One of our goals for our year here is to introduce the use of the computer to as many of the staff as possible and to mentor a select few to make them proficient. With the exception of our administrative staff, only one person uses a computer and he is at a beginner level. Since Paul is the computer sensei, he works one-on-one with Jenipher, the assistant project director. But every Friday we jointly hold a class for 4 staff (they're such beginners that even I can help teach). We started with one person from each of 4 departments: PSC, clinic, lab and education.
This past week was their 3rd lesson and as promised, we introduced them to the Internet. The Africans here live in a way that really straddles 2 centuries- the 19th and the 20th. They don't have electricity or indoor plumbing but they do have cell phones. Information about their community is spread by word of mouth. News about their country or the world comes in the same way from people who have read the paper or listened to the radio. They are aware of movies and TV but have very little exposure to them. There are no movie theaters anywhere outside of Nairobi that we know of and there's a rare TV in cafes in larger towns.
So imagine if you will, that you live in such a way and suddenly a Mzungu turns on a computer and all the news of the world lies in front of you. Imagine the shock and excitement you'd feel when you type in "politics of Kenya" and get >800,000 hits. There in front of you are photos of your leader, news of the new cabinet, archives of the entire post election crisis. That will give you a sense of what we witnessed on Friday. Their amazement was exhilarating for us as well.
At the end of that session, Evanys stood up and proclaimed "I am a changed man. I am no longer Evanys, I am Evan!"
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