Inspire 3000 Honduran Children to Excel

When we received our 2021 grant from the Inter-American Development Bank, our education program was able to reach 51 new schools all over the department. It was a quick deployment responding to the covid needs in Honduran education. After the pilot, our team wanted to make sure the schools continued to use Kolibri to its highest potential. For this we upgraded them with the latest Kolibri software over this past winter. The schools were all excited to receive the updated equipment back and the feedback was so great that mayors were calling us to join efforts. 

Over the past months, three mayors began laying bricks toward Kolibri sustainability:

** The Mayor of Intibuca (pictured) purchased TVs for all 9 schools in his municipality that received the pilot last year. This fulfilled our sustainability component where communities were asked to put their shoulder next to ours.

** The Mayor of Jesus de Otoro invested in additional tablets and computers for new schools to receive Kolibri, and

** The San Antonio Mayor, who has supported Kolibri expansion in his town since 2019, continued by selecting a municipal IT support staff to be trained in Camasca.

The action of these three mayors furthermore sends a message of support to help make Kolibri a success. Our team continues to meet with other mayors who also want to follow suit, making us excited for future partnerships. Thank you for following our work and supporting our teachers, our mayors and our team. 

With Respect,

Mariela Rodriguez

Communications Coordinator

This Thank You letter was written by Edson, a student member of the First Global Robotics Team of Honduras. During the whole process he had a positive attitude and willingness to work, and that led to him being chosen as the outstanding student of the team.

My name is Edson, I am a member of the National Robotics Team of Honduras and I am a student at Guarajambala High School, in Concepción, Intibucá.

One of the things that motivated me to be a member of the team was the desire to learn about robotics, programming, and assembling robots. I was also encouraged by knowing that during the competition, I would be meeting many people from around the world, their traditions and culture, and that I would also be able to build some relationships with them.

Along the way, many challenges were faced -- personal challenges, school challenges, and the competition itself was a challenge. But, what motivated me the most was the learning process we went through. I was present in every meeting we had, it did not matter if it was in person or virtual. We met all the challenges. I also knew that by the end I would have more knowledge and that I would be able to share it with the kids of my community so they could develop a love for robotics also.

The knowledge that had the largest impact on my life is programming. I was attracted to it right from the beginning -- I wanted to learn more about its use, not only to program a robot but to apply it to real life, in areas of education and health.

I was so thrilled to be selected as “Outstanding Student.” My family rejoiced, and it has been the best prize I have received in my whole life.  I am very thankful because it is helping me a lot in my high school classes. I am a year to graduate and I am studying informatics. In the future, I plan to study Computer Engineering or Graphic Design, which has been my life dream.

I will always be grateful to you, Shoulder to Shoulder!

Sincerely,

Edson