My computer class

Here are some captions for the pictures in this post:
1)A mural on a school wall where I teach computers
2) The building on the left is the "computer room." The crazy guy on the steps is our guard (whose last name also happens to mean "urinate" in Wolof). The little white building is the director's office/teacher room and storage area-- it is the size of a closet.
3)The shack made out of pieces of metal is a makeshift classroom. The school (like all the other primary schools in Louga is severely overcrowded. Each elementary student has to do a competition (through standard testing) to try to get one of the limited spots in the middle school. If you don't pass, you can repeat the year, but most kids repeat once or twice and then give up.
4,5,6) Students working in the computer class. The women in #6 are part of my family-- my "sister-in-law" and my "sister"
7) The sanitary block at the school. On the right is the original. On the left is one built by an NGO a couple years ago.
8) One more student in the class



I've got a pretty solid computer class going on these days, with photos to boot so I thought I would tell you a bit about it

I teach every morning (it used to be two classes which each met twice a week) but now we put the two classes together and meet every day. We are trying to rush and finish everything before Ramadan starts next Saturday. During the period of Ramadan ( a full 30 days) most adults will fast from daybreak to sunset. They don't eat or drink anything for the entire day. THe period is one of the five pillars of Islam so the fasting is practiced by nearly everyone. It is extremely hard to work during this time too-- people are tired and grumpy and often get sick and to be honest it is just too hot to try to function without food or water. So there is the reason for hurrying things along.

The class started with about 15 people and although attendance isn't totally regular, most people are present on the days they can be there and they are starting to get some information out of it. We started on things that seem so simple-- what is a computer? what is memory? how do you use the keyboard? (the double-click was a major step) and now we are getting into email accounts and using an address book; using search engines and sending files. I was so happy when we first starting using email and the students were honestly giddy about being able to send each other little messages.

There are some problems-- as you can see in the pictures, the school that houses this computer room is very poor. The computers were a donation years ago and have fallen into disrepair and the school is very crowded. During the year they use a classroom for the computer room, but once classes start again they will have to close off the computers so the students will have space to work. There are also problems with the direction, which is not very proactive, and the guard, who is currently in charge of managing the computer room and doesn't now anything about computers (sometimes he rips the plugs out of the wall in frustration!) But in the end, I am encouraged by this class. The class is young people and old, men and women-- it truly is an atmosphere that one almost never sees in Senegal, and everyone seems to be equals (refreshing!)

Enjoy, more photos to come!