I've been doing a pretty sufficient job of telling you about my travel life over the last few months. I haven't, however, been keeping you posted on the day-to-day interests of my life. Now that I have far less travel going on, I think I'll be able to keep you posted a little easier.
One of the big parts of my life which you may or may not be aware of is my involvement in re-chartering the Rotaract Club of Johannesburg. Rotaract is the 18-30-year-olds version of Rotary. It is a service club which is made up of students and young professionals and there are all kinds of things which we can do. There are Rotaract Clubs in most major cities. If you're interested, check out www.rotaract.org. You can also check out our Rotaract website at www.rotaract9300.org.za (our district's website) or http://rotaract.johannesburg.googlepages.com. We're not listed on the district website yet, but we will be.
Anyway, we've been re-chartering this club which was once thriving and now defunct. As in most major cities, the populus of Johannesburg has moved to the suburbs (can anyone in Birmingham say "over the mountain"?), leaving the city center to languish. Nonetheless, like many U.S. cities, Birmingham included, there has been a renaissance in the city center, and many groups are making a concerted effort to move back. This is true for both our Rotaract club and our sponsoring Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Johannesburg (consequently both the first Rotary and Rotaract Club on the continent). We are attempting to get involved in the inner city and help with the rebirth which is already occurring.
One of the projects which our Rotaract Club has adopted is NOAH, or Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity. Desiree, the president of our club and another Ambassadorial Scholar, works as a research assistant at NOAH and has put us in contact with some exciting service opportunities. One of these opportunities, I shared with my mother and sister when they visited from the States. We saw the Kliptown NOAH Ark, where 50-75 AIDS orphans and vulnerable children (children whose parents may not have died but who are still affected by the disease) are given daycare. We delivered some jerseys (sweaters) knitted by the ladies of a local old folks home (nursing home--don't you love the SA use of non-PC terms?!) to the Ark, which the Ark managers loved. There are hundreds of these Arks throughout South Africa, and they are caring for the over 20 million AIDS orphans in Africa.
Yesterday, our club ventured out to the Daveyton NOAH's Ark, which is between Jo'burg and Pretoria (in BFE, in other words). It was well worth the trek! We brought six laptops and six desktop computers from our members and the NOAH offices and set up basic computer skills for the Ark workers. Each Ark is equipped with a computer, but most of the Ark managers are residents of the community where the Ark is located. These places are mostly townships where having a computer would be unheard of. Most of the people whom we worked with had never touched a computer before. Those who had knew only the basics. We talked about the different parts of a computer--the mouse, the desktop, the start button, and I made ridiculous analogies like "the start button is like that big file drawer in your desk that holds everything" or "the hourglass is your mother telling you she hasn't had her morning cup of coffee so you're not yet allowed to talk to her."
By the end of the day, everyone knew how to turn the computer on and off, how to use a mouse, how to open Microsoft Word, and how to make letters capitalised without using the CAPS LOCK key. Some even learned how to draw a table. It was incredibly humbling to see someone whose mouse finger was shaking from nerves transformed into an avid computer enthusiast by the end of the day. I heard countless exclaimations of "OH!" and "Wow." By the end of the day, we had made new friends and were being asked when we would next return. We all decided that we could make this a monthly event.
You see, without computer literacy, it is impossible for someone to get a job which isn't as a labourer. If you can't type, you can't be a lawyer, a secretary, or an accountant. You can't get any of the jobs which most Americans take for granted. You certainly can't get these jobs when you can't even turn on the computer. I have sat many times waiting for a computer in the lab only to watch someone take 10 minutes to type a two-sentence email. Computers are a huge benefit to the lives of those on the African continent, but they are not yet readily available, affordable, or accessible. Just something to think about as you, no doubt, spend all day today online.
I am so excited to be involved in a group which really cares and which really attempts to make a difference in the lives of others (as well as of ourselves!). A good day in Jo'burg, for sure.
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Oh, how I love this post, possibly most of all. Although your nature pictures have been fantastic, the images that I get in my mind of the children and their joy as they learned how to use the computers tops them all. For a while I got frustrated with my Honduran friends because I would get pitiful 1-2 line emails that had terrible grammar and no punctuation. I chocked it up to the lack of access to computers, which is true, but then I finally hit upon an even better culprit: computer illiteracy. They do not know how to type. Unlike me, they have not taken computer classes and typing classes. They probably labored over the email that I recieved. How appropriate to hear you comment that you have watched people sit for 10 minutes to type a brief sentence or two. Worlds away and still very much the same.
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