting to these areas is hard even for organizations with some resources, such as Ana’s, but her faith and the desire to help those in need encourages her to press on.

“One place took me two days to get there. It was seven hours in a canoe, four hours on a boat navigating in the sea and in river, bad weather, rain, no communication, no telephone...I do it as a work of God...The part where you have to help...it gives me a sense of tranquility.”

The workshop brought together women of different cultural backgrounds, races and ages to learn from each others experiences.

The president of Nutre Hogar encouraged Ana to apply for the program. She was confident that Ana could help the organization prosper, and wanted to help prepare Ana take on more responsibility.

Ana was buoyed by this faith in her abilities, and says she took the workshop very seriously so that she could return to Panama City with knowledge, skills and abilities she could share with Nutre Hogar’s employees and volunteers.

“We focus on the community and I think that with the experience I have gained over this month, I’m taking many tools back with me to strengthen my institution, to give us more knowledge, to show us how to work with others, to work on projects and to find more resources.”

Read more about CEDPA's training programs.

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