By Nausicaa Chu
In Cieneguita, Panama, a single main road cuts through a patchwork of grass and trees like a vein. To the south, the road winds through empty swaths of green before reaching the small village. Most people have never heard of this village. Even people twenty minutes down this road do not know that it exists.
But three thousand miles of road away, Gina Winn, alongside Restoration Academy and Over the Mountain students, has travelled to this village over twenty times as part of the Hecho Project. The nonprofit organization partners with the teachers and students of Cieneguita to provide English-language courses and community assistance for the village. It has impacted hundreds of students on either side of the gulf.
One year, the Hecho Project built a covered walkway to shield students from the rain. Another time, they organized a carnival. This spring, they bought air conditioning units to stop the computer lab from overheating.
“We’re founded on helping this one little village become more educated and have more opportunities through learning English,” says Winn, the Executive Director of the Hecho Project.
The project began in 2015, but one could say that its origins went back further than that – to Winn’s childhood. No stranger to world travelling, Winn’s father was in the Navy, and she grew up in Cuba and Spain. She began learning Spanish in third grade, becoming fluent. After travelling to Panama with the Canterbury United Methodist Church, Winn founded the Hecho Project.
“So many things that had happened in my life were leading me to this,” says Winn. “It just gives me chills to think about.”
Nearly every summer since 2015 – excluding the pandemic years – a bus full of eager Over the Mountain students, luggage, and school supplies has driven from the skyscrapers and triple-lane highways of Panama City to the Cieneguita road. At the wheel is Lenin. Winn met the bus driver at the airport one year, and he has driven the students ever since.
Look for the full story in the July 24th issue of OTMJ
