Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan (Photo : Facebook)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the story of how a Filipina woman, who gathers shells for a living, used internet.org, also known as Free Basics, to earn a degree in Computer Science.
According to Inquirer, Riza Mae Tachado came from Culasi Antique, where the only job women can do is gather seashells. Tachado, however, was not content with her current standard of living and wanted to achieve more.
The outlet reported that Tachado would travel by boat everyday just to get to the mainland city where she could attend her classes. Unfortunately, when she was writing her thesis, a typhoon struck the island and she was not able to go to school for weeks.
Tachado, however, did not let this hinder her love for learning. She shared that they used Facebook, through Internet.org to communicate with her groupmates.
"My phone became a classroom to communicate with my groupmates," she explained.
In his post, Zuckerberg shared that Facebook and Internet.org's main goal is to connect everyone in the world. He explained that "being connected means having opportunity," adding that he wished everyone can achieve their full potential through the platform, much like Tachado.
Watch the video below:
This is an amazing story about Riza -- a young woman on a small island where the only job for women was collecting seashells, yet she used Internet.org to earn a degree in computer science.Being connected means having opportunity. We're going to connect the whole world so one day everyone can achieve their full human potential -- just like Riza.
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, October 12, 2015
The Facebook CEO has been criticized for the initiative. According to Business Insider, some claim that because it would not include the entire Internet and Facebook is the one in charge for creating the criteria for inclusion it would result to a "walled garden" that would ultimately violate net neutrality principles.
Zuckerberg, however, continues to argue that Free Basics is open to any developer who wants to submit.
