Window to the world

Author : Ryan Slimmon
Date added : 2001-03-30

Brief Project Background

South Africa has entered an era of democratic governance, reconstruction and development. Access to information for social and economic development purposes is a cornerstone of this new democracy.

I was sent to South Africa to work with I-learn, a project sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Telkom (South Africa’s phone company), Thintana (one of the owners of Telkom) and the National Information Technology Forum (NITF). The NITF is committed to the creation and advancement of information technology in South Africa, to ensure that the potential of this technology is used to promote universal access to information for all citizens. Many new computer centers have been donated to South Africa, and each computer center will be networked and connected to the Internet. My other responsibilities is to serve as a computer technician for all schools in Free State, the third largest province in South Africa. When I arrived in South Africa I was placed in Free State, a landlocked province whose main industry is agriculture. Many people here are very poor. Much of the province is very isolated, with no phones in some areas and many people living without electricity. However, the province has been the recipient of a few test projects and there is quite a bit of high-end equipment, which has greatly improved opportunities for those who have access to it. For example, a school was the recipient of a computer center that ran completely from solar power.

Another school received a quite amazing computer center that was set up to combat illiteracy and to teach English to children in grades 1 -6. The center is equipped with headphones and a microphone, so that the computer and teacher can monitor the students’ progress. I have met students who could not speak a word of English before the program, and were able to read to me after only a short time. Many other schools have received a computer and Internet access.

Results

As you can well guess, computers have improved the lives of those who are participating in the program, particularly in the development of English language skills. I’d like to take a quote from a South African woman who lived through the Apartheid era: “Learn your language and you communicate with the people here. Learn English and you communicate with the world”. As a result of this statement, she was put under house arrest for the rest of her life. This raises the issue of the importance of the Internet in easing the flow of communication. There are more reports of civil liberty movements, and to me, this means that people are starting to realize that they don’t have to keep quiet. Due to the fact that Free State is an isolated area, I can only attribute the change to the increase in information that people have access to, starting with the Internet.

Since computers were introduced to classrooms in Free State, the pass rate of certain schools has increased, particularly schools that focus on math and science education. In general, the computer literacy of the area has increased.

Lessons

One of the challenges I have is understaffing. In fact, I’m the only person assigned to do the work in the Free State. I don’t have a vehicle so it makes getting to the schools rather difficult, when some of the schools are more than four hours’ drive away. There are many schools that desperately need someone to visit, but I simply cannot get there. A major problem in past projects has been that equipment was dumped there with no one to support it, so the equipment usually ended up sitting there unused because of a minor problem. I am attempting to get funding to hire someone to take my place when my internship is over, because I fear the same thing happening when my project ends. Until South Africa has the skilled workforce required to support computer equipment, countries with more developed technology must share their knowledge.

In the future, I would suggest that for projects like the one I am involved in, more planning be done before the arrival of technical people like me. It would be more useful if the schools that are receiving computers were already selected, or at least short-listed, before my arrival. Also, I would have liked to sit down with all the people involved in the project to plan a course of action when I first arrived.

Development Impacts

A major social change is the HIV/AIDS awareness in small towns and townships. There is much talk about it; but in the rural areas, the Internet is one of the only sources of information about this issue.

Unemployment is a major problem in South Africa. The unemployment rate is nearly 40%. With unemployment so high, by the time many children reach graduation, they have a negative attitude about their future and have stopped trying. With access to computers and the Internet, a whole new world will be opened. The students will no longer be restricted to the jobs they know around them. For example, several schools have talked to me about starting online school newspapers. This opens up several new types of jobs: programmer, web page designer, networking, reporter, editor. Hope is very powerful. With hope comes a willingness to learn and a drive to succeed. A spark of hope can change the world -- history has proven this fact time and time again.

Project Information

Organisation : VSO/Canada
Total budget in US$ : 2.65 million

Are there any partners involved : yes
What is partners role?: Please read story

Contact Information

Ryan Slimmon
SlimmonR@hotmail.com

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