All women are gems

CHIRIQUI. In everybody's life there is a turning point where all meanings change for better or for worse.

Once on their own, young adults faced with the most important question: What I am going to do with my life? For some, destiny is right in front of their eyes, for others, the truth lies abroad.

Katyee Hoverson is part of the latter. American born, she found her turning point the day after the 2004 Indian tsunami disaster. What started as a short-term humanitarian trip, turned into an adventure around the globe that awakened her to the calling of helping others.

Hoverson started the Unexpected Moments of Magic Foundation in September 2005 to launch literacy programs in Central America & East Africa, provide consulting services to organizations & socially driven entrepreneurs.

In 2007, she began an international volunteer placement program and a locally based volunteer program for Boquete and a jewelry-making empowerment program for women that inspires positive thinking, global giving and social change.

“I arrived in Panama in February 2006 and found a paradise complete with the best coffee in the world. When I came to Boquete, I felt a sense of community that I had not felt anywhere else. I felt like I was home in a place I had only just arrived”.

The Gem project gathers local women; pregnant teens in David, mothers with children with disabilities and gives them motivational speeches and jewelry making workshops. For a total of twelve weeks, each group meets for vocational jewelry training and to discuss a given topic. GEM provides all the necessary tools and supplies. To help support the project, community classes are offered weekly (see calendar).

Kaytee, young, gifted and beautiful, has embraced Panama with a candid heart. Her favorite word in Spanish is “gracias” and is a fan of “hojaldras”. Her foundation receives funding from Arizona State University, private donors and collaborates with NGO's like Books for a Better World and LEAF to name a few. Hoverson is in the process of making UMMF an official NGO in Panama.

According to the last Comptroller's census (2000), there were 168,140 illiterate persons in the country of which 89,729 (53.37 percent) were women. Without orientation its impossible for our women to raise good citizens; and its responsibility of all to participate in the construction of a better community. Examples of human misery and ignorance face us, however as it happened to Kaytee only in the presence of need (and some times our own) we come to define our involvement in it.

The GEM project and UMMF has a volunteer program in which people can sign in to collaborate in recycling, nutrition, wildlife protection, and other programs. For more information about signing in contact Katyee at kaytee@unexpectedmomentsofmagic.org and visit www.thegemproject.com