Bringing Technology to Rural schools in Zimbabwe

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for your continued support of this project. This project is at the heart of our organization and is our strategy for bridging the digital divide that exists between rural and urban schools.

As more and more jobs require technology, it is important that students understand how to use technology in a variety of ways. Unfortunately rural schools in Chipinge are underserved, and like many other remote rural schools in developing countries they are unable to offer computer training and internet access to students because they simply don’t have the funds to buy computers and the teachers lack computer skills.  After high school, over 70% of rural students drop out of school due to poverty and they end up going to the urban areas to look for jobs yet they are ill-prepared to enter the work force because they have no skills; unlike their urban counter parts who have computer skills.

The ultimate goal of this project is to provide the students with the skills essential for the 21st century that will increase their employability skills and place them on a level playing field to better compete for jobs.

What We Have Accomplished Together

With your help we have conducted four successful computer training workshops and have provided  computer training to twenty five teachers. On September 8, 2014 we reached a major milestone in the history of our organization, we finally brought the internet to Rimbi High school.  To date one thousand students and fifty teachers at Rimbi High school have access to the internet. Here is what one of the teachers from Rimbi High had to say:

In his own words from one of the teachers:

"We are very grateful to you for providing us internet connectivity. The teachers and students at Rimbi High now have access to a world of information. We can never thank you enough. We are very pleased with the VSAT internet connectivity provided by TELOne. The internet service is very reliable. We are looking forward to your help upgrading the system so that we can have more computers connected to the internet. We are grateful that Rimbi High school is now on par with urban schools. "

We have made a lot of progress but we still have a long way to go to reach our goal. We are now in PHASE 3 of this project. Here is what we hope to accomplish in this phase:

PHASE 3 OF THE PROJECT

The goal of the this phase is to continue Computer and Internet Literacy Training .
•The teachers who completed the first training will be trained on the tools for intergrating ICT into the curriculum
•Sensitization workshop will be conducted for the new group of teachers
•After the sensitization workshops, the new group of teachers will receive the Computer Literacy training that the first group of teachers went through. [This training covers, basic computer skills, Microsoft Office and the internet]
•Upgrade VSAT system at Rimbi High

As you can see from the pictures and the testimonial from one of the the teachers, this project is making a difference in the lives of rural teachers and students. This could not be possible without your support. Thank you so much!!!

Best wishes,

Thelma