A Little Learning Goes a Long Way

In under two decades, computers have gone from a luxury product to a necessity. In the developed world today, many people have computers at home or have easy access to them in schools, libraries or Internet cafes. This is the situation in Colombia, at least for those in urban areas. Those who live far from the main centers, where communication is run along old fashioned lines, are in danger of being left behind technologically and skill-wise. Recently, the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) decided to help children in remote mining areas of the country to join the technological revolution and prove that a donation doesn’t have to be huge to make a meaningful difference.

The connection between the ICA and a group of schools in the Muzo, La Pita and Coscuez emerald mining  districts in the east of Colombia was established more than two years ago when a delegation  from the ICA went on a tour of those regions, world-renowned for their rich emerald deposits. During their visit, several team members sat down to talk with local representatives of mine workers and mine-area residents who told the ICA team  that the schools associated with  the mining areas, many of them in extreme rural areas that take hours to reach by car,  suffered an extreme lack of technology. The reps told the ICA that they desperately needed computers for the schools in their areas. At the end of the tour, the organization donated two computers and a further 18 machines in October 2007, as well as 20 printers.

The schools in question are overseen by the ministry of education and run the gamut from primary schools, with 150 students each, to secondary institutions, with more than 500 students in attendance.  The students are primarily the children of agricultural workers or mine employees, most of who work in the mines for about six months out of the year.

ICA Communications Director Jean Claude Michelou told IDEX Magazine that there is a process of rotation by which employees work in the emerald mines for five to seven months, after which most are rotated out to al low others a chance to work in the mine.

Once their work period is over, mostof the area residents return to their agricultural work. Those who get an opportunity to work in the mines and especially those who, either by promotion or by being asked to stay on to work longer than the standard six months are considered lucky.  As a bonus, at the end of a half-year shift, miners are given the opportunity to sift through piles of ore that won’t be processed by the mine. They can take and sell whatever valuable material they find.

Although  Michelou did not describe a standard of living in these areas as particularly marked by poverty,  the vast majority of the mine-area residents– and students – do not have computers or other technological amenities at home. This is what makes the gift of technology to the schools so important.

“Colombians are very familiar with technology,” says Michelou.  “Most Colombians have computers at home.”  In such a remote area, even if a family has a computer, it is unlikely that they would have Internet access, although as Michelou explains, an Internet connection can be established through radio waves. The government is trying to increase Internet availability to rural areas. Despite limited access to the web, it is important that the students have access to the type of technology that will give them the vital skills needed in the 21st century work force.  This is a situation that the government of Colombia recognizes. Three years ago a government subsidy program was initiated to get computers for schools.  Despite the state-backed program, not a single computer had reached these schools.

The ICA decided to take matters into its own hands and, after speaking with the Colombian ministry of education to determine whether the schools in question actually needed them (“We wanted to make sure they were telling the truth,” says Michelou), the ICA made the donation to the schools.  “When we come across a need like this, especially in a mining area, where these people give so much to us, we always do something to help,” he said.

The official donation was made at a ceremony held at the University of Santo Tomas, in the town of Chiquinquira by ICA Ambassador to Colombia Benny Bazalel. The ICA’s only request was that the computers be for the exclusive use of the children and not for administrative purposes.

The ICA has also contributed to technological development in other countries.  In June 2007, on a visit to the Brazil Gem Show, ICA President Andrew Cody made a donation on behalf of ICA to Mayor Jose Bonafacio Mourao of Governador Valadares towards the purchase of computer equipment at the schools in the Tourmalina district of Minas Gerais. “This is the first time these children will be able to have access to computers and the Internet; we’re glad to have been a facilitator for this opportunity,” said Cody. The ICA also donated computers to schools in mining areas in East Africa, following a mine tour of Kenya.  

In keeping with their ethos of social responsibility, the ICA has supported the growth of mining-area schools in Tanzania and Kenya. In Tanzania, local mine owners built a school but the teachers found themselves without housing, which the ICA provided. In Kenya,  the organization is donating funds for building  a  power plant to help power a school, keeping education and development firmly at the forefront of the ICA’s charitable endeavors.