Gambella Computer Training

Andy and I have never seen faces light up as brightly as those of our Gambella students when they walked in the room and saw the laptops sitting on their desks ready to be used. We had a fair amount of mouse-training to accomplish first, but they quickly understood and were practicing in Premiere in no time. Everyone at the hotel (and many people from town) came in to see the miracle of 30 students from Gambella working on laptops that will be available to them for many years to come. So cool.

We’ve given the students cameras to take home so that they can include personal images to illustrate their stories. We finally had to explain that music videos of their friends singing hip-hop songs do not fit into this category. We’re hoping they come back this morning with more relevant offerings.

So, the students are training, Andy and I are exhausted, and the sun is unrelenting. I love the heat, but the ½ walk to town (I make it a few times a day) on the dusty streets makes for an interesting and kind of disgusting shower the next morning. All manner of bugs, dirt, and who knows what else falls off of my body. Hard to believe I sleep with this detritus on me. But, I have it easy compared to my new friends like Muluken.

He was asleep one night and forgot to wash a piece of meat juice off of his right hand. He woke up in his hut to find a rat attached to his hand. He has a nasty scar. I am so glad I was an avid boy scout because living here is a lot like camping. You smell like smoke from the campfire, you are constantly dirty and hot, and you have to find natural remedies to all kinds of daily problems from laundry to hanging a sheet with twine to use as a screen for teaching movie making.

I think my favorite new friend is Ojud. He is the hardest worker you’ll ever meet. He is about 6’3”, 20 years old, and still trying to finish school. He has really taken to the computer and Premiere. He wants to be a teacher. He lives simply in the round hut he made for himself last year, and does everything for himself, from washing his clothes (and his body) in the river to finding ways to make a few Birr here and there. Andy and I spend a lot of time with him and will leave him most of our clothes and extra Birr when we leave.

Finally, we come to Akway. She is the young woman who is paralyzed. It is quite something to see her drag herself across the concrete and stones. At first, you think, “How can she do that (she doesn’t wear shoes) without ripping a layer of skin off?” She then saunters up to you with a big smile and shakes your hand vigorously. She has the best outlook on life. Yesterday, I was sitting with her and her movie partner Cham. Cham works at Pact. We were discussing the images they could use to illustrate the points they are making in their films. All of the films follow the same story-arch. Basically, the problems you had trying to get an education (my mother died in the fighting time, my father made me fish instead of go to school, etc.), how you overcame this barrier, and your hopes for the future. Akway was wondering how she could show here disability without people pitying her. So, I suggested we film her dragging herself across the ground, up the stairs, and through the door to the computer lab. People will be thinking, “Oh, how sad…look at that poor girl.” Then, we’ll show her pulling herself up into the chair and then pan to her using the computer to make her movie. “YES!” screamed Akway. “This is perfect! I am a strong woman who uses computers now so don’t think you know everything from just watching me try to get from here to there!” I was so happy I could have cried. She left the building in high-spirits ready to tackle another night and then get up to make her important movie. Doesn’t get better than this.

More (when we can),

E