The past few weeks I have started teaching various clinic staff members how to type using the program Mavis Beacon. It's long and tedious teaching typing, but at least Mavis makes it a little more fun. Because I am teaching them one at time I get to have some one-on-one time with them, which is a great way to learn more about them as individuals. Sometimes I ask myself why I didn't try to do this earlier in my service, guess that's the procrastinator in me. Better now then never, right? As I sit and watch over my "students" making sure they are hitting the keys with the right fingers, I am reminded of elementary school when I used Mavis Beacon's program to learn how to type. Something as little as that reminds me of how fortunate I was to grow up in a country and at a time where computers were easily accessible and all around me. The clinic staff envy how fast I can type and I constantly have to remind them that I have been typing for years and that in time and with practice they too will be fast like me (although I am not really all that fast, maybe 60-70wpm, and that might be generous).
Another staff member came into the caravan while I was working with someone yesterday and became super interested in what we were doing. After setting up a time to work with me later this week she then said "Refilwe, this is a really great initiative you are starting here". Teaching people to learn how to type and use a computer isn't something I thought I would be doing here. Actually my knowledge of computers is not very high. The extent being a typing class in high school and a Microsoft Office class in college. To say I was an expert by any means would be lying. Actually when I told my brothers (one has a degree in computer networking and the other is just starting his college degree in a computer related field) one of the things I do here is show people how to use the computer they laughed! When I first told the idea to my counterpart, it was mostly just so I would have something to do. I came here as an HIV/AIDs Health Volunteer, so I guess I thought that I would be doing more stuff that directly had to do with HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Don't get me wrong I have done some of that, but it seems I have found other needs in my community.
Botswana is a rapidly developing country. If you go to the bigger villages you can buy I-phones and other fancy electronics. Cell coverage is just about everywhere and with that internet comes. Even in my smaller village of less than 3,000 people we have two internet cafes. Pretty much all the government offices have computers, but the problem is no one really knows how to use them correctly. They were never taught how, let alone even taught how to type correctly like I was growing up. Through my typing lessons some of the staff realized that the way they learned how to type, if they had learned anything at all, was wrong (most of them do what I like to call "chicken-pecking" with their index fingers). They are surprised to find out that when you type the correct way you use ALL your fingers! Who would have thought? Even though technology is on the rise in Botswana, there is a lack of education in the technology field. Hence why even our Data Entry Clerk at the clinic (she is trained on the computer) doesn't even know how to type correctly or use Microsoft Word or Excel.
After the nurse said what a great initiative this typing/computer lessons project was, I realized that I was actually doing something meaningful in the clinic and it isn't something to just pass the time I have left here. If it weren't for me the individuals that make up Machaneng Clinic Staff might never learn how to type or use the different computer programs correctly. The computers in the clinic would then go to waste, even though they are a great resource. Once the staff is more knowledgeable in the technology at their hands it would benefit them in so many ways. Organizational skills would increase, they could go computer based with forms and records, no longer having to tediously write out charts and tables by hand. This would save time allowing them to tend to the long lines of patients. It might even allow them to make more time in their busy day to start up different support groups or classes within the clinic for community members to attend. The benefits and opportunities are endless. I just hope they will continue to use the skills I teach them when I am gone next year.
"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others." Percicles
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