ICT skills change barber's career

When Barnabas Kisyungu visited Mutomo Mission Hospital and saw a community knowledge Centre within, he was curious to find out what happens in the Maarifa Centre.

On visiting the Centre, Mr.Kisyungu was happy to hear about the free services offered. However of interest to him was news about a free computer training opportunity which he enrolled immediately.

This prompted him to move from his home in Kanziko Location, 37 KM away and rent a house in Mutomo town to attend the training sessions. “I secured a barber ship job cater for rent costs during the training period,” says Mr.Kisyungu

After going through the ICT training for 1 and half months, Mr.Kisyungu heard of a job opportunity at Simba Telecom Kenya, a telecommunication business based in Nairobi but which has a branch in Mutomo town.

“Part of the interview was written whereby we were each given a laptop required to type the company’s profile and its services and save it as a word document’’, says Mr.Kinyungu adding that his ICT skills helped him carry out this task and secure a job as a mobile phone airtime marketing agent with the company.

Kinyungu attributes his job to ALIN and the computer skills he acquired. He thanks the organization for training all the community members regardless of education background and social status.

“People tend to shy off about free offers but I am happy to say that the Maarifa Centre is creating opportunities for the Mutomo community,” he quips.

A youth's determination to suceed despite odds

Esther Musekele completed her high school studies last year. But the 19 year old youth who scored a B (minus) in her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Exams (KCSE) cannot get her certificate for she has not cleared her school fees with the school.

However, now Esther has a new mission in life, to work hard and save enough money to clear  the Kshs.18, 000 fees balance that she owes the school and finally get her certificate.

Ms.Musekele attributes all this to a free ICT training she received through Mutomo Maarifa Centre.

“When my mother was told of the training through an Advisory Committee member, she registered me for the training,” says Esther.

Ms.Musekele, who is physically disabled, says that she drew strength from a well-wisher who would encourage her as she walked 7 KM from her Itumba home to attend training sessions.

“This shopkeeper would tell me to put more effort as she will give me a job when I completed the training,” says Esther.
 
In keeping up with the promise, the proprietor of Franco Computer Enterprises gave her a one month’s attachment opportunity in August this year. Later she was employed at the enterprise.Her duties at work include typesetting and providing internet services to clients.

“This is my first job and I am very excited,” says the happy girl adding that she is grateful for the ICT trainer for a job well done.She thanks ALIN for the opportunity and the spirit of serving the community.

Woman acquires further studies after 16 years.

Six months ago, Beatrice Mutie was a housewife. But when her friends informed her of an ICT training opportunity at Mutomo Maarifa Centre, she was quick to enroll for the opportunity. Today, the 32 year old mother of two is employed.

The 32 year old widow from Kibwea Location in Mutomo Location says since she finished high school in 1994 she has been hoping to further her studies.

“However, I could not afford to achieve this since I had two children to take care of and I had no stable income, “says Mrs.Mutie adding that she had to rely on casual jobs to provide for her family.

Immediately after completing the training, Mrs.Mutie secured a one month’s attachment opportunity at Evatex Computers, a Computer services and printing service provider within Mutomo town. Later, she was employed at the enterprise. Her work at Evatex included typing and printing documents for clients.

“Currently, I am working with online technologies where my duties include typesetting clients’ research assignments” says Beatrice.

Improved livelihood

Mrs Mutie says that the training opportunity has opened doors for her and she sees a bright future for her family.

Am saving for my education…Says an ICT beneficiary.

Christine Kithinis’s dream in life is to become an accountant. However, since her parents could not afford to take her through the course, the 20 year old has vowed to work her way to college.

A free ICT training offered at Mutomo Maarifa Centre has given Ms. Kithini a leeway to pursue her career dreams.

“I heard of the ICT opportunity from my cousin who had also undergone the training at the initial phase,” says Christine adding that she had to move in with a relative in Mutomo town to take advantage of the offer.

She enrolled for the July intake where she underwent training in five (5) computer packages namely; introduction to computers, MS Word, Ms Excel, MS PowerPoint, Internet and Email support.

Weeks after the training, Ms Kithini has secured an employment opportunity at  Inter Services Enterprises, a computer services business within Mutomo town. As an employee at the enterprise, Christine’s duties include typesetting and printing documents.

                                                                                                Future plans

“This job has given me a source of income. I am now independent and I live in my own house,” Christine says happily.

She adds that her future plan is to save money to pursue a her career job and thanks ALIN for the opportunity quoting that were it not for the free opportunity, she would not have been able to afford the training.

Bridging the information gap for student

Nzisa Elizabeth’s dream in life is to become a community development worker. To achieve this goal, the 29 year old realizes that it is important to get a good education. Her passion is to one day to work with her community.

Towards that, Ms. Elizabeth has enrolled for a Certificate in Community Development and Social Work at the Coast School of Accountancy in Mutomo town.

However, good education came with excess costs of purchasing reading material.Whereas,buying the necessary books is costly,Nzisa’s main challenge has been in getting the necessary reference material for her course work. Ms. Elizabeth will be sitting for a UK based exam at the end of the 2 year course.

“These kind of reference material are not easy to get .This has forced me to rely on the internet for material which takes a lot of time and money,” says Nzisa

Therefore, Ms.Elizabeth has exploited the library resource at Mutomo Maarifa Centre. Here, she has access to reference material for her course work.

She praises the Maarifa Centre for their library resource and information services citing that it has given her a reference point for her studies and enabled her to save cost in buying study books.

The power of community empowerment

50 year old Angelina Mutua has never been to school. As such she cannot read or write. But when she heard of an opportunity to attend a technical training on goat diseases, control and treatment she was only happy to attend. She had enough reasons to attend the training; four of her goats had died mysteriously and she was curious to know how she could overcome these problems.

A member of Kwola Mathina Self Help Group, Mrs.Mutua has benefitted from goats that were given to the group by Disaster Risk Management, a project under the Catholic Diocese of Kitui. Under this project, group members were given goats for improved nutrition and poverty alleviation.

Community members during the technical training

According to the Chairlady Mrs.Domitila Muimi, the group which has a membership of 68 (64F, 4M) members has a total of 108 goats as of now. However, group members lacked knowledge on how to treat the goats whenever diseases attacked them.

Information gaps

When Mutomo Maarifa Centre visited the group for an information needs mapping outreach activities on March this year, group members listed down goat diseases, treatment and control as one of the information gaps they needed addressed for them to effectively run their project. Members expressed a need to acquire knowledge on the same….Read more