My journey with tech
Iwas born in Grahamstown, the City of Saints. I grew up with a lovely half-a-dozen-strong family. My father owned a personal computer.
After school, we children would line up and take turns at it. My brother and I were known to take the longest and – yeah! – they would complain of course. But there was just something I wanted to know and do.
How did I come to join awarenet? In the year 2009, I joined the awarenet classes that taught computer literacy and integration of web usage at Mary Waters High School, a school that had limited resources and limited staff.
It was through Mr Gerald Accom, a very enthusiastic teacher when it comes to technology. He told us to take the opportunity given by the Village Scribe Association (VSA) and develop our computer skills with the awarenet programme.
We tried it, and that’s when I knew Mr Accom was right.
I found the classes very interesting. But going home after every lesson our computer at home seemed outdated because it didn’t have awarenet, and I lost interest in it.
And of course, you guessed right, I’d be very excited to go to school on those Thursdays.
This was it, what I wanted to know, more about computers and the internet than I could teach myself. I learned awarenet so quickly that I could even help new members and others who were challenged.
Seven years later, having finished my Matric and having studied Human Resource Management at East Cape Midlands College Grahamstown, I decided to seek work experience.
Guess what: came to my rescue!
I applied for an internship at the VSA which runs the awarenet programme.
The internship changed my life completely. I learned to work with different groups of young people, and gained the confidence to be able to stand in front of audiences and interact boldly with them.
I grew up learning about computers and IT. I was now given the opportunity to give that knowledge back to the community!
I can say my skills and knowledge came alive. The VSA gave me a chance to show others how to bring their unused capabilities to life.
At the VSA, I was given the tasks of maintaining the intranet and the computer hardware at the Joza Youth Hub computer lab.
I also looked after the computer labs of our partner schools.
With growing experience, I was assigned a group of young people to work with in one of the schools nearby, CM Vellem Primary School.
I was able to teach others what I’ve been interested in all my life, using the awarenet awarenet programme to give other young people the same opportunities I have been given.
Over the years, the VSA has been introducing me to the different possibilities of the internet.
I have worked on shared online calendars, documents, spreadsheets and various apps. I have also learned how to make a blog.
My time with the VSA has not only been about IT and computers, but also about cooperating with all the wonderful people at the Joza Youth Hub where the VSA offices are located.
A number of NGOs use the same space and work together for motivation, education and transformation.
Young people are given the opportunity to do musical lessons, journalism, reading, community outreach and computer literacy.
My two-year internship with the awarenet pro- gramme at the VSA is now sadly coming to an end. However, as the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
I hope my time with awarenet has been but the first step on that long journey.
Though it might be scary, I would advise other young people to start now and also take that step on their journey to discover their better self.