continued from san juan del sur HOME

The San Juan del Sur Library and Project PorFin have joined forces to add visiting laptop computers to the 26 rural sites already being serviced with book-lending by the library. The response of the children, staff and parents is delightful.

PorFin is a community service project that has the goal of offering free computer time, free instruction, and free internet to the local community. Although initiatives to bring communication technology to disadvantaged populations are growing, there remains a “Digital Divide” between those with access and those with not.

The project PorFin (por fin is a Spanish expression that means roughly It’s about time!) grew out of an initial partnership between the local women’s group, a collection of Nicaraguan and North American educational volunteers, and displaced (read—outsourced) New Yorkers from the Digital Graphic Arts industry. The onsite volunteers providing the hours of work and networking that have made the project a success are mostly Nicaraguans from San Juan del Sur.

Initial seed money, which came from private individuals, was used to secure and prepare a centrally located space and build local support and a local core staff. We received many donations of hardware, most of which could not be shipped because of high costs.

We decided our best bet was to use laptops. We quickly saw the need for an alternative energy source and were able to raise money for the initial phase a solar power system. We have installed three panels which can run half of the computer lab for 8 hours.

Expansion of this system is a priority in our fundraising. When possible, we’ve been able to barter time with Ing. Carlos Mora the owner of Internet Conexion, a local cyber café, which has been very supportive of the project.

PorFin is located a block from the beach in central San Juan del Sur, across the corner from Remanso Real Estate office in Barrio Pedro J. Chamorro. In addition to going out with the bookmobile, we provide individualized computer instruction during two-hour classes once or twice daily, Monday through Friday. Come by and talk to the director, Edwina. She can let you know when classes of your skill level are scheduled.

Check out our evolving web site at www.casacomputadorasjds.org.