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"By Lara Issa,
winter
programme instructor"
  
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Faced with a high demand, coupled with the very positive outcome
and encouraging results of the pilot phase, Fondation Saradar
decided to renew the experience during the winter season 2003
and launched a new round of IT training with the intent to reach
the largest number of disadvantaged youngsters.
On January 20th, the Saradar Mobile Computer School headed
towards the Sin el Fil - Naba'a region for a period of 5 weeks.
The caravan stationed at the entrance of the Sin el Fil public
playground established by the local municipality in
collaboration with AFEL. Its location attracted many youngsters
who meet, gather and play in this open space, intrigued by this
strange object that neither did look like a bus nor like a
regular habitat despite its welcoming appearance with its high
windows and main entrance door !
166 children and educators, young workers and girls at risk,
supervised and mobilised by 2 local NGOs, 'Association du Foyer
de l'Enfant Libanais' (The Lebanese Child Home Association- AFEL)
and 'Dar al Amal' (The House of Hope), were introduced to
computers and to the Internet. They benefited from 252 training
hours, specifically tailored to accommodate their educational
and school levels or their tedious working hours.
ICT: AN ALTERNATIVE TO LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
| “Children were impatient and very
excited to attend their IT training sessions each time,
despite the fact that some of them were somehow computer
literate. I was really surprised to see them working and
learning so fast, since most of them feel desperate
sometimes, when it takes them almost a week to learn how
to read and write one letter.” Ghada, AFEL
educator. |
The children enjoyed the training programme and asked for more
sessions. They were thrilled by the fact that each one of them
had his/her own PC, his/her own desk and stationery. Moreover,
the environment was different, unusual and the atmosphere warm
and friendly. The caravan presented an opportunity for them to
break the daily routine, escape from the difficult environment
that leads them to become children with high delinquency risk…
According to the instructors, the participants were motivated
and attentive. The youngest groups started to cry when the
sessions were over and requested additional training hours.
| “We wanted to attend the sessions every day if we could. But we had to wait for every one’s turn. Even the heavy rain and the umbrellas did not bother us or discourage us from walking the distance from AFEL offices to the caravan location. We liked the IT training so much ! Thank you
!” AFEL Children, common remark. |
AFEL - Participants profile
17 AFEL groups, a total of 136 participants, enrolled
in the Saradar IT Programme winter sessions:
- 24 children with school difficulties “Rattrapage scolaire”
taken in charge by a special AFEL educational facility
- 64 children experiencing family problems or facing risk of
juvenile delinquency “Enfants à risque de délinquance”, (8 to 15
years old)
- 8 kids from AFEL ‘Jouar’ center potentially delinquent, (12 to
18 years old)
- 16 young workers “Club des Jeunes” who participated in evening
courses. These youngsters are undergoing a rehabilitation
programme or followed up by AFEL for further delinquency
prevention, (13 to 18 years old)
- 8 social assistants active in the AFEL ‘Jouar’ center, (29 to
42 years old)
- 16 AFEL supervisors and educators “Moniteurs & Educatrices”,
(22 to 55 years old)
| "It was the first time I looked at a computer. It was very interesting and I learned many things"
Mikhael Keyrouz, 10 years old |
"I used the computer to play games only. I learned many things I did not know" Dory Farah, 10 years old |
"I knew how to work on a computer but still the sessions were very useful and interesting" Carol Abou Nader, 15 years old
|
"I liked this session very much. I learned to write and to draw"
Rita, 10 years old |
| "The atmosphere was very nice. I learned a lot. I became more knowledgeable than my classmates and got +2 in computer class. Thank you very much"
Aline, 11 years old |
"It was the first time I used a computer. It was a brand new world for me. I had my own computer, my own manual and ballpoint. I did not feel I lacked behind thanks to the instructor. I was fascinated and motivated. I learned everything. I wanted to attend the sessions every day, but I had to give the chance to other friends to learn too. Thank you"
Samira, 13 years old |
ICT CHALLENGES PRECONCEIVED IDEAS
The‘Saradar IT Programme®
experience, in Sin el Fil / Nabaa during this first winter
phase, resulted in three major achievements:
1. ICT awareness: identifying the computer as an
important educational tool and not simply as a ‘play station’
for electronic games, as it is generally and widely perceived in
underprivileged communities
2. Capacity-building: giving the children from
disadvantaged social categories and youngsters at risk of
delinquency the opportunity to discover their own abilities and
talents in technology (when most of them were exposed to
computers for the first time) and to believe in themselves and
their learning capacity
3. E-inclusion: breaking the pre-conceived idea that
children with serious learning difficulties and attending
special remedial classes or almost illiterate young people could
not pretend to IT programmes or could not become IT users
eventually. All participating youngsters proved to be very
receptive and committed students and were able to write (using
‘Word’) and to draw (using ‘Paint’) easily and enjoyed the
training very much (see Art Gallery).
BUILDING SKILLS AND SELF CONFIDENCE
Marie Andraos, 17 years old
Marie was seeking an employment. It took her more than three
months to find this secretarial position she needed badly and
secure a regular income in order to survive. Once she started to
work, she learned through ‘Dar al Amal’ that computer sessions
were proposed, free of charge, by Fondation Saradar. She did not
want to miss this opportunity although this meant jeopardising
her newly-found job. She was ready to take the risk and she did
not hesitate to inform her employer that she will not be coming
to the office. Her boss was delighted with the idea and
encouraged her to enroll in these training sessions!
