Welcoming 2008

Happy New Year from Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF).

Thank you for partnering with us in our efforts to become one of the most impactful organizations in the world.

The Night Before Christmas

Christmas in Sironko is full of festivities, lots of cooking and eating and a variety of community celebrations. Many travel to the main city to see an abundance of fire works displays. Matooke (a green plantain dish)is often prepared as part of the menu.

Wishing our Uganda team in Sironko a Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to 2008.

Mazalibwa!

Meet Charles – The Man Behind SDV

Charles grew up close to where SDV stands today. He attended primary and secondary schools in Sironko, Mbale and Tororo districts before heading off to Kampala. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Computer Science, from Makerere University, in 2005.

In February 2005, Charles got an opportunity to share his knowledge as a United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) Volunteer in Nigeria. He worked at the Owerri Digital Village set up by the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF).

As mentioned in the very first post of this blog, Charles came back to Uganda to eventually found a community computer center in Sironko – what we all now know as SDV.

Charles, you grew up in Buhugu. Tell us about life there?
The biggest number of people in Buhugu are small scale farmers. They grow mainly annual food crops like Bananas (plantains), beans, maize and vegetables. The main source of income for people in Buhugu is the sale of these food crops. Of late, production has been low due to changes in weather and crop diseases.

There is limited access to quality education in Buhugu. Most young people drop out of school before they complete their secondary education. This is partly attributed to the level of poverty in Buhugu with most parents unable to support their children's education.

Given the high level of unemployment in the country, even those who have acquired some education find it extremely hard to get jobs and are forced to stay at home and resort to small scale farming. The lucky ones find employment in places away from their homes. This inevitable brain drain in the community, I think, is another reason for under development.

So, how would you define development?
The first measure of success and development in a society is whether members of that society have consistent and self sustainable source of income. Other measures can follow once this is achieved.

How did you get the idea to start SDV?
I have always believed in giving back to the community and making a difference by changing people’s lives and helping them realize their potential. This is in line with my definition of success in the community.

During my secondary education, Buhugu community supported me with a bursary after I had emerged the best pupil in Buhugu subcounty in the Primary Leaving Examinations.

So, after returning from my UNITeS assignment in Nigeria, it was the ideal time for me to give back to the community by introducing Information Technology learning.
I contacted Youth for Technology Foundation for partnership and also consulted with the community members about my dream for the community. The Buhugu community welcomed the idea and offered a big community building as their contribution towards the achievement of this dream.

Today, Sironko Digital Village is what it is because of the priceless support from the community members and the volunteers who have been and are still on the ground.

What do you think about what has happened so far at SDV?
SDV has made considerable progress and I can proudly say that we have done great work considering the fact that the project is not yet a year old. We have big achievements such as being one of the recipients of the United Nations Online Volunteering Team of the year 2007 Award.

The dedication and commitment of the team of Volunteers at SDV is immeasurable. We are hopeful and confident that the project will yield more results in the community by positively changing lives of the youth.

What do you see when you think about the future of SDV ?
We intend to introduce a variety of activities at SDV which we will share with everyone as we start offering them. But, it is ICT training and giving the trainees an opportunity to train others that constitute our major activities.

I see the future of SDV as a ‘Learning Centre’. We also want to explore ways to be self sustainable and even provide employment opportunities to those who excel.

What have been some of the challenges at SDV
The biggest challenge at SDV is power. Electricity in Sironko is on and off and it is only for a limited time that we can use the laptop batteries as a backup. Solar panels could help solve the problem, or even a good quality generator would be helpful.

Communication with volunteers both onsite and online has been and is still expensive but I believe this can be partially solved once we get an Internet connection.

What Lessons have you learnt being the founder of SDV?
All dreams can be turned into reality with hard work, patience, determination, dedication, positive thinking and with the right people around you.

What do you enjoy doing, generally?
I enjoy working with people who are honest and trustworthy.

For fun, I do many things as long as I am in the right company. I prefer team fun to individual fun. Picnics, House parties and Sports events are typical of my best moments.

What is life like being a young educated person in Uganda ?
Being an educated person in Uganda, especially from a humble community, attracts a lot of dependency from relatives, friends and the community and as such one has to think out of the box to bring self sustainability and independence to the community.

A word to the team at SDV
I want to thank the all Volunteers who are onsite at SDV, the community members, Sri, Oliver and Njideka and other international volunteers, especially Naveen, Peter, Kate and Tristan for making Sironko Digital Village dream a reality.

You are the right people around me that I talk about. Your continued sacrifices and commitment will lead SDV to its destination.

Thanks for being part of SDV.

Have a question or comment for Charles?
You can reach him by email at galusha4u [at] yahoo [dot] com

YTF's Sironko Digital Village Team Selected as "Outstanding Volunteer Team"

December 5, 2007 - The United Nations Volunteers Online Volunteering service today announced the winners of the “Online Volunteering Team of the Year Award”.

The purpose of this annual award is to recognize the contributions of online volunteers to human development, to demonstrate how development organizations can strengthen their activities through effective online collaboration with volunteers, and to showcase the diversity in which online volunteers can support development organizations.

Youth for Technology Foundation's Sironko Digital Village team was recognized as a recipient of this year's award. To learn more about the YTF online volunteer team, visit the UNV website.

YTF recognizes our online volunteer team for donating their time and talent to YTF's work in Uganda; Jaime Chapman, Danielle Brunin, Oliver Smith, Katy Weprin, Anja Lohrer, Wendy Lowis and Charles Galusha (onsite in Uganda). We also are grateful to a host of other online and onsite volunteers who have partnered with us to make this vision a reality.

In a future entry, we will be profiling one of our online volunteers and details of their involvement in our work.