[ILUG] Camara Africa 2009

[Kuda Dube]

Hi,

Africa is a region where computer hardware is extremely hard to come-by,
for both households and businesses. Basically, shear poverty and/or an
IT adoption culture! I am not familiar with the work of Camara as they
do not operate in my country. 

I agree with Phil and the Camara strategy that a sustainable model for
IT skills transfer would be to create longer lasting "centres of
excellence" (possibly with cooperation from locals individuals and
institutions) with activities radiating from such centres. 

I like the way the British Council Libraries used to address the real
problem of lack of academic books in Aglophone Africa using this centre
of excellence type of model with satellite centres operating radially
(unfortunately these were closed in favour of propaganda type of reading
rooms similar to those of USAID with no real benefit to students). I
remember that the USAID reading rooms in my city was not as popular with
students as the British Council Library. These libraries were not
necessarily bigger than the local university library but they were
accessible to everyone which was/is not the case with university
libraries.

---
Kuda


On Fri, 2009-01-16 at 19:15 +0000, John Hegarty wrote:
> 2009/1/16 Phil Bradley <philb at vodafone.ie>
> 
> >
> > Hi Gareth,
> >
> > Thanks for taking the time to reply.
> >
> >  and further how to train them to train people so that the education
> >> doesn't stop when the Irish people return home.
> >>
> >
> > Yes, that's what I was getting at, teaching a man to fish and all that:)
> > I'll use the camara mailing list for any other non technical queries though.
> 
> 
> On the "Teaching a man to fish" theme, the work they are doing setting up
> self sustaining regional centres is worth noting - as mentioned here
> http://camara.ie/africa/index.php
> 
> jh
> 
> 
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >  -phil
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  Phil Bradley wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> Firstly, thanks for all the great work your organisation has put it so
> >>> far, it looks very impressive. I'll be making a least a hardware
> >>> donation.
> >>>
> >>> I have a couple of questions about the teaching (I hope no-one objects
> >>> to the conversation taking place on-list)
> >>>
> >>> 1. Are the attendees of these labs typically students acquiring the
> >>> skills for themselves or teachers being trained to pass on the skills
> >>> (not that I've a problem with either, just curious)?
> >>> 2. What sort of selection process is used for selecting attendees?
> >>> 3. Do you have any feedback (formal or informal) on how well the skills
> >>> translate into a MS environment (or do they need it to)?
> >>> 4. Do you think that it might be useful/feasible to offer developer
> >>> courses?
> >>>
> >>> Best regards,
> >>>  -Phil
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Hester Jackman wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> *What are you doing this summer???*
> >>>>
> >>>> *Africa Teaching Trip with Camara 2009 *
> >>>>
> >>>> Camara is a registered Irish Charity staffed primarily by volunteers.
> >>>> Our
> >>>> mission is to enhance the educational system in Africa by using Irish
> >>>> technology resources. All our computers we send out use Linux as the
> >>>> operating system and are loaded up with edubuntu software.
> >>>>
> >>>> Each year a group of Camara volunteers travel to the computer labs and
> >>>> hubs
> >>>> that Camara have set up in a growing number of African countries, to
> >>>> teach
> >>>> basic and advanced ICT skills.
> >>>>
> >>>> In July 2009 Camara will be sending volunteers to teach in our
> >>>> EDU-Labs in
> >>>> schools across Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and
> >>>> Zambia. Volunteers will teach introductory computer Hardware and
> >>>> Software
> >>>> skills in schools and educational institutions over a four week period.
> >>>>
> >>>> Volunteering abroad with Camara gives you that chance to get involved
> >>>> with a
> >>>> local community in Africa, it is a great opportunity to share and pass
> >>>> on
> >>>> some of your own skills.
> >>>>
> >>>> I am pleased to announce that information and applications are now
> >>>> available, please follow this link
> >>>> http://www.camara.ie/volunteer/africa09/index.php for our online
> >>>> application
> >>>> and further details of the trip.
> >>>>
> >>>> Africa 08 volunteers wrote a blog about their experience, go to
> >>>> http://camara.ie/blog/ to read some of their stories or look at their
> >>>> pictures.
> >>>>
> >>>> Further information is available on our website at, www.camara.ie but
> >>>> if you
> >>>> have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me
> >>>> hester at camara.ie
> >>>>
> >>>> I look forward to hearing from you.
> >>>>
> >>>> Kind regards
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
> >> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> >> signature database 3771 (20090116) __________
> >>
> >> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
> >>
> >> http://www.eset.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > --
> > Irish Linux Users' Group mailing list
> > About this list : http://mail.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug
> > Who we are : http://www.linux.ie/
> > Where we are : http://www.linux.ie/map/
> >