Bringing computing skills to children in Africa

As Lorraine peered over the shoulder of Grace, a 14 year-old student in Vo Pedakondji, she asked what the student was learning in their daily computer classes. Grace explained that she was learning to create balance sheets and that she was currently using Excel to find averages. I found myself flabbergasted by the skills that Grace had developed during Togo Internet Village’s first year of classes. Here I was, a 22-year-old child of the internet generation, and I did not know most of the formulas that Grace was tying out in various Excel cells.

Throughout the room other students were busy at work completing various computer exercises that had been assigned to them: making text boxes and recreating images they were given. One student was even writing a cover letter! The teacher, Mr. Edorh Ghi Slain explained his gratitude and excitement about the Internet Café that had been built and computers that had been donated by Togo Internet Village. Without their contribution, he said, the children in this rural village would not have had access to computers all together. However, because of these computer classes, students are gaining skills that they will need in the future to be more competitive in applying to University or entering the job market!

Not only was the Internet Café a tribute to modern technology, but I consider it to be one of the many miracles of the internet technology that through international relationships that have been formed on and off GlobalGiving, Togo Internet Village is able to provide computer classes for 263 students in rural Togo!

Alexis and four other In-the-Field Travelers are visiting Togo as well as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. They'll be visiting more than 30 GlobalGiving projects in the next month. Follow their adventures at http://itfwa.wordpress.com/.