Written by: Cleopa Otieno
Sadiki Mwita is a clinical officer with the St. Paul’s Health Centre which is an initiative of the Ugunja Community Resource Centre (UCRC). His is an interesting case of how ICT training at the UCRC is changing lives through a Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) grant. Having spent a better part of his life in the neighboring country of Tanzania before relocating to Kenya, he had not interacted with computers much all his life. He studied and obtained a Diploma in clinical medicine and surgery from Maswa Clinical Officers Training College in Tanzania.
In Tanzania, Kiswahili is the national and dominant language. In fact, most subjects at school are taught in Kiswahili. Sadiki was therefore more comfortable with Kiswahili than English when he started his computer classes at the UCRC. His major fear was the fact that the whole training would be conducted in English. Sadiki overcame this challenge and successfully finished his training.
Finishing the free Microsoft sponsored UP computer training and becoming computer literate was indeed an achievement in his life. But it didn’t end there, what followed was more interest and exploitation of his potential and a vision of unlimited opportunities that would come his way. He then searched the Internet and enrolled in an online dental assistant course from Penn Foster Career School in the United States. Since he didn’t have access to a credit card for payment online, he discussed an alternative with the institution and has been remitting $100 monthly through Western Union money transfers for his fees. Indeed, Sadiki has exploited his unlimited potential through his use of the Internet.
He is now looking at the possibility of telemedicine! with this he hopes to offer services that are not offered at the health center by involving professionals from other parts of the world. His newest challenge is overcoming poor connectivity, which is something he has been wrestling with since he started his was going to school online.
Recent Comments