When Pratigya Thing, 10 years old, arrived home after her first computer class, she was so excited and shared her feelings with her father Chitra. She didn’t imagine what an influence it would have on her parent.
Chitra, 36 years old, a former development worker, who struggles to make a better living for his family of six, immediately recognized the opportunities that computer classes could bring for him too.
The community of Konjyosom, 90 km south-east of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, has approximately 2500 inhabitants who don’t have access to the computer education. The nearest place people could find a computer class was Capital city, 70km far away from Choughare. Getting information from the Web is a hard task for 80% of the population in Nepal, especially for those who live in rural areas.
Mr. Santa Lal Tamang, the ward chief of Konjyosom 1, says, “When community people approached me with an idea to have a computer lab, I doubted whether they would use it properly or not since no one was familiar with computers. Now lab is occupied and people take turns to learn computer.
Partigya likes the life in the village. There is a lot of space for her to play with her brothers and sisters. More than playing, she is also eager to find out more about the computer. She is one of the children out of 30 who came to the computer lab. “I come to the lab to learn. When I grow up, all the jobs will require a high level of computer knowledge,” says Pratigya.
Chitra started a saving and credit cooperative after he lost his previous job and competition for other jobs was tough. Soon he realized that he lacked knowledge in computer that needs in cooperative management. When there was a chance he attended a five-month computer training course organized by CHFN, with funding from the CBN.
“I discontinued my education because of poverty. Now I have a chance to catch up through computer classes. I don’t want to migrate but stay with my family and struggle for a better living,” says Chitra.
Overseas employment is causing social problem in Nepal due to it, many families are breaking. “Around 1,000 people from Konjyosom have left the country to work in Gulf countries. Participants are so excited to know that the computer lab has been set up and Internet access is easy. In addition, the lab is a good source of information on farming and animal breeding.
Pratigya says that she is confident and she with her family will stay in the village and find ways to cope with hardship, and a task made easier now through the access to the computer.