Building Dreams and Houses

by Maxwell Hudgins

Photo captured by Timothy Hyde

How did you get to your high school? How do you get to university classes? Do you spend most of your day on campus, or go back and forth between your house and your lectures throughout the day? 

If you grew up in the US, you probably took the bus or walked to your high school. Stayed there all day, studied, ate lunch, played sports or band or theater, and then went home. By the time you got to university, you were probably living right next to campus. In Panama, unless you lived in Panama City or next to one of the sparse towns that dot the country, your commute looked wildly different. 

Some of the lucky ones live in the rural mountains behind Penonomé, one of the larger towns in Panama. Local schools go all the way up to the 8th grade, but some kids are dedicated to finishing high school and making it to college. So, they wake up at 5:00am, puts on their uniforms, pack a small lunch, and get ready. These schoolchildren hike 15 minutes down a dirt road to the nearest bus stop. The rickety bus is running late, as it usually does, so this is an ideal time to study. The fare is cheap: only a couple dollars, but considering these whole families likely live on less 600 dollars a month, the dollar or two to pay for a one-way ticket tends to cut into the household income. The road is bumpy as the bus makes it was down the dirt road, but it is not the rainy season so there’s no worries about the vehicle getting stuck in a muddy pothole. Finally, the kids make it to school. They spend the day studying, and catch the 3:15 bus back to the closest stop to their home. The commute alone today was three hours, faster than usual. The young pre-teens were up before the sun, and walk uphill back to their houses as it begins to set. 

Photo captured by Timothy Hyde

In the early 2010s, MC Beauvil established the JLM House of Hope to give young Panamanian women an opportunity to live closer to university, allowing them to drastically cut down on their commutes to and from classes. Throughout the school week, the young women who stayed in the house learned to live away from their families, take care of themselves and each other, and attend university full time. Owing to the limited space and funding, the spots were limited to the young women who are often most economically challenged yet dedicated to completing their college education.

Edilsa Martinez is one of JLM’s proudest alumni. Hailing from the mountains behind the small town of Penonomé, Edilsa’s commute to college would have normally looked very close to the one described above. Thanks to the House of Hope, and to MC, Edilsa was able to graduate with a degree in law and has since become a civil rights lawyer. 

While the House of Hope has since closed, it had only been one of the projects of JLM. The organization has also built homes for rural families, organized weekend teaching and empowerment camps to children, provided essential items to struggling Panamanians during the COVID-19 pandemic, and routinely provided presents and food during large holidays such as Christmas. 

A typical service trip to the mountains to build a home typically lasts a full weekend. In one specific case, a six-person family was sharing a one-bedroom cement shack, and MC arranged to build a room extension to their house. On Friday, after teaching a half-day at her school, Five Stars Academy, MC rounded up student and parent volunteers and began driving to the family’s home, a location not viable to reach without four wheel drive. Construction began with cement mixing and digging out the floor for the foundation. It stopped in the evening to let the cement set, and after bathing off the cement dust and dirt in a nearby river, everyone sat down for a meal of sancocho, a traditional Panamanian stew, and slept in tents or hammocks. Day two was spent building the majority of the house, mixing cement for the floors and walls, and laying cinder blocks. Progress was slow but steady, and by working throughout the day, an eight-man team successfully added a whole other room to the household. Sunday was used for putting on the finishing touches: adding the corrugated roofs and smoothing out the floor, before thanking the family for their hospitality and heading home. 

Photo captured by Timothy Hyde

MCs projects extend well beyond the borders of Panama. In 2018, the JLM foundation spent a week on the outskirts of Leon, Nicaragua teaching various subjects to children and teenagers, as well as providing food and necessities to families living near the garbage dumps of La Chureca, Managua. Despite the ongoing crises in Haiti, MC and JLM have routinely scheduled trips back to the country, oftentimes at great personal risk, to help rebuild, feed, and educate. 

All purchases and contributions for Painting for Panama will go directly to benefit the JLM foundation.