When I sit down with our first students, I'm open to their suggestions. For our first session we're using two of my laptops , one of them a 2009 netbook with a french keyboard, the other my newer laptop.
We discuss how the Internet and wi-fi work, and I introduce them to search engines like Google. After we spend some time on basics like how to tell if your laptop is connected to electricity, I give them some free time to browse on their own. Not surprisingly, some students start by Googling their questions about HIV.
Then I guide them through creating gmail accounts. One student, as soon as I send him a test email from my account, starts typing his reply. He's never used a keyboard before, so his typing is slow. With incredible focus he types a long reply. I'm standing just behind him, asking if anyone needs water. One of the girls has pulled up a YouTube English language lesson. She's repeating the phrases, hitting pause and writing the words in her notebook.
After 15 minutes, my phone buzzes with his message. His first impulse on getting an email account was to write me a long email with his questions about HIV. We've known each other for three years, but he had never approached me with his worries.
The safety of being behind a screen has freed him to ask questions that are troubling him about his medication and his understanding of the virus, ones he never raised to us before. I read his message twice, in shock that he's had these questions and no way to ask them.
I look at him. He's watching me anxiously from a few feet away. "Did you get my message?" he asks.
I nod , look down at my phone, and hit "reply."
ABOUT OUR CURRENT PROGRAM IN HAITI:
We invited some of our most motivated and reliable students to be trained as leaders and educators. We supply them with computers, internet access, and training so they can begin leading regular computer-based learning sessions with other HIV positive teenagers aged 12-18. We have already worked with these students since March 2012 in an ongoing support group, and they have shown themselves to be responsible and full of initiative. The student leaders receive a monthly stipend for their work in developing the program with us. All the students participating in the program are currently also attending school.
In 2015 we began lessons using our own computers and our apartment in Jeremie. We transitioned to a dedicated space to use as a computer lab with donated equipment in 2017. COVID-19 caused massive setbacks for the program, as we have not been able to travel to transport additional equipment for most of 2020-21, but we are grateful for the new equipment and making plans to travel in late 2021.
The Uplift curriculum includes computing and language skills, health information, and other topics as guided by our student leaders and pilot participants, all necessary skills to find a job, but severely lacking in the local community. Our goal is to create a model for a program that can be implemented in other parts of Haiti and potentially beyond.
WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US IN CREATING A BETTER FUTURE FOR OUR STUDENTS. HERE'S HOW.
We discuss how the Internet and wi-fi work, and I introduce them to search engines like Google. After we spend some time on basics like how to tell if your laptop is connected to electricity, I give them some free time to browse on their own. Not surprisingly, some students start by Googling their questions about HIV.
Then I guide them through creating gmail accounts. One student, as soon as I send him a test email from my account, starts typing his reply. He's never used a keyboard before, so his typing is slow. With incredible focus he types a long reply. I'm standing just behind him, asking if anyone needs water. One of the girls has pulled up a YouTube English language lesson. She's repeating the phrases, hitting pause and writing the words in her notebook.
After 15 minutes, my phone buzzes with his message. His first impulse on getting an email account was to write me a long email with his questions about HIV. We've known each other for three years, but he had never approached me with his worries.
The safety of being behind a screen has freed him to ask questions that are troubling him about his medication and his understanding of the virus, ones he never raised to us before. I read his message twice, in shock that he's had these questions and no way to ask them.
I look at him. He's watching me anxiously from a few feet away. "Did you get my message?" he asks.
I nod , look down at my phone, and hit "reply."
ABOUT OUR CURRENT PROGRAM IN HAITI:
We invited some of our most motivated and reliable students to be trained as leaders and educators. We supply them with computers, internet access, and training so they can begin leading regular computer-based learning sessions with other HIV positive teenagers aged 12-18. We have already worked with these students since March 2012 in an ongoing support group, and they have shown themselves to be responsible and full of initiative. The student leaders receive a monthly stipend for their work in developing the program with us. All the students participating in the program are currently also attending school.
In 2015 we began lessons using our own computers and our apartment in Jeremie. We transitioned to a dedicated space to use as a computer lab with donated equipment in 2017. COVID-19 caused massive setbacks for the program, as we have not been able to travel to transport additional equipment for most of 2020-21, but we are grateful for the new equipment and making plans to travel in late 2021.
The Uplift curriculum includes computing and language skills, health information, and other topics as guided by our student leaders and pilot participants, all necessary skills to find a job, but severely lacking in the local community. Our goal is to create a model for a program that can be implemented in other parts of Haiti and potentially beyond.
WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US IN CREATING A BETTER FUTURE FOR OUR STUDENTS. HERE'S HOW.
