By Tatiana Vásquez
María Yenny López (Pamplona, Colombia, 1985) has been
an elementary school teacher for 15 years. She is also a specialist in
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and is a Master’s student in
the application of ICTs at the University of Santander (UDES). She has worked
in rural schools, mainly in the departments of Casanare and Arauca. For 11
years, she has been a teacher at the “La Bendición” School, which belongs to
the municipality of Arauca and where she has constantly fought for the
improvement of education and the quality of life of her students.
Her passion for teaching has pushed
her to go beyond the educational content taught in primary school. She has
become a psychologist, mother, friend, guide, chef, messenger, and has been in
charge of cleaning activities. The community is her family, even she is the
godmother of the children of some of her former students. Her main motivation
for being a teacher is to share knowledge and motivation, she is satisfied with
knowing that her students understand what she explains to them. María Yenny mentions
that “being a teacher is a title that it is not taken away either at home or on
the street, it is to give support not only to students but also to parents
because what one strives in the classroom is also outside it looks".
Her teaching method is based on the
environment that surrounds them and the things the students perceive, so they
will remember what she taught them. Her patience and good mood lead her to always
keep a calm answer to her students. She seeks to build confidence in her
students and always reminds them the following phrase "do not say I cannot
do it, always look for the strategy". For her, it is comforting to meet
former students who remember her as a teacher who listened and guided them.
María Yenny is a normalista
(she studied at a high school dedicated to teacher training) and a mother of
two children. She has born in the El Ovaldío village belonging to the
municipality of Chitaga, named this way because of its isolation, two days on
horseback from the nearest town, in the department of Norte de Santander. She arrived
in Arauca at the age of 8 years old. Some years later, thanks to a government
contest in the department of Arauca, she was selected as an elementary school
teacher where she was ranked 15th at the departmental level. This selection allowed
her to go for a rural school. Among others, she found a school that no fellow
worker wanted to select due to the difficulty of access in winter, mainly
because a creek grew close to the school which prevented the passage and
implied crossing two neighboring farms to get there. The school had no water,
energy, and internet, and it takes more than one hour from the city of Arauca
to get there by motorcycle. Despite this, it was her choice.
In April 2010, when she arrived at the “La Bendición” school, it was about to be closed because of the lack of students. The only two students had not enough material to study, including books. The lush grass almost covered the school, and there were termites and snakes. She asked to be given a trial time to determine whether it was necessary to close the school. She visited neighboring houses to identify if there were more children at the age of schooling. Step by step, she got to attract the interest of parents to incorporate more children at school! She and her two students cleaned the school and weeded the surrounding area. The school had 5 laptops but in bad conditions, three of them were obsolete, therefore María Yenny paid for the repair of the computers. Since the school did not have access to electricity, she recharged them in her house. Thanks to some donations from her classmates in Pamplona, she managed to get books. She also bought school supplies and some pots to cook for the students.
After five years, finally, the school is hosting 10 students. Among other changes, currently, the snack consists of cooked food such as arepa or others based on meat or chicken instead of just juice and cookies; similarly, the army also collaborated to improve the facilities of the school. Because of the lack of access to electricity, from the city of Arauca, she carried a cooler with cold food, water, her bag pack, and the laptops of school on her motorcycle. At the school, while children were studying or doing tasks, she prepared breakfast and work to facilitate the use of the bathroom, asking for water from her neighbor. Thanks to the endeavors of María Jenny, the local utility installed an off-grid photovoltaic system and since the school had no public deeds, it was not possible to install conventional electricity by grid extension. The installation of the photovoltaic system allowed them to have access to lighting, charge the computers, use the television, cool food, prepare smoothies fruits, and have their own water thanks to an electrical pump. The parents of the students donated a fan due to this area of the country is characterized by high temperatures.
“Having access to electricity has
allowed students to pay more attention in classes and save time since they do
not have to move the desks outside for light”, she said. “The concentration
outside is much lower because children have more distractions. Even their
attitude changes, when there is no power, they do not want to clean or mop the
bathroom because water is hot and it is necessary to draw it manually from a
well; in addition, they cannot drink cold water and, on cloudy days, there is
no enough lighting in the classroom, making it difficult to see the blackboard”,
added María Yenny.
María Yenny tells us that “…Schools far
from the city are abandoned. Unfairly, only schools located in the city are
given computers, air conditioning, new desks, supplies, and book donations, but
rural schools are also important. Although rural schools do not have between 35
and 40 children, they also do need help
since we, rural people, are the ones who work the most with our hands”. In rural
areas, there live humble and hard-working families, who value any help, for
instance, when they are given a notebook, they are very happy. María Yenny
states that in 11 years, "only once, the school has been painted and the blackboard
has not been replaced". When she started to teach in “La Bendición”, children
did not know what a computer was, they always assumed that only principal
schools need computers because they have more children, “… we are few people,
but we also need to be provided sport and cultural spaces. In the villages, teachers
struggle to supply their students with what they need. Sometimes, parents cannot
afford to buy an eraser, so, I usually pay for that. Parents value every
smallest detail at school, here, every detail counts”. Each year the oil
company located in the area gives a school kit per student, which is made up of
a ruler, four notebooks, a pencil, an eraser, and a color pencils box.
María Yenny is teaching students
from three villages: La Bendición, Merecure, and Andes. There are 29 students (12 girls and 17 boys) from
preschool to the fifth year of elementary school who take classes in the only classroom.
Currently, it is possible to arrive by car at the school since it was built new
access to allow students to avoid, in winter times, crossing the two
neighboring farms.
n though the inspiring story of
María Yenny, a committed woman with her community and students, the pandemic impacted
negatively the school, so, it was closed, and snacks are not available anymore
for children, and a bag with food is delivered monthly. María Yenny mentioned that
not for all parents it is possible to get this donation because of the long-distance,
so, she is also able to deliver this house by house. Added to that, a month ago,
the photovoltaic system was dismantled and the inverter, controller, and grounding
cable were stolen, leaving there just solar panels and light bulbs. Therefore,
María Yenny and her students are again struggling without access to electricity
and communications, and drinking water while we live in a virtualized world.
This will require to face complicated management to obtain economic resources
and tools to provide the minimum conditions for learning.
For María Yenny, being a teacher is
the best thing she can do despite difficulties, it is part of her life. She
recognizes that electrical energy provides comfort to her students, standing
out that solar energy is the best alternative and she aspires that similar
projects could be implemented in other zones to support learning and quality of
education as her students had at some point. She is grateful to God and to all
people who have supported the institution, “…it is to make children and their
parents smile, they thank any support.”
We are infinitely grateful to María
Yenny for sharing her story with Energy from Women, for rescuing the value of
teaching in rural areas, looking for the quality of education and life for her
students.
Access to energy is vital in our
daily lives, how we can make that the daily life of María Yenny and her students
improve? Would you like to join us to help La Bendición School?
About the author: Tatiana Vásquez, leader of Energy from Women in Colombia. Electrical Engineer and Master in Photovoltaic Solar Energy
Help us to fund this project!! for La Bendición
School. Help us to provide electricity to the School thanks to this
photovoltaic project!
More info in the link below:
Energy for La bendición School
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