ICAN Educate Mission: Ugandan Teacher Steven Kyomu
I was introduced several months ago to Steven Kyomu and talked to him about the children of the St. Theresa Primary School in Kampala, Uganda on Facebook chat. He is a teacher there, in his mid twenties and convinced that computers and the internet will help the children excel where once they had very limited resources. Steven took it upon himself to develop ways to introduce a test group of children so that the school would support efforts to develop a computer room.
After a few months of planning and working with ICAN Founder, Richard Ogulnick, we came up with a way to connect a test group of students. With the monetary assistance of ICAN, Steven was able to take 6 school children ranging from 4-18 years of age to the internet café in Kampala and rent time to teach them basic computer skills and secure for them e-mail accounts. After a few weeks of training provided to the six children he sent me this list of their very first e-mail addresses.
I was really taken back by the potential power of this idea, that kids not connected were now connected. I also pondered the meaning of that word, connected, in this digital age that often resembles more a quagmire of binary and useless megabytes—but here, with these six Ugandan children, I only see real and lasting hope. Here was the real power of this moment, Steven had gone out of his way to take this small group to the internet café—get school approval and battle budget constraints—so that they could become connected and find friendship in a much bigger world than they had ever known.
I know we have found that friendship, Steven and I, in the past months of e-mails, Facebook chat, and Skype conversations. We have been able to get the audio and video to work from the internet café only a couple times on Skype, but are able to—for free—see and hear each other, which is transformative in and of itself. ICAN continually seeks out emerging technologies that will act as platforms for connection and fertile ground for relationships across boarders.
We at ICAN felt they needed a laptop at the school to reinforce the lessons they were learning in the internet café. We bought one PC laptop which now resides at the primary school where Steven works. He said the children have regular computer science classes and can’t wait to have other ICAN Students connect with his students in this campaign we are calling ICAN Communicate. It is our hope that these children in Uganda, along with their dedicated teacher, will build lasting friendships with other student and teacher members in our ICAN Student and Educator sections of the Human Family Forum. Let’s all join together today, and say proudly and without prejudice: I Can Communicate!
Together with Steven, ICAN also developed a sustainable agriculture campaign that we hope schools, children, and communities will benefit from called ICAN Garden. The idea at base was that I would start a garden in my yard in New Jersey, USA, use organic pesticides and fertilizer, and when I harvested I would share both the food produced and the seeds saved locally. I had my buddy down the street sign on, we planned to share seeds in Fall to start in February for the 2012 growing season. When I told Steven about this he was all for his students again having the opportunity to become involved in an ICAN campaign. He again showed his diligence and planted a new section of their already expansive campus garden. They planted a new couple rows of Kale, Spinach, and Tomatoes, surrounded by Banana trees, and designated it their very own, and our very first, ICAN School Garden.
It was his idea that every ICAN member get involved in the ICAN Garden Campaign by making your garden an ICAN Garden. This campaign will start with members like you—please do as Steven did and send me pictures of your ICAN Garden. We are especially looking for innovative, sustainable gardens and organic food farms to get involved, so if you are a sustainable farmer or organic home gardener, please send me pictures. I will highlight gardens and farms in the coming months on our blogs, social network and media pages, and on our discussion boards. Please join us in this simple, inexpensive sustainable action today. And if you are unable to grow your own ICAN Garden in a permanent plot of land because of limited space or location, consider container or straw bale growing as a great alternative and/or start a community garden on unused land.
Please contact me today about our Skype and e-mail username lists and sign up today at www.icanrevolution.org to be involved in all of our campaigns for sustainability and education, such as, the ICAN Communicate and ICAN Garden Campaigns...and Be the ICAN Revolution!
Best,
Damon Matthew Smith
Executive Director, ICAN
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