Laptops and internet connect students to education!

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Between July and October of 2020, the CIS distributed over 50 new laptop computers (with core i5 operating system), 17 internet subscriptions, seven antennas, and other accessories in 28 communities to enable underprivileged students to continue their education online, the only way it was being delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Access to technology and connectivity was a major focus of the CIS’s “Phase II” response to the impacts of COVID-19 in the communities where it works. Phase I consisted of delivering emergency food and hygiene supplies to vulnerable families.

The costs -- $40/month for an internet data package and about $700 for a laptop computer -- were far beyond what families could afford. Now, data packages will be shared by a group of 5-10 scholarship students living in the same village and laptops will be shared by two to six students.

Watch how students of La Isla Tasajera installed an antenna for internet signal and set up their new shared laptops:

 
Computer Lab Isla El Espíritu Santo 2020. Connecting students to their classes.
 

How were students studying during the pandemic before this assistance arrived? 

The students would typically buy WhatsApp packages for $2-$4 a week per student and share cell phones to take exams, write papers, and do homework.  Not only is it difficult to do more extensive tasks on a cell phone, the minutes purchased from companies in order to use WhatsApp often come with weak signals. Some students would lose the signal before they could finish their exams, which are taken within a certain time limit. Some students have no internet signal in their community. Yet, classes will be online for the rest of 2020.

Students and their families were extremely grateful and relieved to have this gift of technology and connectivity that would facilitate their learning! Watch some of their messages:

From Distrito Italia, Tonacatepeque to St. Elizabeth and Holy Spirit Parishes and other CIS partners (English/Spanish)

From Tania’s mother to United Church of Christ in Eugene, OR (Spanish)

From San Luis Los Ranchos, Comasagua (Spanish)

The students, their parents and the CIS are grateful for the generosity of many donors to this life-changing effort, including:

  • American Friends Service Committee; 

  • Fendler Family Foundation; 

  • Fr. Jerry Waris; 

  • Rainbow of Hope for Children, Canada; 

  • PeaceHealth; 

  • Margot Worfolk; 

  • First United Church of Christ, Eugene; 

  • Fr. Terry Bruce; Dorothy Christ and friends of Pasadena; 

  • Sr. Patti Ann Rogucki; 

  • Chuck Dombrowski; 

  • Glenn Lipscomb and friends in Toledo; 

  • Caminos de Acción, Wyoming; 

  • St. Peter’s Church, Kansas City; 

  • Foundation for Cultural Exchange, Colorado; 

  • Our Lady of Presentation, Kansas City; and dozens of individuals.

 
CIS El Salvador