Beginning as a teacher at the high school and college levels, Dr. Paul Ramsey went on to a 30-year career with the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ.  He enjoyed traveling and learning about other cultures. Since retiring, his main work is overseeing two charitable organizations he co-founded:  Friends of Puerto Aventuras (FOPA) and The India Group (TIG).  This is the story of one of them.

In the early 1980’s a small area of jungle was cleared for a resort in the Riviera Maya, and staff housing was built across the highway.  The clearing grew into a small village, or poblado, with an elementary school, some stores and a church.  By 1995, two thousand employees and their families were living there.

In that same year, Dr. Ramsey and his partner, Richard Coburn, bought a condominium overlooking the turquoise Caribbean in that idyllic community of the Yucatan Peninsula; but they soon noticed a problem in paradise.  Their cleaning lady brought her school age children to work with her every day.  When asked why, she explained that she couldn’t afford to send them to school.  The two Americans looked into the situation and learned that to accommodate the luxury apartments, the native population had been displaced.  He felt he was “luxuriating in the apartheid of South Africa transplanted to Mexico.”

Enlisting the help of others, he formulated the idea for Friends of Puerto Aventuras with the goal of providing more educational opportunities for the community. The initial program offered was English for Adults.  As a community that relies on tourism, being bilingual is an important asset.  In the first year thirty adults enrolled; twenty-three completed the program and received a certificate–a 77% success rate.

Over the next ten years, more supporters were recruited and involved. The Sisters of St. Joseph from Hartford, CT, sent nuns and lay volunteers to help in the effort.  At first schooling went only through the 6^th grade but the students demonstrated a desire to continue their education past elementary school so a scholarship program to send students to a nearby town, Playa del Carmen,  for middle and eventually high school was funded.

At first the founders could not find one family willing to let their children go the Playa school.  The reasons cited were “a loss of income if the children did not work” and/or that “too many new ideas in their heads might make them more difficult to control.”  The leaders realized that if they were to be successful, they would have to involve and engage the parents.  During the next year they did so and ended up awarding three scholarships.  That number almost doubled every year, until close to forty scholarships were provided.  With the growing interest in education, a middle school and later a high school were introduced. In 2011 the poblado high school graduated its first class.

FOPA also offers adult English classes to workers seeking employment in the shops and restaurants, and an Available Jobs List is posted weekly on the school bulletin board.  Twice yearly a bazaar is held with donations from Puerto Aventuras residents.  The funds raised are used to support FOPA’s many activities, e.g.,  providing soccer uniforms, creating and maintaining a donation-based public library and offering computer literacy classes.  One of the enduring trademarks of the organization is its ability to continually rally the resources and respond to the challenging needs of the community.

Is it working?  This excerpt is from the FOPA 2018 Christmas Letter:

We had an incredible experience when we were in Mexico in September for the beginning of the school year.  We were near the school when a young man roared up on his motorcycle, jumped off, and greeted us warmly to say the least.  Conception was one of our former students: both he and his brother were in the program probably 15 years ago.  We hadn’t seen him or his brother in close to as many years, but he clearly remembered us and we remembered him because his mother was very sick when he was in the program.  She was jaundiced after surgery, and we remembered talking about how she probably didn’t have long to live and what would happen to the boys.  We gave the family some money out of our own pockets to help out with medical expenses.  Well, Conception told us his mother is still alive—incredible—but the most remarkable thing is that he is running for mayor.  We have had at least one lawyer, many teachers, and a psychologist to come out of the program, but the idea that we may have a mayor was beyond our wildest dreams twenty years ago. 

In 2016, FOPA provided sixteen scholarships, in 2017, twenty-four.  For the 2018 school year there are five more students who have qualified, bringing the total to twenty-nine.  Scholarships are for vocational training as well as higher education for a maximum of three years.  FOPA needs to raise $13,500 USD to change lives and make dreams come true.

One means of fundraising for this cause is the rental of Dr. Ramsey’s luxury condo in Puerto Aventuras.  All proceeds go to the cause.  For more information visit www.friendsofpa.org.

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