Civil servant secures job promotion after gaining ICT skills

By Rhoda Musili

When Regina Musee visited her bank to withdraw her monthly salary on February this year, she thought that she had received a salary increment.Jubilant, she informed her immediate boss of the good news.However,later she learnt the salary increment was as a result of a job promotion.

The 56 year old who works at the Mutomo District Children's Office, was  among the first beneficiaries of the free ICT training that has been ongoing at Mutomo Maarifa Centre since January 2012.

“I was informed of the training by my boss who sits in Mutomo Maarifa Centre Advisory committee and I enrolled immediately , “ says Regina who praises the ICT trainer for a job well done  as he was open to questions and took time to explain issues to the otherwise mixed aged trainees.

She adds that after graduation, her immediate boss forwarded the ICT certificate to the Ministry Headquarters so that she could be considered for a promotion.This bore fruit on February this year when she finally landed the much awaited job promotion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left, Regina Musee at her office;(Right )Regina receives her certificate during a Maarifa Centre ICT graduation ceremony held on July 2012.

Mrs.Musee praises the opportunity and thanks ALIN for a job well done citing that her improved salary status has ensured an improved livelihood status for her and her family.

“Besides the promotion, I can now navigate through Internet comfortably and I am able to download my pay slip without any assistance,” concludes the civil servant.

ICT skills facilitate Pastor’s acquisition of IT equipment

By Rhoda Musili

At his office in the Centre of Mutomo town, Jeremiah Mbithuka is busy typesetting a report on his desktop computer.A few months ago, the 41 year old pastor could not carry out this task and used to handwrite his reports.But  a free ICT training at Mutomo Maarifa Centre changed his office operations.

“My friend who had benefitted from the training informed me of the opportunity and I enrolled immediately,” says Mr.Mbithuka who adds  that he majorly uses word processing, printing, scanning and browsing skills in his daily work.

Mr.Mbithuka is the Coordinator for Children in Christ Self-Help group which trains school going children and teenagers on moral issues and life skills.The Self-Help Group which was started in 2010  has a membership of 50 community trained volunteers .

Acquiring computer skills played a vital role in Mr.Mbithuka getting office equipment from World Vision, Mutomo whom they are collaborating on a project.

“World Vision management  was interested to know if I am able to operate IT equipment before they allocated the IT equipment to the office.On informing them  that I had enrolled for training, they tried and tested me on completion of the training and issued me with with a desktop computer, a printer and a scanner,” says a proud Jeremiah.

Apart from Mr.Mbithuka, four other group members have also benefitted from the ICT training opportunity.

“We realized that teenagers were not involved in church activities and there was no proper curriculum to teach them issues affecting them,” adds Mr.Mbithuka adding that the group also sensitizes these children on HIV/AIDS.

Mr.Mbithuka who is also a regular Maarifa Centre library user  thanks ALIN for this wonderful  opportunity

Women group embrace soap making as an income generating venture

On  April 5th, group members of Meko Ma Aka Self Help Group had something to smile about as they gathered for training on making liquid soap.For some time now, the group members had been yearning to find an income generating activity that will boost their finances.

So when Mutomo Maarifa Centre Field Officer visited the group for an information gaps mapping activity early last year, group members listed commercial liquid soap making as one of the viable activities that they were interested in engaging in but which they lacked technical skills to jumpstart.Therefore,the Field Officer sourced for a resource person who took the group members through the soap making process.

On this particular day, their faces wreathed in smiles of joy,each group member took a turn to participate in every stage of the whole process.

The group has already identified a market for their product and were all enthusiastic about starting the project.Liquid soap has many uses and can be used in schools, hotels, household levels among other uses.

Procedure

The procedure of making this soap is very easy to learn and master

Ingredients needed are; Ungerol( a kind of fatty acid), industrial salt, caustic soda, formalin,colouring, perfumes and water.

• Mix Ungerol with industrial salt until the crystals dissolve
• Add water, colour and perfume to the viscous product.

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Mutomo Maarifa Centre holds its second ICT graduation ceremony

Jubilation was written all over 85 ICT training beneficiaries who graduated in a ceremony held at Mutomo Missions Hospital’s compound on February 2013.The 85 are the second group of ICT training beneficiaries to be awarded certificates as part of an ongoing ICT training initiative which kicked off on January 2012.The ceremony  was presided over by Mutomo District Agricultural Officer Mr.Toma Ngovu.

During the event trainee after trainee praised the opportunity.Martina David, a primary school teacher narrated how her colleagues were dubious about free ICT training.”They were asking me who would offer such training free of charge,” she said adding that the training played a major role in her securing the post of a Presiding Officer with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in the just concluded general elections .

Of the same sentiments were Mutomo Location Chief, Mr.Robert Kusinga who  said that he was interested to enroll for the training after presiding over the first graduation ceremony which was held on July last year.

“I felt challenged that I was awarding certificates to ICT trainees, yet I had not benefitted from the training myself,” said Mr.Kusinga who enrolled for training sessions immediately after the graduation ceremony

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Mutomo Location Chief,Mr. Robert Kusinga(Right) is awarded an ICT certificate by Mr.Toma Ngovu, the District Agricultural Officer.Looking on is Mutomo Maarifa Centre Field Officer,Rhoda Musili

Mr.Kusinga says that immediately after completing training sessions, he was awarded with an office computer since he now has the skills to work with one.

“I plan to be utilizing the computer to store my locations’ information data,”Says Kusinga who praises the ICT trainer for his flexibility in the training and understanding the diverse needs and understanding levels of the trainees.

Mutomo Maarifa Centre Field Officer Ms.Rhoda Musili encouraged the trainees to exploit available resources at the Maarifa Centre listing e-government services as some of the emerging services in the ICT world that needed the community to be computer literate.She urged the beneficiaries to exploit the skills gained in engaging in meaningful opportunities like distance learning .

Mr. Ngovu  urged the beneficiaries to exploit the available Maarifa Centre resources to search for Agricultural information as well as business and social networking sites for information sharing and dissemination.He however cautioned them on internet fraud .

“I would like to thank ALIN for initiative of empowering our community,” concluded Mr.Ngovu.

The free community training is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded to ALIN in August 2011 to implement various community activities. The main goal of the community IT training is to enable communities’ access opportunities and resources available globally and to catalyze youth entrepreneurship for livelihoods improvement

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