San Miguel Implementation

On the 13th of January, the small village of San Miguel in Northern Mexico got a new addition to its community… the internet.

EWB-GA began their commitment to the 300 person com-munity of San Miguel in 2006. Since then, students have been passionately working with the community to install internet enabled, solar powered computers. They have traveled to the community three times. On these trips, they worked with the community to establish a computer committee. This committee was elected by the community and consists of three board members who oversee two workers. The two workers manage the day to day computer usage and maintenance.

In January 2010, six students traveled to San Miguel to implement the system. Students worked alongside community members during every phase of implementation, from building the desks where the computers now are, to installing the solar panels and satellite equipment. Throughout the implementation excited children, who would run in and out of the cyber, were quickly becoming accustomed to working with the mouse and playing educational games on the computers. After years of planning, the joint vision of EWB-GA students and the Hunger Plus Committee Rotary District 5840 has finally come to fruition.

Children playing with the computers in "El Cyber de San Miguel"

“El Cyber de San Miguel” is open daily and charges a flat rate for usage of the com-puters. The cyber has three solar powered computers. Teachers can choose to hold classes at the cyber, andhave been encouraged to incorporate computer skills into their curriculum. The workers have been trained in computer usage and maintenance. “El Cyber de San Miguel” has been implemented with a busi-ness model in order to ensure the system is sustainable.