Guillermo Del Toro Will Pay To Fly Entire Mexican Team To Math Olympics In South Africa

Mexico's elementary and high school "Dream Team" couldn't afford to travel to South Africa to compete in the International Math Olympiad, so Guillermo del Toro stepped in to make it happen.

It all started with a tweet.

Olimpiada de Matemáticas de la Ciudad de México tweeted a video of Mexico's mathlete "Dream Team" with the message: "Our elementary and high school teams continue to train to do a good job in South Africa [at the International Math Olympiad]. We are continuing to receive donations, you too are a part of this #DreamTeamMéxico GRACIAS!"

Nuestros equipos olímpicos de primaria y secundaria siguen entrenando para hacer un buen papel en Sudáfrica. Seguimos recibiendo sus donativos, ustedes también son parte de este #DreamTeamMéxico GRACIAS! ????????????????????@ommtw @smm_mx pic.twitter.com/9GCQSX9pxg
— MatemáticasCDMX (@CDMXOMM) May 23, 2019

It turns out that although they had received some help from the government, the teams still didn't have enough to get to Durban, South Africa to compete in the Olympiad, and were relying on public donations to pull together the funds.

Somehow, the tweet ended up in front of Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-winning director of The Shape of Water and Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro proved to be as proud and generous a Mexicano as he is a talented filmmaker, replying to the tweet with an offer to "cover plane tickets for all 12 members of the Olympic math team." "Send me a DM please," he tweeted, "Abrazos."

A. ver, les ofrezco cubrir los boletos de avión para todos los 12 integrantes del equipo de Olimpiadas Matemáticas en Sudáfrica. @CDMXOMM los sigo- envíenme un DM por favor. Abrazos. https://t.co/GfLf2XFCgY
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) May 24, 2019