ChangeEsmeraldasLife

Help Esmeralda Experience a World of Possibilities

My name is Jason, and my wife Naomi and I live in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We are raising funds to help Esmeralda, a young Ngäbe girl, travel to the United States for a short visit—an experience that could truly change the direction of her life.

Esmeralda is the oldest of seven children in a family we have been helping since we moved to Panama over three years ago. This family lives in extreme poverty. Their mother is deaf and mute, cannot read or write, and is unable to communicate through sign language. Daily life for this family has always been a struggle.

When Naomi first met these children, their reality was difficult to fully comprehend.

They had never experienced hot running water, a home with electricity, or an indoor bathroom. There were times when the children took turns attending church services because they did not have enough shoes for everyone to go on the same day. Going an entire day without food was normal for them.

This is not a temporary hardship—this has been their entire life.

Over the past three years, friends and family have been incredibly generous, and we have personally witnessed how these donations have already changed the lives of these children. Clothing, food, and simple experiences have had an outsized impact. We were able to take three of the girls to Panama City, and even that small exposure dramatically expanded their confidence and sense of possibility.

What many people don’t realize is how the absence of basic life experiences limits a child’s vision for their future. If you’ve never seen opportunity, it’s almost impossible to imagine it.

Our goal with these children is very simple:

to provide love, food, spiritual guidance, and practical economic direction—and to help them believe their future can be different.

We strongly believe that exposure matters. Travel, education, and new environments can open doors in the mind long before they open doors in real life.

Over the last six months, Naomi has worked closely with Esmeralda to help her obtain her passport. While that may sound simple, for families living in extreme poverty the cost, paperwork, travel, and bureaucracy make even acquiring a passport virtually impossible to do on their own.

We are now working through the process of securing a B-2 visitor visa so Esmeralda can travel to the United States for a couple of weeks.

During this visit, Esmeralda will experience things that simply do not exist in her world. But most importantly, we will be taking her to visit the Jehovah’s Witness world headquarters in New York, where she will be exposed to opportunities for volunteer service, education, and spiritual growth—opportunities that can literally change the course of her life.

This trip is not about tourism.

It is about vision, confidence, and possibility.

Our long-term commitment is to help each and every one of these seven children acquire a passport and eventually have access to the same opportunities as they grow—travel experience, volunteer opportunities, and education that would otherwise remain completely out of reach.

This is a rare opportunity to make a big difference with a relatively small donation. These funds do not filter through an organization or administrative overhead. They go directly from you to these children, creating real, immediate impact in their lives.

Your donation will go toward:

 

• Visa and application fees
• Passport-related expenses
• Flights and travel costs
• Basic necessities during her stay

 

 

Every contribution—large or small—helps plant a seed of possibility in a life that has known very little of it.

please know that while we do not like asking for money Naomi and I simply can’t do this alone. Give %100 of our time and the limited money we have. We can only accomplish this with help from you 

Thank you for taking the time to read Esmeralda’s story, and for helping us show her that the world is bigger than the limits she was born into.

With sincere gratitude,

Jason & Naomi