Episiode 6 - Back to School

#pngretold retelling the events of exactly two weeks ago

This morning I have been helping with the learning technologies branch of CRMF. Today they have been giving computer lessons to pastors who have never used a computer before. We were based in a big church. A large building, but quite sparse on the inside, with plastic school chairs and old wooden tables. At the front however, it had it all! Projector, guitars, even a drum kit! I’m told that this isn’t common place in Papua New Guinean churches! I fought the temptation to jump on stage and do my best John-Lee Bonham impression, and helped to set-up instead. A few of the laptops had various faults on them. Apparently this was due to their “refurbished” status.

Just waiting for a rock concert!

The students came in. Some of them had clearly at least seen a laptop before, whilst others, well I’m not so sure. It was really interesting watching them progress. I was really impressed, having taught my dad from scratch with limited success (if you’re reading this Dad, then I take it back, you have clearly flourished if you’ve managed to find my blog!). They started off with the very basics – how to use the mouse pad and how to double click – actually far more difficult to explain than you would think. I left just after lunch and already by that time they were causing havoc with a word document – cutting, pasting, highlighting, justifying – the whole lot. Not always on purpose, but still. It was a real privilege to help teach these people, to make a direct impact into their lives. It was also really great to talk to them at lunch, to hear their stories and about their lives. I asked them what difference they hoped these lessons were going to make to them. They were all really excited about the change they expected and so grateful for the opportunity to learn. One pastor was excited about no longer having his sermons all over the place, but all in one small location. An administrator was looking forward to the ease in workload it would provide; no longer would he have to hand write each individual church letter, but he could write one generic letter and print off multiple copies! What a change! I will never look at a printed church meeting agenda in the same way again!

Studying hard!