Our Tech Center Opened on April 10
It takes about $600 to run the center for a month.
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Can we help you to help Guatemalan students?
Many poor Guatemalan students attend classes on tiny cellular phones, sometimes at the top of the nearest hill for a signal. They pay bus fare and unaffordable hourly fees at commercial internet cafes to do homework and research and print materials.
To help, Chaptops has kicked it up a notch by opening the Chaptops Tech Center in the town of Tactic. We've only been in existence since June 2022, and we thought we might be able to do this in 2024. But due to a very generous donation of 125 laptops by Syngenta, and some generous financial supporters, we were able to do it in April 2023.
It's a matter of money now! After 6 months, we hope the center will be essentially self-sustaining, but for now, we need to build a rainy-day fund and we need to think ahead to future projects.
Tactic Project Manager and board member Byron Cap and his team have been busy renovating office space, equipping the new center, and preparing its programs.
Internet Cafe
An "internet cafe" in the town of Tactic has begun to serve students who live in the town itself. Initially, there will be 10 computers as well as printers. (This is scaled back from 25 due to lack of funds for rent.) The facility will operate on an affordable monthly membership basis. The computers will block inappropriate websites and not allow installation of games.
Laptop Rental
Village students will be able to rent one of 75 laptops for less than $8 per month. Using their phones as a hotspot, they can save as much as $20 per month, a significant fraction of school fees. This program has been successfully piloted with 10 computers.
Training
The center will orient students to use the computers. Many will have never touched a computer before.
There will be more in-depth instruction on the use of computers as well as seminars on time and money management.
Impact Assessment
We will be good stewards of your money. We know this means regular assessment of impact to optimize use of our resources. This will include impact on gender equity.