Global One Computer Center of Kibera

thus exposing number of life challenges to a population estimated at one million people living in an area measuring 1 mile square. The Global One Community Computer Centre is the first and only computer center with internet signals within Kibera slums, this is due to the un availability of internet signal cables which is the most commonly used method by Information Technology companies to provide internet signals to most of residential areas occupied by communities living under either middle and high class standards in Kenya, especially in the capital city Nairobi and other cities and towns. Kibera has also been neglected by I.T commercial companies when making business decision on their products whenever they evaluate the population’s purchasing power of Information and Technology related products such as internet signals, this is according to National statistics indicating that only 2% of the population has basic knowledge and skills to use computers and 0.7% of the total population have computers either owned at family or individual levels . Therefore, to correct the worsened situation where a community lives without internet signals finally got a long term solution when The Global One Planning team to come up with the best alternative of ensuring Kibera generations are exposed to internet signals, and our final decision settled for Wireless internet signals. Thus leading us to a number Telecommunication Companies for their services and finally Orange – Kenya with their wireless internet sourced from a portable garget known as Orange Fybox providing us with signals at a connectivity speed of 100Mbps with mild fluctuations depending on the both hours of the days and days of the week. Our centre is equipped with 15 Computers, meant for both learning and internet browsing, but currently we are able to use only 13 Computers for all the activities after configuring 1 computer as our server Machine and one is used for administration jobs in our offices. Computer Model:
Monitors Hp TFT Monitors (with 7computers of 17’’ and 8 Computers of 19’’)
C. U’s, Dual Core which I can highlight as follows:
Processor Dual Core Pentium ® E5300 @ 2.60 GHZ, Hard Drive 160GB and Installed Memory (RAM) of 2.00 GB

Our Computers are kept with most vital software since they are meant for learning and browsing. But we have focused on the quality of software by considering that the center is a public place thus we have been focused on the basic software. Including:
Ant-Virus
Google chrome
Adobe
Office Suite
Mozilla Firefox Browser
Skype
Operating System( Windows Xp sp3)
Cyber Pro6 Timer
These are the commonly used software. Today, in Africa, Computer learning is being described as one of the most prestigious courses and most of the people are just realizing the importance of learning computer skills, and due to high demand of the course, training facilities are always inadequate. Currently, computer courses especially in Kenya are all about learning Computer packages, which are even expensive to pay for, in commercial institutions due to alarming poverty rates in most of the communities with an example of Kibera community. Similarly, poverty has made it harder for these people to afford computers which are costly in comparison to their income levels. This is evident on evaluation that The Global One Community Computer Center is the only internet training center located in a community of over one million. Finally, computer teaching in Africa is full of challenges due to various factors such as, inadequate facilities - Few trainers, inadequate reading materials related to computer studies, High costs imposed on I.T materials and equipments and lack of exposure among learners, where most of learners are introduced to computer at the age of 25 years which makes it hard for a such a person understanding computer concepts but passion, dedication and love for our community are keeping us motivated day to day. The training support to end user is under guidance of teachers, who are trained in teaching both basic and advanced Computer skills, which has been of a benefit to learners. We have also put in place strategies which may lead us to have after course certification which is recognized in the job markets, which we have evaluated on its possibilities through training collaborations of either local or international based institutes of Information and Technology , as another way of ensuring we are creating a fair ground for our end users be get jobs after the course. Currently we are training all Kibera generations (Children of at least 7 Years of age, Youths regardless of their educational level and Adults either with or without reading and writing skills). Thank you all

James Maebo

The Global One Foundation