By Sanjay Fernandes and Maryam Tertel | Director and Coord. of the SOLE Colombia Community
The community of Pisamal is in the middle of the coffee region in the department of Caldas in Colombia. People living on this beautiful mountains and with a wonderful climate are manily coffee farmers who dedicate their lives to take care of the coffee plants, and in times of harvest work all day long, so they can sell their best quality coffee beans in the nearest town of Aguadas.
We visited them for the first time 5 years ago, where Robinson, who is passionate about technology and education, started doing SOLE at night (after the long workdays this is the time they have to learn together) with his neighbours in the Internet kiosk at his home, where he had some computers and Internet access thanks to a project with the ICTs Ministry. After some years, there where some changes in the project and the kiosk was moved, so they couldn't continue with their SOLE sessions. That's why Robinson had a great idea, to build a SOLE Lab (School in The Cloud) in the community, a place where neighbours from all ages can come together, get curious, ask Big Questions and with Internet access, solve the common challenges they have.
Togehter with Robinson, we have been working to explore what is needed to start the construction of the SOLE Lab. Together with our partners, we made two designs of the SOLE Lab for Pisamal, where we will use sustainable and long lasting recycled materials.
We also visited them the first days of November to build a closer relationship with the community, to find new possibilities and to work together with different neighbours planning the actions that have to be done before the construction.
There we had the chance to meet new people from the community, children and their parents, and also older people who are all motivated to have a place with Internet access and where they can learn together, have a closer connection to the rest of the world, and why not have the chance to start new entrepreneurships that could give them new opportunities as individuals and as a community.
Thanks to all the support different people have given us, and mainly thanks to a generous donation we received from SAP in Colombia, we were able to do this visit and we'll be able to plan, prepare and do the construction of a School in The Cloud in Pisamal in the coming months.
While we get prepared for that big step, the community is already getting ready to start the SOLE sessions with the Internet that is now working at Robinson's place (his place is a common place Pisamal. On the weekend people from their places all over the mountines come on foot, by jeep or by motorcycle to get together and have a good time.
This project is already on its way, but we still need support to maintain our support to the community for a longer period of time and guarantee the internet access and electricity in the SOLE Lab in the long term.
We invite you to share this story with your contacts and if you would like to get to know the neighbours of Pisamal, we could also arrange a videocall for you to connect with them.
We'll keep you informed about the next steps.
Stay tuned!
Sanjay, Maryam and the neighbours of Pisamal: Robinson, Lina, Rubelia, Claudia and Eccediel.
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