Quest for m-Malawi
INNOVATIONS
By BiztechAfrica – July 1, 2011, 12:10 p.m.
A young Malawian man is on a quest for funding to realise a dream of teaching ICT skills to thousands of youngsters.
29-year-old Klema Chisomo Hau is seeking funding to create an NGO, M.ICT Youth, which will strive to use ICTs to develop Malawi’ s youth.
Hau, who graduated from Malawi’ s Bunda College of Agriculture specialising in Agricultural Economics eight years ago, says he has a passion for ICT.
He got his hands on his first PC in 1993 when his father, a civil servant, brought computers back from the US, where he was studying for his Doctorate. Hau says: “ I grew up with computers in the house, which is rare in a Malawian setting.”
“ When I went to college in 2000, it was pathetic to find a student in 3rd Year without knowledge on even simple packages like Microsoft Word, and could not even know how to use the application to write a project thesis. With my love for computers, I procured my first old laptop in my third year and have since always had the passion for computers and ICT in general. “
He explains why he feels a need to introduce more youngsters to ICTs: “ When I finished college, I went into temporary works where I was working as an enumerator on different studies. While in the field on one of the trips, I encountered a situation where I was trying to work on something and a whole lot of kids gathered around me just to check out a laptop as they had never seen a laptop in their entire lives. “
“ I promised myself that I will do something that is ICT-related that I will contribute to the nation. I have been nurturing this idea to present day when I have come up with a proposal to start an ICT non-governmental organisation that will touch on the youth an communities in general. “
The target is that the project reach out to 500 urban youth, 500 peri-urban and 500 rural youths in the first year of implementation. In the second year, the project would reach out to 750, 750 and 750 in the urban, peri-urban and the rural respectively. The numbers would increase in 250s for the next years up until 15 000 youths have been reached over five years.
He envisages the NGO working with communities – especially the youth – to enhance their ICT knowledge and usage. One aspect of the proposed project will be to give the youth a voice through journalism, training them to identify and write articles about issues in their communities and then produce multimedia documentaries using digital media. He also envisages schools using ICTs to connect and collaborate with each-other.
He can be reached at [email protected]
