A large crowd of parents gathered outside the IFARHU headquarters in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, hoping to claim their overdue scholarships, which they were unable to collect between November 17 and 21. The parents had been summoned with a simple message: 'Come on Monday, and we will give them to you here.' 'We are here to see if we have any luck,' said one woman. 'We came on Monday as we were told, and now they are making us wait again.' However, many parents left without the scholarship money because their names were not on the list. 'That child was not on the list, not on the list… and now I come here to see if we can finally get paid,' lamented a mother who had been standing in line for hours without moving. Another lady, clearly out of patience, said: 'They always say it's until 3:00, but this year I don't know what happened. All year I have not been able to support my child,' said a gentleman who was clearly exhausted. Others reported that their children do not even appear on the payroll and that no one explains anything to them. 'They should improve it for next time, because this is a mess.' Many parents recounted that they went to the institution to collect the payment for the corresponding week, and the payment was not there either. 'They told us to come today… and now we have to wait.'
