A Salvadoran teenager shares his journey of completing El Salvador’s Bitcoin diploma program, Mi Primer Bitcoin, meaning My First Bitcoin. Now, he has returned to his former high school to educate the teachers about Bitcoin (BTC).
In a series of tweets on July 8, 18-year-old Gerardo Moran revealed that El Salvador’s Bitcoin diploma program, Mi Primer Bitcoin, which is backed by the El Salvador Ministry of Education, allowed him to leave behind his life in construction “earning 6 dollars a day.”
Hi, my name is Gerardo Moran.
I’m a 18 year old salvadorian who just came out from high school, where I had the chance to graduate from @MyfirstBitcoin_ #BitcoinDiploma.
Now I’m a teacher myself
Here’s my story pic.twitter.com/9pUgLlYIBT
— GerardoMPB (@gerardomoran414) July 7, 2023
Moran revealed that he has been working since he was “11 years old,” mainly in construction and tourism, and could never wrap his head around how Salvadoran citizens worked so hard for little reward.
“I’ve tried to reason why people in my country worked so much for so little money” Moran stated on Twitter, adding that he was working for not much money at all:
“Earning 6 dollars a day doing construction wasn’t feasible for me anymore, so I quit without knowing there was an opportunity ahead”.
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Moran explained that “one day” his school put out a call-out for students interested in taking the Bitcoin diploma course – in which he “applied and excelled.”
Moran revealed that he is now “leading Bitcoin education” in his hometown, training and teaching the Bitcoin Diploma to a “group of 8 senior professors,” at his former high school, Antonio J. Alfaro school.
7/10 We now proudly educate people in the western region of #ElSalvador
This job has brought me opportunities I never thought possible.
It allows me to work, continue my studies & meet people while passing this knowledge to students not too younger than me pic.twitter.com/jVcUCuVZ6J
— GerardoMPB (@gerardomoran414) July 7, 2023
This comes after it was reported on May 4 that Mi Primer Bitcoin has raised over 1 Bitcoin in donations from generous Bitcoin education advocates worldwide.
People everywhere, from Poland to Canada, sent satoshis over the Lightning Network to support the growth of El Salvador’s Bitcoin diploma program.
Gilberto Motto, El Salvador’s director of education, told Cointelegraph in August 2022 that the government is really focusing on educating its citizens about Bitcoin – especially teenagers.
“If we could reach every 16-year-old or 17-year-old in the country, we will effectively teach the entire country in one year because that demographic is really strategic. They go home and they’ll talk to their parents, their aunts, their uncles, their little brothers, and sisters.”
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