Touching Lives

October 16

I had the privilege to run though the results of two pilot ICT-Community Service projects in an update meeting which I was asked sit in. Slides, videos and pictures of undergraduates volunteered to train the IT deprived adults as well as underprivileged youths and to use personal computers and applications went up the screen.

One pilot took place in PJ in a community centre whilst the other in a home for the underprivileged in Semenyih. The former saw eight participants as young as seven and as advanced as 53 picking up the skills and knowledge. They were students, housewives, retirees and even hawkers. From zero literacy, they were able to browse the Internet, email to loved ones overseas, put up blogs and pictures, do PPT presentations and other basic applications.

The latter was children and youths in a home that worked toward raising funds through an Open Day, of which they used the applications to prepare proposal to obtain permission from the home administrator for the Open Day project, design and print invitation cards, flyers, send email invites, prepare presentation, and create a blog on the home itself.

In the midst of learning all these, the undergraduate trainers, who were trained and guided by a life coach specialised in NLP and lifelong learning, in both pilots helped developed in these lives another area often received the least focus - personal development. That was the second objective of the community initiative.

Not only these individuals built higher self-belief and confidence, faith and trust, teamwork, enhanced their creativity, and most of all, resourcefulness, the trainers themselves took back valuable lessons of perseverence, patience and putting others above themselves.

As I saw it, those had more deep rooting impact than applied IT. Yes, ICT helps to bridge many gaps and divides, across geographical vastness and value add to technical and applied skills needed in a working world. However, the intangible lessons and intrinsic values help character building, and character builds personality. That is what would bring these children and youths far in life, as persons.