I began a new set of experiences today. I had been looking for ways to get our local youth group involved in some type of homeless service project. The one I had in mind kinda fell through, but I decided to keep pursuing opportunities. One came up in my search that intrigued me. A local shelter that houses about 40 people had just created a computer lab and was looking for someone to provide some training for the residents. I sent the contact an email asking about it, and eventually went in to meet the director and some residents. Before I left I had four students ready to start some training.
I’ll be going to Freedom House every week for about an hour, and this “session” will last about 6 weeks. Tonight was the first, and it was cool. One of the ladies has worked with computers before, but the other three seemed to be very basic. One was having a hard time clicking what she was supposed to because she just wasn’t used to a mouse. I’m pretty much letting them decide what they want to learn, and then I’ll come up with a curriculum as the weeks go on. If it works out, I may continue on with this group to more advanced stuff, or maybe we’ll start fresh with four more (they only have four computers). There were a few that stopped in showing interest while I was teaching some basic stuff.
This week we turned on the computer, opened Word, typed a sentence, opened a browser and went to Yahoo, and then shut down the computer. It took 45 minutes. Next week will be an Intro to Web Browsing, and I’ll set them up with some email. My goal is to enable them to get resumes written and sent out, and hopefully give them some experience they can use when they find a job.
Please keep this project of mine in your prayers.
-j
I'm Jason, and I like to write.