3 Thank You Notes from Mexico

"Hola! Would you please tell Bill and Lorie... that the very nice Toshiba laptop they donated has a new home."
We thought you might like to see a couple of the Thank You notes WCE received for our shipments to our Partner Computadoras pro Jovenes in Mexico. We have worked for years with the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende with the cooperation of the Rotary Club in Dallas as well as with the Rotary Club in Corpus Christi.  We are currently collecting laptop computers for our fourth shipment to Mexico.  because they have just received $20,000 from Rotary International!

#1  Hola!

Would you please tell Bill and Lorie Amoss that the very nice Toshiba laptop they donated has a new home. Just today we delivered this computer to Memo and I know they will be pleased that their laptop has started its second life.

You are familiar with what we do when we get a computer but just to recap we ask a local university to reformat the hard drive and install a Spanish operating system. In this case Windows XP in Spanish. They also install MS Office on every machine. We have a license from Bill Gates to do this. When we get it back we do a bunch of stuff to it as well.

Here is where Bill and Lorie come in. We had a special request from a doctor who runs a home for the aged. A young man showed up on his door step not too long ago. This youngster has cerebellar ataxia. To this layman that is something like cerebral palsy. The doctor, Jose Valencia, has befriended Memo who now lives at this home with the elderly residents. It seems Memo's mother has the same condition and the poor father is unable to do much for either his wife or his son.

Memo has learned to use a computer and that is his only way to communicate.  This is in itself quite an accomplishment. He had an old laptop which finally gave out on him. That's when we were asked to help. I've attached a photo of Memo and his doctor you can forward along with this note. Memo will never know about the kindness of strangers: Bill and Lorie who provided him with this new window onto the world and the Livingston's who brought it to him from Colorado. My thanks to you all.

That's not the end of this very compelling story. Memo saw a movie recently about a suicide and since he lost his old computer has been pestering the doctor to help him die. The doctor feels that this computer will give him a renewed sense of purpose in life. ¡Ojala!

And finally, here is part of an email from Dr. Valencia. I was particularly impressed by the Dr's confession that he finds it hard to believe you can just ask someone for help outside of the family. As he says, not something they are accustomed to in Mexico.

Es muy difícil para mí solicitar esto, pues no estamos acostumbrados a creer que cualquier persona pida y no se aproveche de la buena voluntad de quienes ayudan, pero me atreví, finalmente lo hice pues me sentiré muy feliz en entregarle su lap. Yo tengo en mente hacerle ese regalo a nombre de su padre el mismo día del padre.

You have all done a wonderful thing here. I hope you feel this was the right thing to do with this computer. I sure do!

 We gave a computer to  a kinder teacher. She wrote us this email and it is
too touching not to pass along to you. While it is not one of your computers
it might as well have been. ¡Buen provecho!

#2 Hola Como están???

I´m very grateful with you, for all your atentions with our school, we began to show the all the things that we can find  and do in the computer, when I show the encyclopedia the want to see everything, all my kids want to use it, and this days they arrive very early in the mornings because they want to learn how to use and use it, you can´t believe it when we´re in the computer they´re so quiet and you know this is so hard and all the atention is with the programs,  We playes de puzzles and they were telling me where to put the parts, when they listen the Himno Nacional Mexicano, they started to sing, and when they finished to sing, some kids told me that when they were listening it they want to cry because they felt very nice in they´re hearts.

This are only some of they expresions and they´re so happy and interested with the computer, you know, now they have the technology and the world in their hands, the donations it´s going to change and opend their mind and their vision to their future, now they´re have more options to do in their lives.

I´m so grateful with you and Sr. Dennis, de verdad, it´s a great present, because you can see the comunity it´s very poor and their options and opportunities are not to much, but now it´s different.  Any time when you want to visit the school you´re very wellcome.

Disculpen mi Ingles pero estoy muy emocionada por que vi en mis alumnos esa alegria y ganas de conocer el mundo.

¡¡¡¡Mil gracias por todo¡¡¡¡

Con Cariño y Respeto

Elia

#3 Hola amigos....

This is just a quick note to say thank you!

One of the computers Jim brought to Dale and Dale brought to the bus company has a new home. You must think this is old business and it is but I want to share with you the story of this particular computer. Yes, you two teamed up to get other computers into the hands of kids here in central Mexico, and there will be lots more stories to tell, but this one is special. 

Noami was not a good student in school. She was disruptive in class and not well liked by her classmates. Of course, she had an excuse. She was born unable to hear or speak. When we learned about Noami we gave her one of the computers you two had worked so hard to get down here for us. As luck would have it one of the volunteers on our team had worked with similar kids in

Miami before moving here. He got some Spanish language software from his former co workers in Miami and installed some programs on your computer. Noami is now learning sign language. She is learning to identify words with pictures and she is interacting with her classmates. She has blossomed and now may have a happy and productive life. Of course it is not just because you two found a way to get her a computer. The volunteers who have turned your computer into a powerful learning tool are critical to this success but still, without the computer none of this would be possible. 

How lucky we all are to be able to help kids like this.   ~ Implementation Plan