Back to the High School

The administrator at my organization, Free, has decided he wants to start a computer literacy program at his alma mater, Edward Homu High School. Free is about my age, and back in his day, Edward Homu (the high school in Mapayeni) was a pretty good institution for a rural South African school. It had a full staff, a respectable matric (like graduation) rate, and a working if unsophisticated computer lab. Since then, however, standards have dropped steeply. Attendance by both students and teachers is spotty, curriculum standards have changed multiple times, and the place is falling apart. Attendance isn't exactly helped by the fact that as soon as school begins, the gates are locked and tardy students (easily over fifty every day) aren't allowed in at all; the students often linger in front of the gate, afraid of the reprisals they'll receive from family if they return home. The computer lab remains, though dusty and unused; there is no staff to run it, or students who have the education to take advantage of it. So, Free and I went this morning to see if they were interested in us beginning an after hours computer literacy program with them.

They were interested. However, by now the computers are so old and unused that they are basically non-functioning; repairing them would be prohibitively expensive and the software on them hopelessly out of date in a world where the computer industry doubles its efficiency every eighteen months. The school has enough difficulty providing desks and chairs for learners, much less textbooks, much less computers. We left them with a promise of bringing by the forms for a Dell Foundation grant, the foundation that has generously donated computers to many organizations, including Khanimamba. Even if they get the grant, it will probably be a few months before they are here and installed. Everything here happens slowly.