Smart device donations to help students in Guatemala

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Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2017

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner

When retired teacher Ron Nordstron heads to Guatemala next month, he’s hoping to have more than just books in his suitcase. Nordstrom, of Neepawa, is taking part in a Rotary teaching exchange and will be spending a month at the Joya Verde School in Guatemala, helping to train and support the school’s teachers.

The trip is sponsored by Rotary District 5550, which covers Northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and will involve six teachers. Each participant brings their expertise and for Nordstron, one of his is technology. To this end, he is hoping to gather unused smart devises which can be loaded with free apps and educational software to give to the school for students to use.  While the school has no internet, he explained that any needed software can be loaded before, or by using a wifi connection while there.

Nordstrom explained that even obsolete devises, such as an old iPhone 3 he has, are helpful. 

While some of the apps will need to be loaded on to the devices, Nordstrom explained that the phones themselves have tools that very useful in a learning environment.  One such example is cameras, which the students can use to help build their story telling skills. He added that apps geared toward math and reading skills, as well as generic programs for tasks such as word processing and presentations, will also be loaded onto the devices. 

Nordstrom is looking for any smart devices, such as phones or tablets, but not laptops or desktop computers, which are too bulky.  He would prefer if the donor can wipe their information off of the devices before donation, but for anyone who doesn’t know how, he will do this before preparing the phones for Guatemala. Phones can be dropped off at ArtsForward or by contacting Nordstrom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make arrangements.