Erika with her instructor in the Patronato’s computer lab. |
Born in 1995, Erika began to have vision problems at age 5. She lost her sight
entirely at age 13 due to detached retinas. Within a year she was attending
classes at the Patronato Luz del Ciego to learn how to cope with her
new blindness. She has also resumed school and is in eighth grade.
Erika lives with her brother, uncle, and grandmother in the Omar Torrijos
community in Arraiján District, far outside of Panama City. She commutes in to
Panama City to attend 9:00 AM classes at the Patronato and get help
with her school work. At 4:30 PM she starts her trip to the night school she
attends near her home. She’s in class until 10:00 PM, at which time her
grandmother takes a taxi to pick her up and take her home. She’s hoping to
enroll in a day school to end this exhausting schedule, but still needs to be
able to attend classes at the Patronato.
Erika speaks on behalf of the students at the Patronato’s Christmas
Party.
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