Digital Divide

Since April 20th, I've been teaching basic computer literacy every Saturday to 12 kids and 2 mothers from the SKSC Village at our NGO office. So that every person has their own computer, 7 come from 9-11AM and 7 come from 1-3PM, The genesis of the class came from the governing board at the village and they approached me to see if I would teach the class.

We use computers for everything in our world. Even as for Peace Corps Volunteers.  They write on the packing list that a computer is optional, but all of the volunteers I know use it close to everyday for work. Think about how much you use your computer. For work, school, communication, research, fun. And it's YOUR computer. If you want to get anything done and present it in a professional manner, you must use a computer. This is where the digital divide comes into play. Think of the SKSC Village. They do not have the money to buy and maintain computers. If anyone wants to research a project for school, print a resume, send an email inquiry, fill out an online form, they have to take a jeep and pay to use an internet cafe. Not really an ideal environment for learning and becoming comfortable using computers. And so they continue to be left behind in poverty because they are not able to keep up with the developing world.

I think about how I learned how to use computers. My dad let me play around on his DOS laptop and type poems for my friends on their birthday. I played Reader Rabbit. I made my first email address when I was 10 years old. Then in school, as early as first grade, I had the opportunity to use computers, whether it was making a design on Kid Pix with Mrs. Mahoney, a class cookbook with Ms. Fowler or weekly computer class in middle and high school.

With these facts in mind, I knew I had to teach the youth AND adults how to use computers. There was the grassroots desire and opportunity. The youth and mothers continue to amaze me every weekend. Filipino time has become the bane of my existence here. To explain-it means that if you schedule an event at 8AM, it will start at 9AM (at the earliest) because nothing will be ready and nobody will be there. However, my kids show up at 8:30AM and 12:30PM, ready to work. It's almost TOO early. One morning a girl was late because she had a doctor's appointment and was so upset that she missed half the class and surprised that she came at 8AM the next week. Another girl had a family emergency and wasn't able to come so she 1. Wrote me an explanation letter and 2. Found a replacement to go for her that week who also gave me the explanation letter. It just goes to show that if you do an activity that people want to do and that they value, then they will show up on time.

We've worked on proper typing technique and creating our own menus in Microsoft Word to practice formatting (each person has his or her own computer, so it's personalized); making "All About Me" PowerPoints in which they have to describe themselves and their families, explain their best qualities, their best friend and why, their dream job, their hero and their dream vacation; playing Microsoft Excel BINGO to get comfortable navigating spreadsheets and creating charts and graphs. Next week is our last class and the participants will edits all of their outputs, learn to print and design their own trifold to present during a gallery showing at the village for their families, friends and neighbors.

The goal is to have this class keep going. The mothers and youth leaders from this first session will be the ones to teach the following sessions. There are plenty of people who want to do it. Families keep asking me when their kids can join.

The next part of the plan is to get computers donated to the SKSC Village so that they no longer have to travel long distances to use computers. LET ME KNOW IF YOU KNOW OF ANY DONORS!