Photo Exhibit--The Women of Panama & Their Stories

The Women of Panama & Their Stories, curated by Sustainable Harvest International (SHI). 

SHI provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to restore the planet’s tropical forests while overcoming poverty.  Meet 22 rural Panamanian women working with SHI to improve the lives of their families and communities.  Read their words and through their pictures, see what is important to each.  This photo essay is on loan from SHI.  Florence Reed, founder of SHI, visited Panama with fine arts students from Ohio Wesleyan University.  After interviewing 22 women from 2 communities, the students took pictures of the women and then loaned each woman a camera to take with her for a few days to document her own life in photos.  These interviews gave Flo a chance to once again see that she still doesn‘t know all the ways that SHI’s work is impacting the environment and the lives of the people we serve.  

Hancock Church has been partnering with SHI for four years, sponsoring the work they do in the rural Honduran community of Piedras Negras.   SHI's approach to solving the agricultural, ecological and economic problems of Central America is innovative, hands-on and sustainable in the long-term.  They provide training and community support to improve family nutrition, health and incomes.  This involves the planning and installing of organic vegetable gardens, tree nurseries, fruit tree orchards, chicken coops, fish ponds, wood-conserving stoves and biogas digesters, as well as teaching alternative sustainable farming methods to the traditional slash-and-burn farming with its devastating ecological outcomes. Hancock members have traveled on four service trips to Honduras and Panama, working and living with families, to experience first hand the benefits and far-reaching impact of SHI’s approach.

This photo exhibit will be running from November 18th through December.  All are welcome during open building hours.