Students continue to come into the school to seek opportunity to study. We are at 250 registered students with almost 200 more on the waiting list. Computer access is the problem.
One of the tasks for me this week is to design a chart that shows the cost of a computer compared to the cost of schooling and other amenities. We want to show people visually that they can find a way to buy their own computer and, thus, continue their education at home. We are, without question, offering the very best public education program in Honduras at this time. We are, as well, offering that opportunity free of charge. So, people who are anxious to study need to find their own solution to the problem of a computer.
Yeni and I were talking this morning and finding ways to try and illustrate that the money for a computer was available ... it is simply a matter of choice and priority. Yeni’s family runs a pulperia (small convenience store) and so she was able to help estimate the amount of money being spent on soda in her part of the community.
- Training session for NGO learning our delivery system
Since one computer will help at least five students (in one village, we have 24 students using one computer), then it is simple to divide the cost of a computer by five. A very good model can be bought for less than $250.00 (some are at around $150.00). So, a family needs to find $50.00. A school uniform is, at the cheapest, $30.00. (This does not include the cost of a P.E. uniform and shoes). When you add the cost of pencils, textbooks and so forth, the cost of outfitting a student is well over the $50.00 mark. Adding transport, pocket money, time and so forth, it is rather obvious, to us, how important it is to find the money for a computer. Even the cost of coming to our centre is expensive in comparison. (Each day represents $1.00 – 2.00 in transport costs).
We also talked about the cost of soda. One three litre bottle is 35 Lempiras. A computer is 125 bottles. That amount of soda is easily consumed in Yeni’s neighbourhood in one to two days. The community is obviously valuing soda more than education at this point. I have seen such examples of skewed community and personal priorities wherever I have lived. In Kenya, it was miraa (a mild drug), in Canada, it is fast food and convenience sweets. I was staggered by the amount of candy being sold in every store – racks and racks.
The continued interest in our program is so exciting. We are even more excited about the improvements we are making to it on a daily basis. The many Canadian people who are interested and becoming involved in giving and providing a variety of resources is also very encouraging. As we talked in various meetings and with groups from other parts of the world interested in our delivery system, it was very obvious once again how much potential we have. Advances in technology are also giving us more ideas. The electronic readers will, almost certainly, be a way in which we can provide access to our program for a fraction of the cost and with greater flexibility. I suspect, that we will no longer need computers within the next four years. The future of education is changing dramatically and we are, likely, already behind the wave ... even though we are out front of so many others.
We have a number of challenges in the next few months. We struggle to get legal documents finalized, find ways to make quality changes to our program, getting a library of books ready for reading and getting our registration process updated. The first morning back in the office and it feels overwhelming. We shall see how it goes.
If you want more information, I can send you photos of a power point presentation we prepared for use in Canada.
TTYL
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