To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org
Dear GKD organizers:Ms. Martha Davies former President of Quipunet organization has forward me this interesting message. I currently am the Vice President of Quipunet.
I am a college faculty in the US and travel to my home country Peru every summer. I usually take college students along to study under a contract program entitled: International Community Work Learning.This past summer Evergreen students and young community leaders from Guadalupe, in Northern Peru, created the Asociacion Juvenil Guadalupana Tercer Milenio based on an older organized group that used to do a lot of volunteer community work in a totally isolated silent way with a lot of success but in a very limited fashion.
When my Evergreen students and those young community leaders became better acquainted, conversations started to create Tercer Milenio. The first step was to have a general meeting opened to organized youth institutions in town and potential volunteers. After that first meeting others followed until the election of the first directors and the formal legal paper work to become a legal recognized youth organization. This process is almost finished, lack of funds prevented the first directors from finishing up this part of the process. My advice to them was to continue their volunteer community work which, at the end, is what they have been doing without any recognition for years.
At the same time that all of the above was happening, Evergreen students and young Guadalupanos were meeting daily to teach/learn about the Internet, basic English and e-mail use. Then, several young Guadalupanos opened a free e-mail account in hotmail.com. By then it was time for us to return to Olympia in the State of Washington.
The introduction to the potential of the Internet was possible because two years before two of my friends from Oregon and I worked together with the directors of a local institution called Beneficencia Publica and convinced them to buy a computer and get access to the Internet. It became the first Cabina Publica Internet in the Jequetepeque Valley (the name Cabina Internet and the idea was taken from the Red Cientifica Peruana). Three members of the Beneficencia Publica were trained in the use of e-mail and basic knowledge to navigate in the Internet.
This Cabina Internet was offering very simple services:
This project had odd results. There was lack of consistency in the service, the operator used too much time navigating, and many lost messages dragged it down. So this past summer, when my students and the young Guadalupanos were learning about the Internet, it had to happen in very late hours and at very expensive prices (most of which Evergreen students paid for). We paid around 9 soles for every hour (about US$3:00). Luckily, by then, other people in nearby town Chepen had opened other Cabinas and they were charging only 3 soles. Right now, someone else in Guadalupe has started another service and is charging 5 soles an hour.For about US$0.40 anyone could send up to one page message to any one anywhere in the world, all they needed was the e-mail address. Any e-mail user had to use the same e-mail address the Beneficencia had. It made the service poor in confidentiality, but people didn't seem to care much about it and started using it. Especially because they themselves didn't have to know anything about computers, the users just brought their messages in handwriting. gave it to the operator and paid one sol (the equivalent then to 40 cents of a dollar) When users received a message, it was printed and put in a mail box. To pick up one message, the user had to pay one sol again. If anyone wanted to research information about something specific, one had to deposit 5 soles and a written request, and then come back next day. The operator would navigate and print up to five pages of information on the subject. Next day, the user picked up the information. My Evergreen students' International Community Work ended here in Olympia when they published the Guadalupe Web Page and when they found a nice computer to donate to Tercer Milenio. The young Guadalupano leaders worked hard to convince the Mayor of town to give Tercer Milenio a large enough room in the City Hall building where the new Tambo Quipunet Guadalupe will operate. This idea of the Tambo Quipunet is from our Quipunet organization, it is basically a Cabina Internet, but with a non for profit spirit and dedicated mostly to be a terminal for long distance education.
Using the Internet and through our Quipunet members list Tercer Milenio send out messages to let other youngsters know about their dreams and their volunteer work in their community. One dream was to have a space in the City Hall, it is now a reality; another dream was to have access to computers now this is almost reality; the donated computer has been taken to Peru by a young Olympian friend but has not passed customs.
With the help of former Quipunet President Martha Davies and the cooperation of another non for profit organization Helping Hands, we shipped old computers, books and clothing to Peru, three of them will go to Tercer Milenio.Another project from Tercer Milenio directed to create jobs in town by promoting tourism in Guadalupe, is now a reality, a member of Quipunet and her friend donated money to pay for two panels which are located at the South and North ends of Guadalupe inviting people to participate in the December Celebrations to honor Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe.
The young members of Tercer Milenio frequently visit the poor barrios around Guadalupe. There are people who have TBC and because of money don't go to a doctor, many of them ignore that there is a government funded program to eradicate TBC and they can receive hospital treatment for free (although medicine is not totally free). These kids put together the little money they have to pay a taxi to get TBC patients to the hospital. Now, whenever they need help to face new challenges, they send their messages out using the Internet, and someone, somewhere answers.
The plan for how the Tambo Quipunet Guadalupe will operate is in process and I am sure, they will be happy to share with you their experiences, you can contact Manuel Ramirez who is the first President of the Asociacion Juvenil Guadalupana Tercer Milenio, at:
manoloramirez@hotmail.com