Okambebe School student Isaac used his computer skills to improve his writing ability and school performance

by Gail Taylor

Okambebe School is a fairly typical school for northern Namibia.  It lies in the African bush about 5 miles south of the border with Angola.  The people living in this area are subsistence farmers.  Many have no source of cash income. Nature provides them with housing, food, tools and everything else they need to exist.  The upper classes of the area are the families who have managed to attend some college or who have studied through correspondence schools.  They are the teachers and have income.  A few others work in the local bar, bake bread to sell to the school students, make baskets for the teachers who do not have time to make their own, sew the clothing for those who have money to buy it, or have one member of the family who works in the south.

In the late 1800’s missionaries from Finland came to the area and built schools, churches and hospitals.  When the South Africans imposed Apartheid on the area, most of the missionaries were forced to leave, and schools were forbidden to teach English and mathematics.  The area was mired in the war for independence for many years.

Finally, after freedom was achieved, they gained a few years of peace to use for rebuilding their lives.  Then Angola became involved in a civil war and the Angolans started crossing the border and stealing and killing on the Namibian side.  A few years ago, peace arrived again.

With peace came the first electricity and soon after, cell phones arrived.  Unfortunately, the electricity has reached only one school and maybe 5 or 6 homes in the Okambebe area.  Water has reached a few more, but most families have to go up to 5 kilometers to get water, and many families have no transportation other than their feet.

About 40% of the students at Okambebe School pass grade 10.  This is actually quite good as the average for the entire country is only 42% and that includes all the children from the cities where there is access to modern conveniences.  It is also quite good when you consider that the curriculum is designed for the children in the cities, is based on a British syllabus and is thus very culturally biased.

This is the story of Isaac, a child at Okambebe School, whose life was changed when a computer lab was installed at the school.

January 2005
Isaac is one of the “naughty” boys.  He failed grade 7 last year and is repeating the grade and failing again.  No one at school likes him.  No one wants to sit with him and no one ever chooses him when they form groups.  Most of the time, he doesn’t even go to class.  He just hides behind the toilets and hopes no one finds him.

April
The class is introduced to the computer room.  Isaac begins to come to class every day that is scheduled for the computer lab.  He won’t share a chair with another student so he stands away from the computers but pays very close attention to what is going on.

June
Isaac can no longer stay away from the computers.  He not only shares a chair, but he tries to get exclusive use of the mouse.

September
Now he comes to the computer lab before school, enters and watches the teacher boot and log in the computers.  One day, he goes to one of the computers and types in what he has seen the teacher doing.  It works.

Isaac logs on computer at the Okambebe School in Namibia. AFT Photo.

October
He comes in every day and helps get the lab ready.  One day, the lab coordinator is gone and a different teacher has to get the lab ready.  The new teacher isn’t very good, so she lets Isaac do all the work by himself.

November
One day, the teachers can’t get the system to boot.  Isaac checks the connections, and when it still won’t boot, experiments with a few solutions and finds one that works.  The teachers are really impressed.

Late November
The principal calls him to the front of the school during morning assembly.  He is visibly afraid because he knows the principal will again use him as an example of a bad student.  Something strange happens. The principal says that Isaac is doing good things, has learned a lot and that he is an example of a good student.  No one has ever before said anything like that about him.

Isaac improved from # 17 in the class to #11, went from being absent an average of over 2 days per week to missing less than one, and passed grade 7 (something no one expected him to do).

Sample of Isaac’s writing before exposure to computers.
15 February 2005 - Beginning of a report about a robbery

Co-operation yor Good for the word. I want to tell yor because am died of I help your cell phone and prom the word ofte scholl amer tick my feather of the went was I needed from aum for food get My Kanos Bar at was want many of to get.

Sample of Isaac’s writing after 6 months exposure to computers 15 November 2005 - Beginning of final exam essay paper (Report about a pet dog)

Yesteday the boy received a dog to go a town after 5 Minister a dog is ungry. The boy saw why your ungry a dog saw am ungry. The boy buy one bread and give a dog.  A dog saw very good.

After we came to home a boy go to combife and put the water on the cattiffe and put the fire.  A boy he must come and check the water is hot.