K-State students make a difference in Guatemala by refurbishing and hand-delivering laptops to grateful scholarship students.
Remember the extreme excitement you felt as a child on Christmas morning? You walked out into your living room and the whole house seemed to be filled with joy for the presents you were about to open.
That’s what it felt like for Guatemalan scholarship students when some K-State students gifted them laptops of their very own.
Noah Biswell, Jacob Powers and Calvin Delich traveled to Panajachel, Guatemala, to distribute 26 refurbished laptops as part of a mission trip collaboration with the Wamego United Methodist Church. They spent more than a month replacing computer parts, software and hardware during their free time with the help of classmates Tyler Bontrager and Carter Seth before making the trip.
Among the group traveling to Panajachel were 17 mission trip volunteers from the Methodist church. On the first two days, the K-Staters charged and perfected the computers, delivered them to the scholarship students and taught them how to use the technology.
“It was a really great opportunity to meet the locals and children of Guatemala while giving out these laptops that would change their lives forever,” Biswell said.
The rest of the week, they helped the church members build a house for Guatemalan locals.
“It was great to be working with all these moving parts for one single purpose,” Powers said.
The Wamego United Methodist Church heavily supported the computer mission, providing the students with financial backing and laptop parts. K-State’s IT center was a huge help as well, contributing parts of their own and readily giving the team advice when requested.
Biswell and Powers can’t wait to go back again, especially now that they have experience and new goals. They hope to be able to refurbish computers faster with more team members, leaving time to create a database that helps volunteers track the incoming and outgoing of patients and medicines for Panajachel’s medical system.
The Porch de Salomon project succeeded thanks to the collaboration of K-State staff, community volunteers, church members, and dedicated students who are passionate about helping others.
“I got to learn about how to fix computers and observe God’s heart for the world,” Biswell said. “It inspired me to go on more mission trips in the future and gave me such an unexplainable sense of joy.”
By Kate Ellwood
