During 2020, San Roman Village had identified 75 children who did not have access to computers and/or the internet when not in school. As of April 2021, with generous funding through the Gabrial Family Fund, we provided the community center with the equipment to remedy this problem.
32 children and village council chair, Mr. Augustine Choc and council member, Mr. Beronico Ical attended the launch at the center along with Believe in Belize volunteers (Nabil, Maude, & Craig - not pictured) and the Gabrial family members attending virtually through Google Meet.
Besides having access to the equipment, the children experienced a video conference for the first time. This infrastructure investment will also enable us to offer online tutoring between the students and remote tutors worldwide.
We would also like to recognize Inspector Pedro Ical, a San Roman Village resident and a member of the Placencia Police. It is through his guidance, perseverance, and acting as our liaison with the village, played a big role in this accomplishment.
The following items were used for this service:
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Internet Service (US $490 / year) |
The items below were purchased new from Amazon in the US and taken to Belize at a cost of US $2,301.43.
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Four Laptops: HP 15.6" HD Intel 10th Gen i3-1005G1 3.4GHz 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Win 10 Laptop |
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Four Bags: Targus Classic Slim Briefcase with Crossbody Shoulder Bag Design for the Business Professional Travel Commuter and Laptop Protection fits up to 16-Inch Laptops |
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One External CD Drive USB 3.0 Portable CD DVD +/-RW Drive DVD/CD ROM Rewriter Burner Writer Compatible with Laptop Desktop PC Windows Mac Pro MacBook |
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USB Drive 100 Pack GEEUMI USB Flash Drive 4GB Thumb Drive Memory Stick Bulk 2.0 Swivel Pen Drive with LED Light for Backup,Storage(Mixcolor) |
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NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router (R6900P) - AC1900 Wireless Speed (Up to 1900 Mbps) | Up to 1800 Sq Ft Coverage & 30 Devices | 4 x 1G Ethernet and 1 x 3.0 USB ports |
We would like to thank:
1) The Government of Belize for the Tax Waiver.
2) Mel Honig of Rotary District 6600 for carrying the equipment on a flight to Belize.
3) Chairman Augustine for personally handling the tax waiver process and equipment at customs.
In order to sustain this service, i.e. pay for the annual internet service, add additional equipment and/or repair existing equipment, please consider donating to the Gabrial Family Fund endowment.
If you are interested in information to setup an endowment fund for a village you would like to support please email us at Board@believeinbelize.org.
