In Pictures: El Salvadoran sisters attending online classes up a tree

Authorities closed schools and universities to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus

Last updated: August 28, 2020 | 10:46

AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

2 MIN READ

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Two sisters in western El Salvador are taking their love of learning to great heights: every day they climb a mountain, then scramble up an olive tree to get a signal to access their online college lessons.

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Thousands of El Salvadorans living in rural areas have faced the same juggling act since March, when authorities closed schools and universities to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

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It's especially hard to get a strong phone signal to access the internet in the El Tigre canton, near the border with Guatemala, where the Matilde and Marlene Pimentel live.

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"For most of us living in rural areas it's difficult (to study.) There's no (internet) connection," Matilde, 22, who's studying mathematics in college, told AFP.

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She's joined on her daily escapade by 19-year-old Marlene, who is studying statistics.

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The seventh and eighth of 10 children, these ladies are aiming to be the first members of their family to graduate from the state University of El Salvador.

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Their touching story came to light when police officer Castro Ruiz stumbled across Matilde "in the middle of nowhere" while patrolling the El Tigre mountain.

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Finding the young woman on a path leading to a lush olive tree, "my first impression was that something had happened to her," Ruiz told AFP. When he asked her what had happened, her reply stunned him: "I just want to study."

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Touched by such a "positive story," the officer took a photo and published it on Facebook, where it went viral.

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To reach the peak of the mountain in the middle of the rainy season, the sisters walk a kilometer along a slippery path while avoiding snakes hiding in the undergrowth.

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"This is the only way to get a little bit of a signal, and sometimes even here it doesn't work," Marlene told AFP, speaking from her perch in the olive tree.

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She admits to being afraid of falling out of the tree, and scared of the "venemous animals" lurking in the grass in this lush area.

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Matilde (L) and Marlene Pimentel, sisters and university students, try to reach internet signal from a treetop on a hill to attend a virtual class, in El Tigre, El Salvador.

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When not studying, the sisters sell bread at the weekend to help out their father, who grows sweetcorn, beans and squash

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