The people have spoken, and they want computers

Today I attended a meeting of La Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de LosTornos, Cebadilla, La Cruz y Cañitas. The meeting was the first of theirs that I have attended and took place in a small building called La Casa Club - now one of my favorite things to say in Spanish, as ¨club¨ is pronounced more like ¨cloob¨. Including myself, there were seven people at the meeting - four men, two women, and one cute jovencita. While the young girl sat apart from the group, sipping what I imagined might be juice or milk, probably bored out of her mind, the rest of us listened to the secretary read aloud the day´s agenda along with several pages of notes dealing with other current matters. When a break came, I introduced myself and told them a bit about what I had discussed with their treasurer in an interview with him about a weak earlier. They seemed excited about the possiblity of having a website for their organization, but this excitement was dampened by the fact that they have limited access to internet, and not many computers - while the secretary has a computer with internet access, the organization as a whole does not. They iterated this to me and also told me, as their treasurer had earlier, that they would greatly appreciate receiving donations of gently used computers and instruction on how to use them from volunteers. While I am here, I can at least teach some people basic computer skills (or computación, as they call it) to some people, who hopefully would be able to retain that information long enough to pass it on to others. Of course, because I will only be here for about another month, I won´t be able to teach many people. I do think, though, that I could probably arrange for computers to be donated at least to the schools in the area with your help and/or with that of organizations such as One Laptop per Child.

Do you know of a way to make this happen?

Are there organizations that make it easier for people to afford internet access?

¿Qué?

Though I dont particularly feel I have much to say at this moment, this blog looks terrible without a single thing written on the home page, and some of you may be wondering what exactly I'm doing in this place called Cañitas (besides "teaching, learning, and living"). I'm currently studying abroad through an institute called ICADS. I spent about a month studying español and "development" near San José, traveled through Nicaragua for a week, and now have an internship in the small pueblo of Cañitas - located about a ten minute bus ride from Monteverde, Costa Rica. I created this blog to share a bit of my experience with people like you, and also to receive feedback to help me make the most of this opportunity. So 'have a gander', as they say (or perhaps don't say) and let me know what you think!