San Pedro La Laguna Volunteers Needed

In 2018 and 2019 TSU conducted a 1-year needs analysis in Quetzaltenango on the topic of “training deaf Mayans to become programmers” funded by the Equilibrium Foundation.

TSU found that more than 2/3 of deaf people can imagine a secure and sustainable job in the IT sector and that 1/5 have the necessary properties.

In 2019 TSU trained 3 deaf teenagers from the indigenous K’iche ethnic group with 1 IT expert and 1 interpreter in a 3-week pilot training course on the topic of “Introduction to Android Programming for the Deaf”.

With that experience, TSU developed 2020 a 1-year vocational training concept and trained the first group with 10 participants in 2021. In 2022 the second group with 17 participants started on a national level.

The first goal of the vocational training is the empowerment of the deaf Mayans to become programmers.

The second goal is, that the participants carry out software projects with an experienced IT expert in the team and thus earn a salary for a living. Finally, they will have the opportunity to integrate into a future global labor market.