Everything that we do at Hello World starts with a pilot, and our new WiTU (Women In Technology Uganda) programme is one that we’re wanting to shout about!
In October we sent a couple of our Hub Heroes for some intensive training with the wonderful Women in Technology Uganda in Kampala. We also bought the curriculum that WiTU offered in life skills and computer literacy. Then, we advertised a training course to the daughters of our Hub Heroes, all of whom are currently out of school. We asked them to commit to a 6 week training course, coming to the Hub three mornings a week.
On a misty morning in November a group of 25 girls, aged between 14 and 20 years old, turned up to the Hub at 8am. The trainers (our Hub Heroes) welcomed the girls in, each girl quietly introduced herself and the training began.
It was truly a privilege to watch these girls over the course of the six weeks. In the life skills section of the course they learnt about self-esteem, communication skills, relationships and more. On the computer side we covered typing, creating word documents and powerpoints and how to use the internet tactically. Hear what Lydia, our oldest member had to say about the course:
Hi, My name is Kampiire Lydia, am 20years old. I stopped school in S.4 and during my school time I had no chance for computer lesson to acquire the skills, so when Hello World (WITU) training came it was a chance for me to acquire the skills and knowledge which can help me in my career as a teacher and as a person in my daily life. I wanted to gain more confidence in typing, typing with two hands in a speedy way and to know different parts of a computer, how they are used and how they can be helpful in my daily life. I also wanted to be updated as a teacher of young children, so that by the time computer lessons are introduced at my school I can be able to teach children.
I really loved the way this training was designed, it involved both theory and practical, I was able to learn different productive programs, how they are useful and how they are used then we even wrote down the notes for reference in case of forgetting. I learnt how to create an e-mail and how to send it to a person which I had no idea about and then learnt different parts of an e-mail and how they are used.
I learnt how to search for the correct information by searching from different websites. Before I joined the training I didn’t know how to use two hands while typing but teachers taught me so that by the end I was able to.
During the training, I read about different successful ladies in Uganda (Barbara Birungi, founder of women in technology in Uganda, Jennifer Mwijukye, founder of Unfreight Company since 1996). When I read about these two ladies I was inspired and motivated. I also had a chance to make new friends.
Lydia’s is only one story. We also had Whitney who wants to work in a supermarket but needed experience using computers to apply for such a job. We had Ronitah who writes novels in her free time and can now type them up and knows how to save her work. We had girls who feared speaking in front of the class who by the end of the six weeks led presentations in front of their local chairman.
The girls frequently stayed on after their class to practise using the tablets and they plan to come to the Hub as a group to learn more now that their official training is over.
Our trainers are now looking forward to delivering the training to a new cohort at this Hub and in the process will train new trainers to deliver it at Hubs across the country.
With thanks to everyone at Women In Tech Uganda. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter
