On our recent mission trip to Uswaa, Tanzania we took along with us 6 computers for Uroki Secondary School. The computers had been donated to Southwood's Sunday School and it was determined that they were no longer needed. The computers were Gateway brand and had windows XP on them. I updated windows, antivirus, installed Open Office (a free office suite) on them and I also installed Khan Academy (a set of free math and science tutorials).
Then we packed the computers into suitcases for the trip to Tanzania--six of us gave up one of our two checked bags to get the computers to Tanzania. Who really needs that much clothing, snacks, shoes, etc for 2 weeks away from home! I am happy to say that 5 of the 6 computers made the trip undamaged, one seems to have a bad power supply.
Uroki Secondary School has a computer lab, it consists of about 20 computers of mixed brands. All of the computers are donated and out of date, many of which work very poorly--slow and unreliable. After arriving, we got the new computers set up and operating.
Most of the teachers do not know much about a computer or what to do with them, education wise. On my last trip I took along a typing tutor program and installed it on all of the computers because the teachers and students were using "hunt and peck” instead of learning to touch type--a concept that they had never heard of!
I began to show the teachers what was on the new computers. I am extra excited about the Khan Academy tutorials because the students do poorly on math exams and I think that these tutorials, which cover everything from arithmetic to calculus, should help.
This is a very rewarding task, trying to bring them access to modern technology and teaching methods. These "new" computers will help as will our prayers to God above.
Jim Rector
Recent Comments