a teacher who could instruct the children
in their native language, Guaymi. “We had
a lot of discussions with the village about
what they needed,” says King. “They came
to us and said, ‘We have a lot of problems.
As you can see, our culture is disappearing,
and thekidsdon’t speak the language.’”
Part of the writing instruction at the
school requires the children to seek out vil-
lageelders andwritedown their stories and
folklore, which otherwise would disappear
in this culture, where traditions are passed
down to generations orally. Preservation of
the culture and the language is not a pri-
ority in the government schools that the
Indian children attend, says Daniel Gon-
zalez, amedicineman of theNgobe village
of Salt Creek. “Our children speak more
Spanish thanGuaymi,” he says. “The regu-
lar teachers provided by the government
do not understand or promote our culture
but, typically, only thePanamanianSpanish
culture.” Because of King’s efforts, land for
a bigger school in the village and half the
necessary funds for constructionhave been
formallydonated.
King has also established an experimen-
tal farmnear the Indian village; there, low-
cost and environmentally friendly farming
techniques are taught, which provides the
Indians with the knowledge they need to
grow and sell theproduce. The farm’s crops
include passion fruit, coffee, tomatoes, wa-
termelons, andmany others. In the future,
the Indians could sell the produce locally.
King has helped launch plenty of other
projects, including the futureestablishment
of a tilapia fish farm, which could provide
income and help address the area’s serious
overfishing problem. It also could serve as
aneffort to train theNgobe inconservation,
in hopes of eventually establishing an In-
dian ranger corps.
WHEN HE FIRST
arrived here, King never
imagined thathewouldbe in the real estate
business. Originally from Florida, where
generations of his family had been farm-
ers, he followed a circuitous career path,
one powered by hismany interests and his
insatiable desire to travel. After graduating
from theUniversity ofWest Florida, where
he studied marine biology, King spent
time leading high school students on tours
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