Sarah’s blog 18/03/22
This is something Levison is hugely excited about and I guess we can only understand his excitement to a certain degree. I learned to type on an old fashioned typewriter at school but we had a ZX81 at home and my friend had a ZX Spectrum and thought these were the coolest things ever! My brother had a Game Boy with Donkey Kong on it which I preferred as I wasn’t patient enough to programme in pages of instructions just to see a dot move across a screen!! How times have changed!
Almost everyone in the developed world has access to technology. Children can access school work online, you can ‘google’ just about anything and do all your banking via your mobile phone. So it is really important to Levison that the orphans and vulnerable children have access to computers which will open up a whole new world for them. There is no internet at the moment so the children will learn to type and use Word and get more familiar with using a mouse and what a computer actually is. This will take a bit of time as they have never seen or used computers.
When we can afford to pay for internet, imagine how that will extend their learning. The apprentices, for example, will be able to access online learning or look up something on Youtube to see ways to do things. Children will be able to link up with a school here and have a ‘penpal’ and maybe occasionally will be able to email their sponsors. There is so much learning out there that the children will soon be able to access to help their grades: maths practice sessions, spelling games, history, geography and much, much more.
I asked Levison what the children said and this is what he said “The children have said that they never knew and touched a computer. They can’t believe they can work on a computer.”
I asked Levison what he thought “This is the same Ibuluma, a rural place in Northern Malawi. Bringing ICT to the rural setting. Defying the impossibility ideology. My dreams are coming into reality.”
There also needs to be another source of power. Just this morning there was a power cut due to the heavy rain and other times electricity isn’t guaranteed. But little by little life is changing for these children. Opportunities are happening and the children are desperate to learn and know that people care about them. When the children first saw the computers they thought they were televisions. They will be experts in no time, I’m sure! Thanks for reading and if you’d like to get in touch to help in any way it’s contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for being part of the team helping us to continue Changing Lives Malawi, Sarah x
