GIVING TREE
The Hecho Project
Building relationships and hope in Cieneguita, Panama.
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 20 minutes down the road do not know that it exists.
Yet, 3,000 miles away, Gina Winn and students from Restoration Academy and Over the Mountain schools have built a close partnership with Cieneguita. Winn and her students have travelled to this village over 20 times as part of the Hecho Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides 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 year, they organized a carnival. Last 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,”
“We’re founded on helping this one little village become more educated and have more opportunities through learning English.”
–gina winn, executive director of the hecho project
says Winn, Executive Director of the Hecho Project.
Though the project began in 2015, its origins go 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 Canterbury United Methodist Church, Winn fell in love with the Cieneguita community and 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—with a bus full of eager Over the Mountain students, luggage and school supplies, Winn has left the skyscrapers and triple-lane highways of Panama City for 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.
This kind of long-term relationship extends to the entire community. “As soon as we start driving into the village, they see the bus, and they’re all running down the street,” laughs Winn.
In the mornings, Winn and her students teach English at the Centro Educativo Básico General De Cieneguita, or Cieneguita General Basic Education Center. While English is a required subject in Panama, the school’s teachers are not fluent in the language and lack the resources to teach it.
The problem is systemic: the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) notes that many rural areas in Panama do not have access to
above: Hosts René (son) and Fina (mom) with Hecho founder Gina Winn. top, left: Restoration Academy students Sarah (left) and Kristan (right) feeling the joy of serving others.
left: Jayden, a rising senior, decided to apply for the trip because he knew it would be an opportunity of a lifetime. He is ready to return in 2026.