Computer class is about to begin. Students sit in pairs around laptops, hunching over as they open a Word document to review what they learned in the previous lesson. They coach each other along as they wait for their instructor, Doug, to begin. The students’ chatter joins with the loud buzz of the cicadas in the trees overhead.
This certainly isn’t your average computer class. With the sand at their feet and a warm, dusty sky overhead, these students are taking their lessons outdoors in the middle of Africa.
It is the end of the dry season in this little corner of the Sahel, the semi-arid strip that divides the Sahara desert into the north from the humid sub-Saharan savannas to the south. Already the day is hot. Beads of sweat form on the students’ foreheads as the sun rises and beats down on them. They carefully wipe off fine dust as it settles on their keyboards.
There is a mud brick classroom, but during the hot season it is too stuffy to hold classes indoors. There are no electric fans to deliver airflow. In fact, there’s not even electricity to power luxury items like fans. This city may be the regional capital with a population of over 50,000, but it feels much more like a small village when compared to a Western city of the same size.
However, even in the remote villages of the developing world, technology has made dramatic headway. Out here in the Sahel, people know technology has the power to open the doors for future success.
“Everyone here has learned a saying,” says Doug, a Frontiers worker who has lived in this country for several years. “They say, ‘He who does not know computers is a 21st century illiterate.’”
“People here are curious to learn what is possible with computers,” he says. “In the past, the digital world was out of reach, both physically and financially. Now there’s an eagerness to break away from that past and take a hold of technology’s transformative power.”
When Doug and his wife Lisa first came to this country, they joined the team in the capital city. Doug taught at a computer training center, one of the many adult education centers that had proliferated in the capital.
In recent years, employees for the government and humanitarian organizations were supplied with computers, but they have not been equipped with the knowledge of how to use them. As a result, the demand for adult education has exploded.
Outside of the capital city, the opportunities for adult education are virtually non-existent. With their hearts set on pioneering into unengaged regions, Doug and Lisa began developing plans to start a computer education center outside the capital. Their research led them to a town in a region where there was no Gospel witness—where the majority of the population belongs to an unengaged Muslim people group.
They approached the mayor of the town. He was supportive of their vision and granted them space to teach. With this local backing in place, Doug started tackling the logistics, particularly the acquisition of laptops and a solar power system to run the equipment.
Next, Doug developed a curriculum that would meet his students’ needs and equip them to use computers in their professions. “They are hungry to learning anything about computers,” says Doug. “They would love to watch videos or play music, but they do not need any help figuring out how to do those things!”
The curriculum focuses on general computer fluency and a basic understanding of Windows. Students learn how to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Doug also helps them with keyboarding and shows them how to recognize and remove viruses. The curriculum has three levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—and students receive 20 hours of instruction for approximately $20.
The students are quick, eager learners, and Doug sees a lot of potential in them. Those who complete all three levels of the curriculum are likely to have promising futures working with computers. “When students finish all three levels of our curriculum, they ask for level four,” says Doug. “They have to go to the capital for higher levels than what we can teach here.”
Many of his students are government workers and employees with humanitarian organizations, and the computer classes equip them to be productive contributors towards the development of their country.
“One of my students completed the course on Excel,” Doug says. “Not long after that I saw him in the office of a local non-government organization doing data entry for them. That was so encouraging!”
Initially, Doug and Lisa traveled from the country’s capital to spend just a few weeks at a time in the town to teach the computer courses. Over the years, they’ve been able to increase those stretches of time in the community. “It is simpler here,” says Doug. “In the capital it is noisier, hotter, and we feel anonymous. However, here we know more people and are better known. We feel like a more meaningful part of the community.”
As much as they love the village-like feel of the town, daily life takes its toll on the couple. The heat, the rain, the sandstorms—all these impact comfort, energy levels, and the ability to focus on their work. The lack of electricity and running water also takes time and energy away from their work and directs it toward the effort of getting their basic needs met.
The personal sacrifices Doug and Lisa have made to minister in this remote town have not gone unnoticed. Locals express appreciation for the couple’s willingness to live in such challenging conditions. They are grateful for how Doug and Lisa have integrated themselves within the community in order to provide them with such valuable training.
Living and running a school in such a place may be uncomfortable and inconvenient. But Doug and Lisa are establishing a critical inroad to reaching these unengaged Muslim people for Christ. As they engage with locals, learn to live in their culture and speak their language, they are also praying for an extravagant work of God to open hearts.
“With every day that we survive in this town,” says Doug, “we are engaging with more people, gauging their interest in spiritual matters and looking for those who are receptive to God’s work in their lives. May the Lord accomplish His purposes in bringing about movements of disciples of Jesus here!”
This work is still in its early stages, but these dedicated field workers are laying a solid foundation for the coming disciple-making movement.
Katie is a former field worker who spent over 6 years abroad living and working in community with Muslims. She currently is serving as a field biographer for Frontiers to capture the stories of how God is capturing the hearts of Muslims.
Original article: www.godofall.org/wired-in-africa
