Yared Ayele

The past two weeks here in Cape Town have been ready sweet. Since the new school year don’t officially start until next Wed (17 Jan), I have been just relaxing, checking out places, catching up with old friends, sleeping on a beach for hours and just reading whatever I decide stick around at home. Did I mentioned I have been eating at KFC like crazy – yes, you better believe it, KFC. The chicken is way BETTER here though!

Before I return to Seattle for graduation in June, I will be teaching computer literacy in a local high school and completing my research project on ICT and Sustainable Development. Isilimela Secondary School has partnerships with the UW CHID program and Roosevelt High School's Hands For Bridge program and Shoreline Community College in Seattle. Isilimela Secondary school is located in Langa Township just outside of Cape Town. For those who don’t know much about the townships of South Africa, they are past informal settlements where the old apartheid government used to force black people to live separate from the whites.

Across South Africa, today these have turned into contemporary urban ghettos where people live in harsh conditions compare to the white population and new emerging black middle class. Langa is the closest and one of the oldest townships in Cape Town area and it is vibrant community. Visit the Shoreline Community college website to read about Langa:

http://www.international.shoreline.edu/StudentExperience/SouthAfrica/townships.html
http://www.international.shoreline.edu/StudentExperience/SouthAfrica/highschool.html

I will primary be spending my days working at the Isilimela Computer lab, teaching students basic computer skills…with the primary focus of promoting technology as a medium of communication and youth empowerment. This is the same school that I spent some time teaching technology in 2004.

Isilimela students in 2004.

In addition, I will be helping with a project at another school located in a coloured township called Kraaifontain—about 1 hour away from the center of Cape Town. I visited the school last week and I was just surprised how much different it is from Isilimela in term of infrastructure, the state of the computer lab, etc.

An organization from Seattle called Bridges to Understanding will be doing a project here in the next months and the school is also selected to partner with Washington Middle School in Seattle. Six students from Hector Peterson Secondary school will be selected to come to Seattle to participate in project focused in promoting intercultural and interracial dialog and understanding. Those of you students at UW, you should look out for a class to be offered in the spring by the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) department. In addition to attending lectures, you will help facilitate discussion about race, differences and reconciliation at the Washington Middle School when the South Africa students arrive. This project was success last year with Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivering a keynote speech at Washington Middle School. Check out these links:

Keynote Address by Archbishop Desmond Tutu: http://depts.washington.edu/coe/news/video/tutu.html (Short Video)

I will be helping out with some technology training at Hector Peterson and sure will spending a lot of time at the Computer lab.

Obviously, I am super excited about this opportunities and ready for the new school year to start! Keep checking back for more updates and commentaries about news and things that going here.

If you want to read what I feel about technology and its impact of sustainable development in Africa and its role in promoting dialog and empowering youth, read my blog at http://youhearditnow.org

Labels: Bridges to Understanding, ICT

Posted by Yared Ayele on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 6:45 AM | Permalink