Each school that partners with TINFA commits to opening and maintaining a sustainability fund account. This fund enables the school to cover the middle term and long term cost of internet and maintenance of the equipment.
This Covid period has created substantial hardship for many communities in rural Guatemala. It is common for members of a family to work outside of the community in the capital Guatemala City or one of the large cities (in larger companies, factories or in tourism). These jobs have been and are still been hit hard by the pandemic. So, these family members have come back to the community to live, but are not producing the income that used to feed the family. They are making ends meet by doing little jobs here and there.
So it is to no one’s surprise that organizing events (baking sales, lotteries, etc…) and collecting funds from the community for the sustainability fund of the project has been particularly difficult in the past 12 months for the schools.
School San Antonio Buena Vista is the most remote school TINFA is working with. It is located at the top of a beautiful mountain, accessible through a small dirt road, 1h drive from the paved road. San Antonio Buena Vista has been quite creative during this acute hard time. The school has decided to share the WiFi password with members of the community. So, even though the school is still closed (the number of covid cases in the region is quite high), the students and their parents can come in the vicinity, and connect to the internet. This enables teachers to communicate more easily with their students (at least with those who have access to a device). Parents and the general community also appreciate this service for their own needs. They save by not having to buy data recharges. Because of this initiative, the community has been willing to contribute to the sustainability fund and San Antonio Buena Vista has a long term plan to keep equipment and internet functioning.
The resilience and creativity of our partners is impressive.