Field trip to Pij

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) centre in the village of Pij, about an hour and a half by car from Ahmedabad. The field trip was part of our final project in the course Digital Inclusion for Development, where we look at how information and communications technology can help achieving development goals in various parts of the world.

At this centre, among other things, they offer computer literacy classes, costing a fraction of the prices at ordinary computer schools. Some 20-25 people take these courses every month (the village has about 25,000 inhabitants) and are thus able to learn Microsoft Office, surfing the Internet and operating accounting software. Basic English, necessary if you want to use many quite ordinary functions, is taught via video link from SEWA's head office in Ahmedabad. With their newly acquired knowledge, students are then not only able to apply for jobs as cashiers and IT café staff, but some even buy their own computers to set up business, offering services such as burning CDs for other villagers. The loans with which to purchase the hardware they get by showing their computer knowledge certificate.

We made a short film about the visit. It is only about seven minutes in length, but if you do not feel a desire to watch the whole thing, I suggest you concentrate on the final part. I think it says something fundamental about human nature. The computer teacher says that before she started working with SEWA, nobody in the village knew who she was. Now when she walks down the street, they point at her and say she is the computer teacher. "I now have an identity of my own."