Ecuador – "Donate your computer" - Salesians launch national campaign

09 October 2020

(ANS - Quito) - According to Unicef, only 37% of families in Ecuador have an Internet connection. This means that more than 6 out of 10 children cannot study these days. This situation is aggravated in rural areas, where only 16% of households enjoy network connectivity. Faced with these circumstances, the Salesian Province of Ecuador, together with "Misión Don Bosco" and the Salesian Polytechnic University (UPS), launched the campaign "Donate your computer" at the national level. It aims to provide technology tools (tablets, laptops, PCs, keyboards, mouses, screens, speakers, electrical cables) to the vulnerable population of 12 cities across the country.

Fr Francisco Sánchez, Provincial of Ecuador, said that the campaign "For daily bread" has been underway since March, thanks to which, in recent months, more than 4,000 families have benefited from a monthly card of 60 dollars for the purchase of basic necessities. "Today we want to take a step forward and present the 'Donate your computer' campaign, a solidarity initiative that under the slogan 'No one excluded', intends to ensure that vulnerable children, adolescents and young people can study under the same conditions as those that have a connection.”

The proposal was born from the initiative of 30 students of the Faculty of Computer Science of the Polytechnic University of Quito, who since 20 July have repaired more than 100 electronic devices sent to the Salesian house in Esmeraldas. "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to demonstrate what it means to be good Christians and upright citizens," said one of the young people taking part in the campaign.

The offices of the Salesian university in Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca operate as donation collection centers; an IT application was also developed that allows donors to know the status and destination of what they have donated, thus respecting the transparency policies. The evaluation and repair of the equipment is carried out by the students of Systems Engineering and Computer Science; donations are channeled through “Misión Don Bosco”.

One of the donated equipment was donated to María Rosa Chasiluisa, who lives south of Quito and has six children. “Thank you very much for giving this help to my children. I'm very happy because with this computer they can make a career for themselves. I felt bad because my children, many times, were unable to connect to lessons or send their homework on time,” says this woman, one of the many mothers assisted by the Salesians in Ecuador.

The initial goal of the "Donate your computer" campaign is to provide 500 technological tools so that needy children and young people of the Salesian works can attend virtual lessons, continue to digitally meet their classmates, do their homework and maintain the hope that a better world is possible through education.

At a later stage, "Don Bosco Mission" also intends to work to promote connectivity, which is why the launch of the "ConectiviDAR" campaign is planned, which will allow access and good use of the Internet.

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