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Thank you! Thank you! 

2009-11-29 13:26:39

Computer course at !Kwa ttu 26th & 27th November 2009

It was hugs all round when the ten trainees, and their assistant trainer Ivan Vaalbooi completed a two-day course in basic computer literacy at !Khwa ttu Cultural and Training Centre on Friday 27th November.

Everybody learned a lot – not least the two people running the course! Without Hugh Clarke’s magical ability to get hardware and software talking to each other (and their operators) it would have been impossible. But in the course of sorting everything out, we all discovered how much patience it takes – and that there are always at least two ways to achieve the same end on a computer.

During the course the trainees worked on identical machines, with similar software. The ideal for future courses will be to have six laptops, set up to look precisely the same and all ready for action (with software updates and anti-virus up to date). It would also be good if trainees had their own email addresses in advance as this proved to be very time consuming.

But in spite of some difficulties to overcome, we achieved all the stated goals of the course. Everyone now has an email address - and the strong urge to get busy communicating on them – and all participants have a better idea of what the computer can achieve for them – and how to access the tools that are now at their disposal.  Everybody had a chance to use the digital camera, choose and edit their pictures and to work together and individually on written projects. More of their words will be appearing on this website soon.

The course finished with snacks and drinks outside on the lawn at !Khwa ttu and the presentation of certificates by Lesley and Ivan. There was also a book donation to the children of !Khwa ttu who come home to after-care in the afternoons. Best of all, the trainees sprang into musical action to say thank you (a singing group that was only a few days into existence but sounded brilliant!).

We hope to be able to go back in a week or so with some computer bits to fix the computers that the students currently have in their training room, so that they can have better Internet ability – and the opportunity to spend time practising what they learned. Best of all, the chance to explore the wide world on the worldwide web.

Photographs with this article by Hugh Clarke. (The TV Cameraman visible in one of the photographs is from Sani Television, a division of Norwegian TV, who happened to be passing!)

This course was facilitated by Lesley Beake and Hugh Clarke and made possible by the kind co-operation of !Khwa ttu San Cultural and Training centre, particularly Magdalena Brörmann-Thoma who kindly included this initiative as part of their training course. Ivan Vaalbooi, Assistant Trainer, gave us invaluable help during the planning process and the course itself. Thanks to Michael Daiber, CEO of !Khwa ttu for his generous welcome and for arranging accommodation for the facilitators. Janette Deacon facilitated the loan of six laptops from the Getty Foundation and KPF provided the very small amount of funding required to get the whole show on the road. Most of all, we need to thank Hugh Clarke, who has generously given up part of his leave to teach the students. His background in computer technology is what makes this all possible.

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