Columbus School students, led by Technology teacher Julian Zuñiga, are creating a software program to assist a 15 year old Medellin boy who suffers from brain paralysis communicate.

This will be the first time a TOM event has been held in Medellin and will be hosted by The Columbus School October 5-7. TOM, Tikkun Olam Makers, is an organization based in Israel that helps disabled people throughout the world overcome their difficulties.

“I got a scholarship to go there and learn about their education system, and I brought the idea here to Medellin,” Hector Londoño, Columbus School Technology Coach and TOM Organizer, said.

There will be 12 groups, each assigned to solve a problem for a person with a disability. The group led by Zuñiga is helping John Anderson communicate his needs. In addition to Zuñiga, who is the group’s electronic engineer, there is a medical doctor, a computer programer, and two TCS students, Gabriel Vallejo and Ana Medina.

“I am really excited about being in TOM because I found it a really good opportunity to help people in need. I feel that my team has been doing some great work and we can accomplish our main goal, which is to help John Anderson communicate,” Gabriel Vallejo, TCS student, said.

Their plan is to create a communication device for his basic needs, like going to the bathroom, taking a shower, and other tasks. Now, he can’t control any of his movements and he is not able to communicate.

“He is not able to talk or walk, all his movements are random, so we need to build a communication device for him to be able to speak,” Zuñiga said.

They will be using different types of technology to show the pictures to John Anderson, and by making a noise the software will talk for him. The software is still missing many things, but the group already knows everything they have to do.

“Right now, we are pretty clear about the software we want to develop, but we still need to work on the mechanical part,” Zuñiga said.

The group meets every week at Comite de Rehabilitacion, an organization in Medellin that assists disabled persons, where John Anderson is a client. They get to know him, and work on the program by testing it with him.

“We have to go there, connect the device to John Anderson, see if it works and what things we have to change.” Zuñiga said.

The prototype they are creating for John Anderson will be available for anyone in the world, because the idea of the organization is creating solutions for everyone that have this same disability.

“Everything we create in TOM, is open source, that means that anyone in the world will be able to download the file and create their own software,” Londoño said.

So far, the group has already accomplished a lot, they still need to think about how they will attach the program to the wheelchair.

“I feel really excited, because I’m pretty sure that we are going to make John Anderson be able to communicate. This will be a great opportunity for everyone in our community!” Vallejo said.