Preparation of the IT centre (TCB Togo)
For three days Felix and Ina have been in Gapé, a small village close to Lomé, the capital of Togo. After the implementation of Teaching Computer Basics in Tansania and Ghana, the two students went to Togo to realize the project in a rural area where (public) computer access is rare. The concept of the project is pretty simple: Donated laptops are prepared in Germany to equip the schools with them. During the preparation of the laptops, TCB is supported by a NGO called labdoo which prepares laptops with a linux based operating system. Furthermore, a workshop is prepared to educate the teachers. This workshop is based on the concept ‘train the trainers’ which establishes the education of trainers so that they are able to teach even more students. This time, another approach was chosen: Instead of equipping schools with laptops, an IT-centre was founded. Participants of the workshop will not be teachers but members of local NGO SADA Togo with which TCB cooperates. The member of SADA will be able to further educate teachers or interested locals of the village. Also, the schools will have special access to the IT centre. The first days were spent in Lomé where further equipment such as a printer, a projector and plug-ins were bought. On Tuesday the team went to Gapé where they met two other volunteers from Switzerland and Austria. The next day the laptops were installed in the IT-centre which was prepared by SADA Togo before the arrival of Felix and Ina. The teaching materials based on an old TCB project were translated (as French is spoken in Togo) and adjusted. Tomorrow, on Friday, the actual workshops starts. Felix, Ina and the members of SADA Togo are excited and are looking forward to learn from each other.Text: Felix