Now, Marie feels much more motivated by her work since she has
acquired new skills that allow her to perform her office duties
in a more effective way.
Pascale Dabe’h, 14 years old
Pascale is a young girl trying to confront and overcome the
family problems and the misery that she is facing for years now.
Pascale was motivated to take part in the Saradar mobile
computer classes. Even her mother arranged with ‘Dar al Amal’
for her daughter’s participation. On the first day, Pascale did
not show up. The association’s team educator was surprised by
her absence. She felt more intrigued when Pascale missed all the
sessions she was scheduled for. Her puzzlement was coupled with
frustration because she did want her to waste this unique
opportunity to learn and develop new competence that could
contribute to improve her chances to find a decent and
gratifying job. What the team educator did not know is that
Pascale and her mother had to flee their home and take refuge at
her aunt’s in a different neighbourhood, after a fight broke out
between her mother and her stepfather.
Hind Mikhael, 18 years old
Hind never used the computer except for chatting. She is almost
illiterate. When she was invited to join the Saradar IT
training, she hesitated because of her moral and physical
handicaps: not only she doubted her ability to learn but also
her ability to manipulate freely the keyboard because of the
constant shaking of her hand. Finally, but with very little
conviction, Hind decided to give herself a chance and she did
very well. The instructors had never been exposed before to
almost illiterate participants and did not know what to expect
from these unusual sessions. Still, they did not hesitate to
teach computer lessons with patience and care. Although the
instructors were aware of the level of these students, they were
surprised and pleased by the unexpected receptiveness and
performance of participants, such as Hind.
Suzy Ohanessian, 16 years old
Suzy was reluctant to enroll in the training programme because
she feared the machine. She was not familiar with this whole
idea of technology and all the equipment that go with it. She
was afraid to manipulate the computer and to break it ! Suzy was
convinced that any error, any misuse of the keyboard or the
software could generate a fatal damage to the computer.
Gradually Suzy overcame her fear when she realised that IT
skills are accessible and can be friendly taught and learned.
‘Dar al Amal’
- Participants profile:
‘Dar al Amal’ girls and young women live in extremely difficult
family and socio-economic conditions, in deprived neighbourhoods
such as ‘Bourj Hammoud’ and ‘Nabaa’. They come from various
parts of the country and belong to different religious
communities. Most of them go to public or semi-public schools,
while some are almost illiterate and do house works. Others work
in harsh conditions. These kids experience physical and
psychological abuse, due to domestic violence, parents’
ignorance, unemployment and extreme poverty that is almost
inevitably accompanied by alcoholism and drugs.
SUSTAINING ICT LEARNING
The Saradar IT Programme®
main concern remains the efficiency and the sustainability of
its training activity. This explains the importance that
Saradar IT Programme® gives to
the post-training phase, that is to ensure that the programme
beneficiaries:
1) have continuous access to computers and the Internet, through
schools, municipalities, local NGOs, to be able to practice and
develop newly acquired skills
2) have a computer knowledgeable staff and supervisors (in the
case of NGOs, municipalities, schools, …) to improve
administrative and management performance
3) assign two to three staff members and/or educators for
advanced training (Training of the Trainers), to become ICT
focal points within the association, school or municipality and
communicate this knowledge to newcomers, (persons in distress
and staff)
Based on these principles, the Saradar Foundation has arranged
to provide selected participants (by the training centre) with
advanced sessions on the use of MS Windows XP, MS Word XP and
the Internet.
Some Figures about ‘AFEL’ and ‘Dar al Amal’ participation
Number of Groups: 21
Total number of training hours: 252 hours
Total number of training weeks: 5 weeks
Total number of training days: 29 days
Total number of trainees: 165
- Number of Males: 60
- Number of Females: 105
Percentages
- Male participants: 36%
- Female participants: 64%
Total number of running groups per week: 6 to 11 groups
Total number of graduated: 157 trainees.
In each phase of the programme, in each village and in each
encounter with the local population, the Saradar IT Programme®
focuses on one of the project top priority group: women. In
fact, a large turnout of female participants is registered every
time, with an enrolment rate ranging between 40 and 60%.
The interest of women for this IT training activity is growing
as the Saradar IT Programme® is enjoying a wider
visibility and an increasing positive public reaction, but
mainly because of its attractive concept, its mobility, that
allows girls and women in general, housewives and grand-mothers,
in particular, to benefit from this unusual IT training
opportunity.
In rural and remote areas the idea of housewives taking jobs
‘outside’1 or courses is not very common and may not be
culturally adopted, consequently, meeting these female
categories in their own town or village, in other words,
bringing technology close to home represents the ideal solution
and best compromise for women to fulfill their (IT) learning
need and still be able to care of their children or attend their
house work, without having to worry about time (due to distances
to and from a training centre for instance), transportation
means, even expenses, etc.
Still, major socio-cultural considerations prevent women to
participate in high numbers in some cases. According to one
municipality source, housewives were very much attracted by the
project and surprised by the seriousness of the foundation’s
commitment to provide such quality courses for free, but were
reluctant to enrol because they are convinced: 1) that there was
no point in acquiring electronic skills as they are not
professionally active: they preferred to encourage their kids to
register instead; 2) that their educational level and/or the
language barrier will stand as major obstacles to their
participation.
The fact remains that technology is still not accessible to a
very large number of women and even though this is also
applicable to the population at large, the digital divide does
exist between girls/women and boys/men in Lebanon. Let alone
among handicapped females who are marginalized on two accounts.
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