Hand Sanitizer Giveaway
TIES received a donation of 6,474 bottles of hand sanitizer earlier this year. The government of Canada bought it for use during the last election and are now donating it to registered charities across Canada.
These are top quality, 500ml pump
bottles, not just the little ones. For
several weeks a crew of volunteers
stuck little TIES labels on each bottle,
and, as of May, we have given away
over 6,000 bottles to church groups,
women’s shelters, registered charities,
and local businesses. We have just a
few hundred bottles left!
As we posted on Facebook, the helpful crew at Phoenix Truck & Crane kindly transported the six pallets from the government warehouse in Langley to us in Port Coquitlam. Big thanks there!
If your organization needs more, or you know of someone else who could benefit from this giveaway, just contact us!
The hand sanitizer is free, with a request for a donation to help support TIES projects.
Check out our YouTube video saying “thank you” to all who have supported and benefited from this giveaway:
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
Meet our TIES Kenya representative, Sarah Wanjiru!
To help distribute scholarships to the eight beneficiaries of the TIES Kenya University Scholarships program, we are working with Sarah Wanjiru, our Kenyan representative, and AVSI Kenya, an NGO operated in Kenya. Sarah is an alumna and beneficiary of the AVSI Foundation High School Sponsorship program. Growing up in the slums of Kibera, the AVSI scholarship helped Sarah in many ways. Through the program she was able to secure a placement in a Kenyan university.
She graduated with a bachelor’s in economics and is currently a researcher and program manager. As a former scholarship recipient, Sarah is excited to give back to her community and help empower other underprivileged kids through the TIES Kenya Scholarship.
Sarah’s role as the TIES Kenya representative is to bring awareness about the TIES scholarship program to the local Kenyan population. She also assists in the vetting and verification process of the candidates. In addition, Sarah helps answer any questions and concerns students and parents may have regarding the program. Sarah is currently working with the beneficiaries of the TIES Scholarship to pay for their tuition and accommodation. She is also responsible for sending the students money towards their meal plan and any other additional costs.
We are excited to work with Sarah on this project!
Charity Update
After waiting over a year, TIES is pleased to announce that we are now a registered charity in Canada! As a registered charity, donors will now be qualified to receive a tax receipt for their donations made to our projects.
Donate to Technology In Education Society projects here: https://ties.charity/donate/.
Here’s the link to the TIES detail page: TIES CRA Information.
If you are interested in collaborating with us regarding current or future initiatives, please contact us.
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
NowLight Update
TIES worked alongside S.H.A.R.E Agriculture Foundation and Ak’ Tenamit to deliver and monitor 10 NowLight devices to students in the villages of Sarstún near Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala.
Students in this rural area have difficulty doing their schoolwork due to lack of electricity. The problem has worsened during the pandemic; the children of rural Guatemala have struggled to keep up with learning during school closures. Just a minute of pulling the NowLight’s cord will generate enough energy
for two hours of light, or fifteen minutes on the phone. These students can use the NowLight devices to provide adequate lighting and to charge their school devices so that they can do their homework without having to walk many hours to a charging port.
Innovative technology such as the NowLight is vital to student success, especially for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic! TIES hopes to organize another delivery and field test of 20 to 30 NowLights in more villages soon.
“My family is of scarce resources, and I appreciate the support they give me with the light to charge my tablet. THANK YOU, S.H.A.R.E!”
Testimonial from Sustainable Tourism student Julio Maquin Xi (translated from Spanish).
Learn more about our NowLight Field Test program here. Follow the NowLight devices’ journey to Cerro Blanco:
And check out this video of the NowLight in action!
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
Ak’ Tenamit High School Scholarships
TIES is working with Ak’ Tenamit and The Guatemalan Tomorrow Fund to distribute scholarships to students in Grades 8 to 12 in Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala. The scholarships granted cover the students’ tuition, accommodation, food, medical expenses, and occasional travel costs.
TIES has been able to provide scholarships to 5 students! In Grade 10, students are given the option to choose a specific academic stream and remain in it until Grade 12. These streams help students select their future educational goals and career aspirations. Ak’ Tenamit offers two streams: the sustainable tourism stream and the rural well-being stream.
Roxana, now a Grade 12 student, is one of the five beneficiaries who received an Ak’ Tenamit scholarship during her Grade 11 year.
She is currently pursuing an education in the rural well-being stream.
In this stream, students like Roxana leave campus to work in NGOs or government organizations throughout Guatemala.
In addition to hands-on experience, Roxana also learns valuable knowledge in the classroom about sustainable community infrastructure, sustainable and ancestral agriculture, and how to develop projects and work in areas related to human rights.
Roxana and her peers also focus on reading and writing, legal organization, math, and Roxana’s favourite subject, history. She also enjoys playing sports in her downtime.
We at TIES feel grateful for the opportunity to support ambitious students like Roxana!
If you would like to bolster our support of Roxana and students like her, please donate to our cause!
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
Kenya University Scholarships Program
As of August 2021, TIES selected eight students to receive the Kenya University Scholarship. We received numerous applications and it was very difficult to narrow it down to the selected beneficiaries!
To select the students, TIES conducted an intensive selection process. Students who qualified were:
- 1) a female student graduating from high school
- 2) a successful KCSE candidate with a C+ minimum
- 3) able to show their financial need
- 4) sponsored by a charity in high school
- 5) a university-qualifying student with a KUCCPS letter
- 6) not receiving HELB loans nor scholarships
After analyzing the final candidates, TIES awarded the scholarship to eight well-deserving, intelligent, and passionate young women who strive to give back to their community through their programs. The Scholarship covers the students’ tuition, accommodation, and food costs, as well as additional costs required for the students’ programs such as laptops.
With the terrible toll on the Kenyan education system and the cutbacks in the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) due to COVID-19, a scholarship program such as this was urgently needed! We are grateful to be able to help these young girls achieve their educational and career goals by granting them the TIES Scholarship.
Learn more about the project here.
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
RACHEL Units to Sierra Leone
TIES is working alongside CAUSE Canada to distribute RACHEL units, tablets, and other technological devices to students in Sierra Leone. RACHEL units are small, battery-powered devices that students may use to access resources such as Khan Academy and Wikipedia without Internet! They are portable, so that two RACHELs and 30 tablets, enough to power two classrooms, can easily fit in a large suitcase.
The RACHEL units can be customized to address a country’s unique culture and educational goals. Therefore, students can be educated in a way that prioritizes their heritage. These RACHELs are equipped with resources that align with the Sierra Leone education curriculum.
As of April, 2022, CAUSE has enrolled 112 kids in a four times per week after school program! The program is designed to boost math and English literacy rates using RACHEL units and tablets – partially funded by TIES – to improve their quality of learning and educational experience.
These kids really want to learn. They voluntarily extend their school day by an extra hour, and attendance is an amazing 99%! We at TIES are blown away by the dedication of the students of Sierra Leone.
Children have been tested for their baseline proficiency, and improvement levels will be measured in the coming months. Interested in seeing the PDF report? Just contact us!
For more updates on our RACHELs to Sierra Leone project, visit our website here.
TIES NEWSLETTER – JUNE, 2022 – EDITION 2
Support Our Projects
Serit arbores, quae alteri saeclo prosint is Latin for “He plants trees to benefit another generation.”
If you would like to join TIES in investing in the education of young people in developing countries to improve their future and the future of generations to follow, then please donate today.
Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates about our projects.
