We are very excited to share this slideshow with you. It contains many pictures of people and places in Jaque, Darien, Panama that are near and dear to our heart. This is where we do the majority of our work and we hope that someday you can join us here!

Over the course of our time working in Darien, Panama, we have released thousands of baby turtles back to sea. Since the turtle eggs are a food source for the local people, we have set up an arrangement for turtle eggs to be collected, reburied in a protected area, and a fee paid so as to purchase chicken eggs instead. No one can describe the joy of witnessing the hatchlings headed out to sea to face the treacherous challenge of life.

The Turtle Preservation project is really continuing to thrive! We now have the capacity to adopt 150-250 nests, and we need the help of people like you to make that happen! If you are interested in becoming an adoptive parent, please let us know. For a $20 donation, you will receive a BAB certificate of adoption of a nest, along with an attached tagua (vegetable ivory) carved turtle, while helping to ensure this program’s continued growth. For $20 you will be helping to release 100-150 baby sea turtles into the sea.

Check out the turtle facts and slideshow below to see what an enormous difference your contribution makes!

Here are some interesting facts about Sea Turtles!

-Turtles age back from the Triassic age, 200 million years ago.

-Baby sea turtles circle their nest once after hatching before heading toward the ocean.

-The leatherback turtle is the largest sea turtle at 6 and a half feet long and weighing up to 1,500 lb.

-The soft shelled turtle uses it’s long tip nose and nostrils like a snorkel to breath under water.

-The green sea turtle can stay under water for over five hours without coming up for air.

-Once a male sea turtle hatches and enters the ocean, it will probably not step on land again.

-A female turtle laying eggs will dig several empty nests to throw off predators trying to eat the eggs.

-When in danger the green turtle can swim almost 20 miles an hour to escape.

-When in the eggs, turtles take about 2 months to incubate and their sex is determined by the temperature. Under 29 degrees they become male, over 29 degrees they become female.

-Only one out of one hundred sea turtles survive to adulthood.

BAB has been working to create sustainable economic alternatives for the indigenous and refugee communities in the Darien Gap rainforest region that spans across the border of Panama and Colombia. These projects were initiated in 1994 in Choco, Colombia, until massacres in the town necessitated an exodus for a majority of the residents. Since then the project focus has been across the border in Panama to deal with the needs of the refugees and the receiving community. The Darien Projects are now based in Jacque, Panama since the war in Colombia has made it impossible to continue the projects in Choco.

In the United States, BAB gives presentations in order to raise awareness about the ongoing tragedy in this region and how the US policy “Plan Colombia” contributes to the suffering.

MEALS ON HEELS Elders Food Program:

Many elders find themselves alone in Jaque when their children have gone off to Panama City to seek employment. Others have families who struggle to feed themselves and to put sufficient food in the mouths of their babies. Rather than ask you to adopt a particular elder, we ask you to adopt the project for a month. This is a costly program and very much in need of groups and individuals to cover one month’s worth of meals for $100 per month. Maybe you would like to honor a loved one who has gone or maybe one who’s just arrived, or maybe even celebrate the birthday of a favorite elder of yours, by adopting a month that has special meaning. Perhaps your church or social group could raise the funds to adopt a month. Please help us fill up the calendar year with health and happiness for our elders.

SEA TURTLE PRESERVATION PROJECT: More exciting news from Jaque! BAB Latin America Director Ana Maria Vasquez reports that we have successfully expanded our Turtle Preservation Program’s capacity from 150 to 250 nests. Our program pays local people to preserve and protect the nest sites and aid the little turtles in reaching the sea. The money allows folks to replace the turtle eggs, a staple of the local diet, with chicken eggs, encouraging local small businesses and ensuring that an important food source is not lost in the process of ecological conservation. Each nest in the program releases 100-150 baby turtles into the wild, of which only 1or 2 will survive to maturity to return and breed on the beach at Jaque. For only $20, you can receive a BAB certificate of adoption for a nest, along with an attached tagua (vegetable ivory) carved turtle, while helping to ensure this program’s continued growth. What a great holiday gift! Make someone an adoptive parent.