By Monika Goforth | Guatemala Programs Director
Chitas Elementary School is electrified!
March 1, 2017 The Mayan Power and Light team came together with community members to install 490 Watts of solar power and set up 8 laptop computers, bringing an isolated community in touch with modern communications!
150 school children and 600 people in their village have a brighter life! Before they had empty, dark classrooms and no lights for evening homework. Now, they run a laptop computer lab, a community charge center, classroom lights, projectors, music players, nighttime meetings and family movie screenings!
The community was extremely well organized and dedicated to the project. They built furniture for the school computer lab, they did electrical work, they installed new security bars, they fed our solar team and housed us at their community hall. Ensuring a sustainable project, they set up a Solar Committee, created a special savings account and wrote a long-term fundraising plan to maintain equipment and internet connection!
Fatima, our star solar saleswoman traveled 8 hours from her home to learn advanced solar installation with Solar Tech Experts from Sunsense Solar in Colorado. Elias, Josefina's husband volunteered on her behalf while she's caring for her new baby. His volunteership and effort to learn solar demonstrated his great support for his wife's microbusiness.
This is our first of many solar school computer labs with Mayan Power and Light.
You can to help us do more!
How?
1. Mobilize your workmates to bring in used laptops by a specific deadline!
2. Ask your workplace IT person to update computer software, virus scans, clear memory, passwords and private information and change the operating system to Spanish!
3. Mail Laptops to:
4. Contact us to find out which school is getting your laptops!
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