Our rural mobile IT courses take off successfully

Our mobile IT courses kicked off successfully on 14 April 2009, at Itete Secondary School in Matungu Division, Mumias District of Western Kenya. The Headmaster, Mr. Sylvester Ngala Ashioya had done the necessary groundwork in sensitising potential participants on the courses.

Mr. Maurice Odhiambo, IT Manager and Mr. Benjamin Obiero, trainer, listening to opening remarks

The school headmaster, Mr.Ashioya, confers with with Mr.Benjamin Obiero of RUDESAT

International.

Although most of those who had registered for the courses were teachers from Itete secondary school itself and surrounding primary schools, a sizeable number of youths in the wider community around the school had also enrolled. The sensitisation campaign was boosted on Sunday, 12 April, with an announcement after service at the nearby Ejinja Catholic Church.

Some of the registered students at the entrance to the school. On extreme left is Dr. Sebastian Okello, Country Co-Director for Western Kenya.

Registered students pose for group photograph. On extreme left is the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman, Mr. Arnold Mbembe.

And in keeping with our policy – the philanthropic aspect, five of those whom we admitted to the Itete course were from less fortunate families and were therefore to be trained free of charge. Four of them were orphans while one was physically handicapped. They will receive special consideration from RUDESAT International after they graduate and when job opportunities become available within the NGO. It is noteworthy that this mode of assisting the less fortunate members of our society will be followed at each of our focal points.

Disabled student (on bike) with IT Manager (in glasses) and orphan (in pink shirt).

The format of the Itete training was such that the first week was devoted to coursework. We identified and deployed to the school one of our more senior trainers with experience in handling computer courses at secondary school level, Mr. Benjamin Obiero. On hand to lend support and to ensure that there were no slip-ups on this unparalleled initiative was the officer-in-charge of Butula Coordinating Centre, Mr. Maurice Odhiambo, and the Country Co-Director for Western Kenya, Dr. Sebastian Omoto Okello. And of course we monitored the proceedings via mobile telephone from our Nairobi office and provided advice and guidance where necessary.

RUDESAT trainer, Mr. Benjamin Obiero, explaining how to use the lap top

These concerted efforts resulted in a highly successful start in taking computer courses to rural areas, and this, against a litany of constraints, top on the list being lack of electricity.

We were confronted with serious challenges in the second week, when participants were scheduled to start hands-on work. We had however prepared ourselves by availing two lap tops with long-life batteries. We also provided a desk top from the Butula office and rented a small generator to provide power. We obtained diesel from the nearby Mumias town. The rest of the steps fell in place nicely and the course ran quite smoothly, thanks to the commitment of RUDESAT staff and the support of the school headmaster.

A section of the students taking notes

Time for hands-on work with lap top and desk top computers.

This was a crash programme, intended to cover a major section of the course during the April school holidays. We achieved our objective, and what now remains is to discuss how to keep the course running, albeit at a slow pace, during the months of schooling. We have agreed with the school administration that we finalise the discussions by mid-May so that the courses can resume before the end of the month.

It is noteworthy that these discussions will involve several other schools and churches that have expressed interest to work with us. So far we have established contact with upward of thirty schools and several mainly Catholic Church missions. These are spread over Mumias, Busia, Bunyala, Samia, and Siaya Districts, all of which are specified as pilot sites in our registration with the NGOs Board. The CEO for RUDESAT International, Dr. Joseph Mugah will therefore spend a week in that part of the country guiding the discussions and assisting to put in place the necessary mechanisms. And lessons from the Itete case will provide an invaluable basis for many of the mechanisms.

In case you have not read the part of the website that explains why we are running these courses, the numero uno purpose is to build the IT capacity of rural folks to a point where they will be able to access technologies online on their own. However, multiple other benefits will avail themselves to the graduates of our courses, notably employment opportunities in the lucrative IT sector. Increased access to and use of relevant technologies in rural enterprises as well as increased employment opportunities should translate into improved livelihoods for the rural folks.

We emphasise here that our current focus is first to establish our presence in the five pilot districts and ensure that the target communities are accessing the technologies and information they need, AS WELL AS using them and improving their livelihoods. The next step will be to bring together all the Country Directors for the other nine countries (link to text mentioning the countries) to discuss this pilot model with a view to replicating it beyond these pilot areas. Country Co-Directors from other provinces in Kenya will also be invited.

Thank you for visiting us. Please remember to send us your ideas and comments on our initiative.