Meet Our Fellows Blog Series: Eliana Fram
A teacher points to the blackboard and asks emphatically: “What is an email?”. She wants her students to answer using Jakobson’s communication model, a topic they just learned in class. On the other side of the classroom, four of the eight students who attend La Ciénaga, a rural school on the border between Argentina and Bolivia, were trying to draw the “@” symbol on their notebooks.
As I watched those amazed kids trying to grasp the idea that they could communicate with anyone over the internet, I was hooked. From then on, the digital divide became a primary focus of mine, and I worked to tackle it from whatever position I found myself in.
My first opportunity was from my position in Argentina’s Ministry of Modernization, where I got involved in telecommunications development and fostering digital literacy. Then, as COVID began circling the globe and lockdowns were beginning, my transition into a quantitative educational NGO allowed me to focus on the impact of remote schooling, device penetration, and digital skills levels.
After spending 8 years working and studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the longing to increase my impact led me to continue my studies at the University of Chicago’s master’s program in International Development and Policy. After graduation, I joined the enFocus team in Northern Indiana.
Since joining the team, I have been able to not only use my experience to impact the region broadly, but I have also had the opportunity to pursue my passion: closing the digital divide. So far in my fellowship, I have taught a digital literacy workshop for civic engagement, expanded capacity for bridging the educational digital divide in Elkhart schools, and supported the fundraising strategy of a local NGO.
Hopefully, there will come a day when things we take for granted like Internet and email will be available to everyone.
Learn more about the 2021 enFocus Fellows weekly in our Meet Our Fellows Blog Series.