Founder

Rebecca Reiber is the founder of the 8^th Life Panama initiative.  She was born in 1965, is a US citizen, and from a young age became interested in getting to know other cultures and languages, and in finding a way to live ‘on purpose’.  She was always seeking something better – because there just had to be – the world as we know it simply couldn’t be the best effort of humanity on this planet earth.

She is managing the project day-to-day and is currently recruiting the team of VISIONARY CO-FOUNDERS to take the project to the next level.

Rebecca is a visionary businesswoman; community development and team-building expert, student of Permaculture Design (PDC, working on diploma), with a master’s degree in Sustainable Development and Social Action Training, postgraduate studies in socio-cultural anthropology, diploma in Cooperative Management, and over 25 years of experience forming and training diverse, multicultural teams. After leaving her career in international business in 2000 she formed a company providing personal and professional development services and strategic planning – essentially facilitating change.  She worked with many small businesses and NGOs in her hometown and then began to work with international NGOs.  This led her to Panama, which she has called home since 2005. In Panama she has facilitated change processes with rural municipalities, indigenous groups, and cooperatives and has worked as an international consultant with rural communities.

Core Team

Our core team in Panama consists of two people from the town of Antón who have accompanied Rebecca on the journey of creating this project for several years.

Candy has a PDC from the Integral Permaculture Academy and focuses on the food forest and medicinal plants. She brings in-depth knowledge of local species of both plants and animals. We don’t know what we’d do without her green thumb!

Mundi is a small machine mechanic with experience in many areas like construction & knowledge of local species. He knows everyone in town, has contacts with local authorities and helps make things happen.

Advisory Council

The advisory council here in Panama, consists of local people who Rebecca has known and worked with for years on a variety of different projects.

Bill – GIS systems, permaculture, broad knowledge of & experience with plants in our specific area

Arlene – local and INGO experience, grants, translation

Ronald – land, permits, reforestation, & related authorities

Jaime – education, accreditation project, & related authorities

Jorge – draftsman, access road & bridge design, general construction support

Jairo – electrician, power systems, general construction support

Olinda – back-office support & administration, project design

Take a look at our photo gallery to meet some of the people who have been helping out.

Volunteers

We’ve been supported over time by a number of volunteers. You can see many of them in our Facebook and Instagram posts over the years. At some point we hope to have the time & resources to post their names and photos here because without them the project wouldn’t be where it is today.