Halfway through
Once again times goes by so quickly we're already more than halfway through the second phase of the A13I. Is it Einstein who said time could be dilated?
Whatever the case be, Rafigui has got it going on here in Bobo-Dioulasso. They have been training 19 people (4 women) from 11 grassroots community associations. Some of them were literaly starting from scratch and are now able to build a website and do graphics design.
I am proud of Rafigui's performance in doing this exercice. I am finding that they have gained a lot of independence in manipulating the software since last year; they have assimilated the material well enough to be able to adequately teach it to others.
We are putting together a CD with the executable files for installing the OSS onto Windows, as well as a collection of resources for learning these software (of course including the A13I guide book!). I am lucky enough to have six months remaining in Burkina Faso, so doing a follow-up on the training will be much more convenient than it was last year. This achievement is in sync with the work I started in the summer.
What I am hearing about the situation in N'Djaména is comforting me in that the executive office of the Rafigui Newspaper is switching around soon, but they have assured their succession (unlike many African presidents, one would say!) by training the rookies in journalism and computing.
Having a few Chadian men around 24/7 is an interesting cultural experience for me, and I am finding it funny to wander about with these "tourists" while I am the one knowing the city, the people, the language, etc. Listening to them, one can obsverb cultural differences in the way of teaching; I am finding the African way more classical, less spontaneous than the North-American style I am used to. It reminds me of my courses in Hong Kong in a way! I am starting to collect pedagogical experiences and am gaining insights for the best way to convey messages to audiences in other contexts.
At the CAI we are using the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, which is based on Debian. Ubuntu is funded by a South-African millionaire and is mostly developed on the continent. Wojciech and I hesistated for a while as to whether to use Fedora Core or Ubuntu as a teaching distribution, and we finally opted for the former. I am nevertheless finding the Rafigui volunteers very enthusiastic about the idea of installing Ubuntu on their computers back home. They are advised by a professional here at the CAI that recommends this as well. It is said that tastes can not be discussed, even when speaking of Linux!
Ironically enough, we are caught this time again with a political stability problem. When we decided to set the current training in Burkina Faso rather than in Chad, it was mostly to escape an imminent coup d'état in that country. Strangely, when the Rafigui people were already on the road for coming here, there has been repeated unrest and military strifes in the capital city, Ouagadougou, that have extended to other cities (Bobo included) since then. Just like last year, there has been shootings on the night of December 31st and it is not advised that participants go back home late, which causes a problem since some of our workshops are scheduled until 22h. So far, there has been no civilian casualties in Bobo, but there are reasons to worry since the military recently freed up over 300 prisonners from the country's central prison, most of them were notorious for pillages and road blocks. People in Bobo are terrified; you can see almost no one at night, and when a military convoy passes on the road, many shop holders will hurry up to close and lock themselves up. Whereas the Chadians trainers find the situation rather funny since they are used to seeing tanks everywhere, from my part I am wondering if and how can a development project like ours affect peace, and whether it is sustainable in the case of a war outbreak.
A few points to raise:
Whatever the case be, Rafigui has got it going on here in Bobo-Dioulasso. They have been training 19 people (4 women) from 11 grassroots community associations. Some of them were literaly starting from scratch and are now able to build a website and do graphics design.
I am proud of Rafigui's performance in doing this exercice. I am finding that they have gained a lot of independence in manipulating the software since last year; they have assimilated the material well enough to be able to adequately teach it to others.
We are putting together a CD with the executable files for installing the OSS onto Windows, as well as a collection of resources for learning these software (of course including the A13I guide book!). I am lucky enough to have six months remaining in Burkina Faso, so doing a follow-up on the training will be much more convenient than it was last year. This achievement is in sync with the work I started in the summer.
What I am hearing about the situation in N'Djaména is comforting me in that the executive office of the Rafigui Newspaper is switching around soon, but they have assured their succession (unlike many African presidents, one would say!) by training the rookies in journalism and computing.
Having a few Chadian men around 24/7 is an interesting cultural experience for me, and I am finding it funny to wander about with these "tourists" while I am the one knowing the city, the people, the language, etc. Listening to them, one can obsverb cultural differences in the way of teaching; I am finding the African way more classical, less spontaneous than the North-American style I am used to. It reminds me of my courses in Hong Kong in a way! I am starting to collect pedagogical experiences and am gaining insights for the best way to convey messages to audiences in other contexts.
At the CAI we are using the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, which is based on Debian. Ubuntu is funded by a South-African millionaire and is mostly developed on the continent. Wojciech and I hesistated for a while as to whether to use Fedora Core or Ubuntu as a teaching distribution, and we finally opted for the former. I am nevertheless finding the Rafigui volunteers very enthusiastic about the idea of installing Ubuntu on their computers back home. They are advised by a professional here at the CAI that recommends this as well. It is said that tastes can not be discussed, even when speaking of Linux!
Ironically enough, we are caught this time again with a political stability problem. When we decided to set the current training in Burkina Faso rather than in Chad, it was mostly to escape an imminent coup d'état in that country. Strangely, when the Rafigui people were already on the road for coming here, there has been repeated unrest and military strifes in the capital city, Ouagadougou, that have extended to other cities (Bobo included) since then. Just like last year, there has been shootings on the night of December 31st and it is not advised that participants go back home late, which causes a problem since some of our workshops are scheduled until 22h. So far, there has been no civilian casualties in Bobo, but there are reasons to worry since the military recently freed up over 300 prisonners from the country's central prison, most of them were notorious for pillages and road blocks. People in Bobo are terrified; you can see almost no one at night, and when a military convoy passes on the road, many shop holders will hurry up to close and lock themselves up. Whereas the Chadians trainers find the situation rather funny since they are used to seeing tanks everywhere, from my part I am wondering if and how can a development project like ours affect peace, and whether it is sustainable in the case of a war outbreak.
A few points to raise:
- How to balance genders? This is the question I am keeping from Chad. Women in ICTs in general seem to be an issue.
- We still have the problem of Internet access; in order to download packages, one needs a connection, and although the price for an hour online in the average café in Burkina four times cheaper than in Chad, it is still largely unaffordable. Although the French Ubuntu forum is complete and user-friendly, there is a lack of offline resources for French speaking Africans to be able to properly work with Linux.
posted by Emanuele at 2:16 PM
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