2007.07.08: July 8, 2007: Headlines: COS - El Salvador: Internet: IT: The Lima News: Peace Corps Volunteer Michelle Gullett' bringing the Internet to rural community in El Salvador
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
El Salvador:
Peace Corps El Salvador :
Peace Corps El Salvador: Newest Stories:
2007.07.08: July 8, 2007: Headlines: COS - El Salvador: Internet: IT: The Lima News: Peace Corps Volunteer Michelle Gullett' bringing the Internet to rural community in El Salvador
Peace Corps Volunteer Michelle Gullett' bringing the Internet to rural community in El Salvador
Her floor is made of dirt. Hot water is a rare luxury, not a necessity. Frogs jump through her kitchen. She is also in charge of a nearly completed technology project that will provide a school with 56 computers and a community with an Internet cafe. The 1997 Shawnee High School graduate has spent more than two years in El Salvador as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. With her Peace Corps stint ending next month, the 28-year-old is busy trying to raise the rest of the money to complete the last part of her project: the reconstruction of a cyber cafe for the rural community of San Isidro, where she is stationed.
Peace Corps Volunteer Michelle Gullett' bringing the Internet to rural community in El Salvador
A gift of technology: Lima native bringing the Internet to rural community in El Salvador
Jul 8, 2007 — Knight Ridder Tribune Business News
Jul. 8--SAN ISIDRO, El Salvador -- Michelle Gullett's life is likely vastly different from yours.
Her floor is made of dirt. Hot water is a rare luxury, not a necessity. Frogs jump through her kitchen. She is also in charge of a nearly completed technology project that will provide a school with 56 computers and a community with an Internet cafe. The 1997 Shawnee High School graduate has spent more than two years in El Salvador as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. With her Peace Corps stint ending next month, the 28-year-old is busy trying to raise the rest of the money to complete the last part of her project: the reconstruction of a cyber cafe for the rural community of San Isidro, where she is stationed.
"I'm really excited," Gullet said. "We started working on this in early-to-mid-2006 so it's been over a year of trying to pull it together and getting everyone on board. Now that we're almost there, it's very exciting." Gullett earned a degree in sociology from The Ohio State University and worked at a marketing firm in Columbus before getting the volunteer itch. "I wanted to learn more about how people live in the world," she said. Gullett applied for the Peace Corps in February 2005. That June she was off to El Salvador. Her goal is to raise $8,500 for the reconstruction of the cafe, which will serve as a community technology center.
San Isidro's farmers association donated the building for the cafe, but it needs some major upgrades. Right now, the building is made out of adobe, which won't last for long, Gullett said. "We'll be adding cement block," she said. "I think that [the cafe] is going to allow community members to learn a lot more about technology and open their job opportunities. I think it's really going to help out the education the students are receiving nd preparing them more for the future when they are looking for work." The cafe will charge for Internet use, giving the community money to sustain both the cafe, and the 56 computers Gullett helped the elementary, middle and high schools receive.
It will also teach pupils how to run a business. As of Saturday, the project still needed $2,528 for the completion of the cafe technology center. "This project affects thousands of people for a really long time," Gullett said. You can donate to the project by visiting michellegullett.blogspot.com and clicking on the "Help fund our project!" link in the top right corner of the Web page. Also, businesses can match donations by clicking on "Matching Gifts." When she arrived in El Salvador, Gullett discovered San Isidro was in dire need of technology advancements for pupils and adults. "The education was a big shocker," she said.
Classes had no books and there were hardly any computers. In addition, the career outlook for pupils was grim. If "people get a high school diploma that's a big thing," she said. With the help of the community and the Peace Corps, Gullett created the project, which will educate pupils and adults through technology. It's nearly finished. "It would be great if it could be finished by mid-August, but for that to happen we would have to get the money in very shortly," she said. "Hopefully we can have it done by then. That's the goal."
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: July, 2007; Peace Corps El Salvador; Directory of El Salvador RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for El Salvador RPCVs; Internet; IT
When this story was posted in September 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation. |
| Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer Paul Theroux began by writing about the life he knew in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His first first three novels are set in Africa and two of his later novels recast his Peace Corps tour as fiction. Read about how Theroux involved himself with rebel politicians, was expelled from Malawi, and how the Peace Corps tried to ruin him financially in John Coyne's analysis and appreciation of one of the greatest American writers of his generation (who also happens to be an RPCV). |
| Dodd issues call for National Service Standing on the steps of the Nashua City Hall where JFK kicked off his campaign in 1960, Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd issued a call for National Service. "Like thousands of others, I heard President Kennedy's words and a short time later joined the Peace Corps." Dodd said his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form or another by 2020. "We have an appetite for service. We like to be asked to roll up our sleeves and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't been asked in a long time." |
| Public diplomacy rests on sound public policy When President Kennedy spoke of "a long twilight struggle," and challenged the country to "ask not," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining US foreign policy. The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and war. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy. But public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound. Read more. |
| Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania. |
| Peace Corps Funnies A PCV writing home? Our editor hard at work? Take a look at our Peace Corps Funnies and Peace Corps Cartoons and see why Peace Corps Volunteers say that sometimes a touch of levity can be one of the best ways of dealing with frustrations in the field. Read what RPCVs say about the lighter side of life in the Peace Corps and see why irreverent observations can often contain more than a grain of truth. We'll supply the photos. You supply the captions. |
| PCOL serves half million PCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more. |
| Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences . |
| Warren Wiggins: Architect of the Peace Corps Warren Wiggins, who died at 84 on April 13, became one of the architects of the Peace Corps in 1961 when his paper, "A Towering Task," landed in the lap of Sargent Shriver, just as Shriver was trying to figure out how to turn the Peace Corps into a working federal department. Shriver was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. Read Mr. Wiggins' obituary and biography, take an opportunity to read the original document that shaped the Peace Corps' mission, and read John Coyne's special issue commemorating "A Towering Task." |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: The Lima News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - El Salvador; Internet; IT
PCOL38346
33