Above: Lynelle Fyzool, far left, with members from Matura Open Bible Church and Nature Seekers during the handover of equipment. Photo courtesy Digicel.
Students and their parents from the rural community of Matura are today thankful to a Digicel staff member who volunteers with the Matura Open Bible Church. The staff member, Lynelle Fyzool, noticed the students from the community have been at a disadvantage due to a lack of access to the equipment necessary for their virtual educational learning
From April 10, these young persons can visit an eLearning Resource Centre within their community which is now fully equipped with the appropriate technology to aid in their online educational journey.
Ms. Fyzool’s project which she applied for, on behalf the Dynamic Discipleship Matura Open Bible Church and Nature Seekers was one of the two projects chosen.
Her application for an eLearning Resource Centre for the students of Matura will assist with bridging the digital divide. The Digicel Foundation was pleased to hand over a total of 21 devices – 16 tablets and five laptops with accessories and an HP Printer to complete the youth friendly space.
Sixteen tablets and a printer (shown) along with five laptops were presented to the NGO for the Matura students.
“Our children have been struggling due to the lack of access to the necessary devices and juggling the use of their parents’ mobile phones,” said Mrs Suzan Lakhan-Baptiste, who spoke on behalf of Nature Seekers.
“Finally, our children will be connected. They will no longer feel like a rural, underserved part of Trinidad.” Also present at the event was Rev. Dr. Desmond Austin, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Council of Evangelical Churches and Senior Pastor of the Dynamic Discipleship Matura Open Bible.
“Through this project I see the importance of networking that has brought together the Church, Nature Seekers and now the Digicel Foundation,” said Dr Austin.
He said that through networking, relationships are formed and that being relational leads to transformation. He said, “Without teamwork, dreams cannot work. The children are now able to make their own dreams or accomplishments come true.”
“The Digicel Foundation saw the value of making an investment in the continued education of the children of Matura and found that the $30,000TTD simply was not enough and made a decision to increase the amount to $44,000,” Project Coordinator, Diana Mathura-Hobson said on behalf of the Digicel Foundation.
She applauded the Dynamic Discipleship – Matura Open Bible Church and Nature seekers for acknowledging and investing in their children, the heritage and legacy of their community of Matura.
This year, the Digicel Foundation engaged Digicel team members giving them the chance to submit applications for EPIC ‘Extraordinary Projects Impacting Communities’ funding. Ms. Lynelle Fyzool, was one of the 11 team members at Digicel who submitted an application.
Applications ranged from computer labs, refurbishments of community spaces, gym upgrades, road works, community park upgrades, installation of hydroponics systems and upgrades to a water tank farm. Two grants of TT 30, 000 were up for grabs.
Digicel Foundation’s EPIC programme is a small- grant initiative opened to registered community groups to fund small indoor and outdoor community projects which must be completed within 6-8 weeks. To date, with an investment of US$507,103 they have partnered with varying community groups to implement 104 EPIC initiatives, impacting 36,156 persons throughout Trinidad and Tobago.
