Helping At-Risk Children in Guatemala
In Guatemala thousands of children are forced to work on the streets to sell anything they can to help feed their families, while avoiding gang violence and abuse.
Programa Valentina & Xennial Digital
A native of Guatemala and now CEO of Xennial Digital, Douglas Fajardo grew up in a challenging environment and is very passionate about helping children from disadvantaged communities. A first-generation migrant from Guatemala to the United States, Douglas understands the pain of leaving loved ones behind and the lack of opportunities for uneducated and unskilled young people.
For more than a year, Douglas has been working alongside Jessica Hammer, the Co-Founder/CEO of Programa Valentina, to provide at-risk children with technology tools to help close the equity gap, so that they can have the opportunity to get the jobs that will help them achieve a decent life in Guatemala.
Programa Valentina has already trained and certified over 750 young Guatemalans and placed over 300 in professional jobs, but we need to do more and expand the program to help even more deported and at-risk children.
Douglas and Jessica have worked together to define the plan and resources needed to build a VR Lab with a VR Soft Skills Professional Development Program that will help train these young adults on the key skills they lack and need to thrive in a professional work environment.
Your contribution will help create a truly impactful program for some of the most disadvantaged children in the world. The VR Lab will enable us to teach these children the essential social, people and professional skills they need to have access to decent jobs, and in turn provide their families a chance for a better quality of life.
Expanding a Successful Program
Programa Valentina has been successful because it uses technology to both engage the participants and train them on the skills they need to enter the professional workforce.
We are looking to raise $90,000 through this campaign to create the VR Lab and augment the work Programa Valentina is doing.
The funding will be utilized for:
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Hardware Purchase – We are looking to purchase thirty (30) Oculus Quest VR devices, which will be about $20,000 after shipping and import duties. Each Oculus Quest has a cost of $399 plus tax in the US. This will be roughly 22% of the budget.
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Soft Skills Curriculum Development – We have defined four key initial modules to be created: Leadership, Collaboration, Interview Preparation and Public Speaking. The typical cost per module is $35,000 but Xennial Digital will be producing them at much lower cost of $15,000 each. This is about 67% of the budget. If the campaign receives a surplus of funding, the additional funds will be used to create additional modules.
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Teacher Training – We will need to develop and provide materials for teacher training to ensure the VR Program is successful and well-supported. This will cost about $10,000 or about 11% of the budget since Xennial teams will volunteer most of this time.
Why Support this Program
Valentina welcomes all types of at-risk children to be part of their program, and we need you to join us in this effort to help these young adults in Guatemala.
People that really want to stop the crisis at the U.S. border know they need to drive economic development and jobs in Latin American countries. We also know that these caring people want to do more than just provide funding.
For that reason, the perks we've created for this campaign are designed to allow you to be part of this effort:
- You can learn about and meet the kids you will be helping
- You can tour the school and meet the teachers at Valentina
If we don’t make the entire goal, we’ll utilize the funds collected to buy as many headsets as possible and to create as many modules as we can, based on the amount raised.
The Impact
Tens of thousands of children in Guatemala have no choice but to be on the street selling whatever they can to provide food and shelter for their families.
Thousands more are forced to migrate to the United States because of lack of opportunities and education at home, and on their journey through foreign lands they run the risk of being kidnapped, raped, killed, apprehended and, in the best of cases, deported back to Guatemala.
With your support, you are helping these children build the skills they need to reach their potential and provide their families with the opportunity for a better quality of life.
Our Experience in Guatemala
During its young life, Programa Valentina has already certified over 750 at-risk children in professional skills and has placed over 300 in professional jobs.
Xennial_Toto_VR_Education from Xennial Digital on Vimeo.
We know these type of technology tools work with these children, because in May 2018, Xennial Digital partnered with Programa Valentina to donate an educational VR Lab at a rural school in the town of Totonicapan, which is three and half hours from Guatemala City.
The children at Colegio Juan Wesley have not only adopted the technology with ease, but they are enriching their lives by traveling around the world via Google Earth VR and Google Expeditions—opportunities that without VR they would never have. They are also using their VR Lab to help a local community that doesn't have electricity by using a Virtual Reality Circuit Building module to teach locals how to build circuit boards with LED lights, so that they don’t have to use candles in their homes at night.
Risks & Challenges
The only hurdle we can envision at this point is that some of the more complex experiences may take more resources than the effort expected. Since our commitment is to help these at-risk children no matter what it takes, we will devote the necessary time and resources needed to complete the program. We will keep the donors of the campaign informed as we reach the different milestones that will be set for the implementation of the program.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you are one of the many that believe we need to support economic development in Third-World countries and that technology can help us achieve this goal, we welcome you to our community and our project.
Tell the world what we’re doing. Share our story with your friends and coworkers who are passionate about our cause just like you!
We've made it easy for you to share our campaign on all forms of social media. Whatever is your favorite. Use the Indiegogo share buttons, repost from the Xennial Digital page, write up your own post, or copy the text below. Let’s send a message to the world that we can change the lives of at-risk children and give them the opportunity they deserve for their families and future generations to have a better way of life.
COPY & PASTE TO SOCIAL MEDIA:
Hi friends! Children who are deported from the US back to Guatemala often return to worse conditions than they left, facing violence, extortion and lack of job opportunities. By arming these children with the tools they need to succeed, we can help give their families an opportunity at a better quality of life.
Check out this campaign to see how a Virtual Reality Lab and Training Program can help these children acquire the skills they need to thrive. Please donate and help spread the word of our Indiegogo campaign: https://igg.me/at/valentina/emal/20480814