Abdul

A year ago if you were to ask me what are the key aspects of the Camara operation in Ireland that are not transferable to a Camara operation on the ground in Africa, at the top of my list would have been the volunteering dimension.

Camara has only a few full-time staff (far too few - they are all brilliant, capable people but completely over worked!). Operationally it really depends on key volunteers giving their time consistently each week so that a constant stream of quality computers are being delivered to schools in Africa. At this stage in its evolution Camara is no essentially a production line with the capacity to deliver about 500+ computers a month to Africa.

In the developed world volunteering is in many ways a luxury. We have time to give back to society because we do not have to worry about basic survival needs. Infrastructure is in place and systems are there to allow people take time out and give of themselves.

There is no such luxury in the developing world. People have more basic needs to look after like eating that day, supporting their family, managing illnesses like Malaria etc. People rarely take holidays here - they simply cannot afford to - there is no social welfare system - people just look after one another in the hope that they will be looked after when they need help and so on.

And despite the fact that life is much tougher here you still get a sense that the positive dimensions of the human spirit are much more prevalent than back at home! People really know how to look after one another here - we seem to have forgotten that.

So with that background I was totally taken aback when I discovered that over 700 people signed up to be volunteers in the Skomara digital hub.

People have come from all walks of life. Older members of the community, young people, men and women Christian and Muslim have all signed up. Some people have backgrounds in ICT, some have none but everyone sees value in being a part of this new initiative.

The hub is only running three months and already volunteers are training others with the basic knowledge that they have. If somebody works out how to swap a CD drive, suddenly there is a course on that and everyone gathers round 'the trainer' to learn the new skill. Its quite extraordinary. Knowledge is not protected here - its shared because there seems to be an implicit understanding that shared knowledge benefits all.

I stay late most evenings chatting to everyone trying to get a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the place. Volunteers who earn literally nothing pay for public transport to arrive here early each morning, stay the whole day giving of their time and energy and then leaving late in the evening. They are all immensely proud of what they do. That would seem to be key. Many of them say that without the hub they would be doing nothing and that working here gives them a sense of pride in themselves.

One evening, I went over to the training centre and found a volunteer called Abdul sitting at the computers. Abdul is one of the most committed volunteers in the project. He describes himself as a human rights activist and a person who is committed to community building. Before the hub he had never even touched a computer before. He has amazing hand writing and so he does all the signs around the hub and is meticulous in everything he does.

I asked him what was he doing. He told me that each evening when the training centre is empty he sits down at the computers and goes through the Camara Skill builder program (this is the basic ICT course that we provide in hard and soft copies to all the schools with Camara labs). He told me that he never imagined that he would have an opportunity to learn about computers and that as soon as he was ICT literate he was going to use his skills teaching other members in the communities he supports (for free!).

I tell this story not to evoke compassion for Abdul and the other volunteers more to point out that giving people the opportunity to learn and participate in a project is as important to their dignity as anything else? Obviously you cannot exploit this! Our intention here in the hub is that enterprise activity is generated so that people get rewarded for their efforts. Volunteers are giving their time and resources for free here but you cannot sustain that. However it has really struck me that we have come to associate giving someone a wage to giving someone their dignity and that is not the case here. Giving somebody the opportunity to learn really does give the person their dignity.

Sending this from the new Open Source Cyber Cafe on the Digital Hub!

Gary