2018 Digital Libraries to Amazon

Hello Everyone!

The donation of the RACHEL solar digital libraries full of educational material, along with foldscope microscopes, school supplies, and menstrual kits, was such a success that I am now working with Powering Potential Inc. to begin installing solar Raspberry Pi computer labs with RACHEL in the Amazon. Powering Potential has successfully installed labs in Tanzania for over 10 years.

We have chosen a school in a very disadvantaged area in the Peruvian Amazon to install a lab and are applying for a grant that may cover part of the cost.

I will be returning to the Amazon to oversee the installation in July 2018. Would you like to partner with us?

Thank you so much!


Hello Everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Dana Rensi. I am a Spanish teacher and library media specialist. I am returning to the Peruvian Amazon in July and August 2017 to install solar digital libraries in remote schools and libraries along the Amazon River and tributaries.

I was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher to Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon in 2005-2006. During that year, I became acutely aware of the dire educational situation of the remote schools along the many rivers and tributaries.  These schools lack resources and at times even have no teacher. My goal has been to return to improve access for these marginalized communities.

I have found an innovative solution that uses inexpensive technology to bring the best curated educational resources from the Internet to those who have access to neither Internet nor electricity. I believe if students have access to information they will continue their education which will result in more opportunities for growth providing economic stability and development to their communities.

I am taking a portable solar projection station with audio and video capabilities using specifications from Powering Potential and digital libraries with information from World Possible. A $35 computer becomes a server to show information in English, Spanish or French that any computer, tablet or even cell phone with wifi or Bluetooth can access.

The information includes Kahn Academy with video and audio, Wikipedia, La Enciclopedia Ilustrada de la Salud (Health Illustrated Encyclopedia), Educalab resources, Library of Latin America, Phet Interactive Simulations, Hesperian health guides, Great Books of the World literature from Project Gutenberg, textbooks from cK-12 and much more.

I am also working with a long-serving NGO, Project Amazonas, that supports education, community, conservation, research and medical care along the remote areas of the Amazon through two research stations, nearby schools and a medical boat.

For one week, I will be a translator on a medical boat up the Pintuyacu River to remote villages that have no medical care. I will also be giving out reusable, washable menstruation kits from Days for Girls  and books entitled “Menstrupedia” to teach young girls about their bodies and give them supplies that hopefully will keep them in school during their cycles.

Unfortunately, there is a terrible infantile sexual tourism trade in the Amazon area. It is illegal, but not greatly enforced. By educating these marginalized youth, they can get a legitimate job and not fall into this horrific slavery.

Along with other educational supplies, I will be taking several sets of $1 microscopes, called foldscopes, for science education and experiments.

If you would like to contribute, all monies will go to purchasing digital libraries and educational supplies for schools and libraries along the many remote tributaries of the Amazon River.

Even a small donation can make a big difference in the lives of these children!



Photos Maria C Wray



Photos Dr. Devon Graham