Computers invade Chinguetti

This past month I began teaching computer classes in Chinguetti. We only just got 24/7 power, but computers are quickly appearing throughout the city. Rumor has it we will soon get an internet cafe in Chinguetti as well, at which point I hope to recruit the individuals I'm currently teaching to train other people in the community.

The mayor asked me to teach his secretaries the basics of typing, Word, and Excel. The secretaries are all quite motivated and bright, and they come to class excited every day. It makes teaching easy. And they're slowly getting comfortable with exploring the computers on their own and figuring out how to do their own projects. It's really fun to see. However, I must add that the first couple classes were... well, interesting. I blame myself for approaching the classes assuming they would have a general concept of what computers are and what they do. Chinguetti only recently got power; how could I expect them to understand some of the concepts we learned long ago? They never had entertainment or gaming systems. Using a mouse or keyboard and expecting the computer to respond to your instructions are all new concepts. Moreover, they speak very little French, so my limited Hassaniye and their limited French makes some of our encounters quite entertaining. That's why I've decided to share some highlights from the first couple lessons. Enjoy!

I entered the mayor's compound the first day with a typing program on my flash drive and several pre-made images painted in Paint for them to copy. The secretaries had assured me they “knew” computers, so I hoped the simple exercises in Paint wouldn't be too easy. My fears were assuaged when they didn't know how to turn the computer on. We went step-by-step through computer start-up and began with a simple exercise: doodling in Paint with the mouse. After a few minutes I asked them to try and write their names. That went alright, but it was difficult to convince them that the mouse needed to remain pointed forward instead of pivoting and rotating on the desk. After a half-hour lesson on single vs. double clicking, we explored some of the other shapes and colors Paint can make. Finally, after a few hours, I decided we were ready to try to copy pre-drawn pictures. We opened a file that contained a copy of the Human Rights Campaign logo. I figured this would be a simple place to start: the HRC logo is a blue square with two yellow rectangles inside.

We opened a blank Paint document and I waited to see how they would do. The first girl turned and looked at me. “What do I do?”

We re-opened the file containing the HRC logo, re-looked at the picture, I reiterated that she should copy the picture using the shape and color tools we had been working with, and after she reassured me she understood we returned to the blank document.

She turned and stared blankly at me again. “What do I do?” I began wondering if my limited Hassaniye was the problem. Perhaps she was just being polite and telling me she understood the task. I asked her what the first step would be. “What first step?” To re-draw that picture. “What picture?” So we re-opened the other document and looked at the picture. This time I had her do all of the mouse-moving and clicking.

“Go to Fichier” [French for 'file'] I said as I pointed at the upper-left hand corner of the screen. “And now Ouvrir” [Open]. Except she hit “Nouveau”[New] instead.

“No problem, just hit 'Annuler' [Cancel], Back up to Fichier and Ouvrir.” Except she hit “Nouveau” again. “No problem, just hit 'Annuler' again.” Then we reviewed that we wanted the second option under “Fichier” to be highlighted blue.

She hit “Nouveau” again.

I was trying really hard not to laugh outloud... or shriek. We then had to go over an important concept: The TIP of the mouse's arrow is the important part. We want the TIP of the arrow to be over the second option. Clearly she would have no reason to know this. But as soon as we had gone over that, she understood. We opened the other document, re-examined the HRC logo, and returned to our blank Paint page, again. Then she turned and asked what to do.

Well, what are we trying to do? “Draw that picture.” She re-opened the picture on her own. Yes, that's what we want to do. How would we start? She clicked on the blank screen and drew a black line. “Like that?” ...ummm...does that look like the original picture? “No.” Remember when we made shapes a half hour ago? How did we do that? “These things over here [she pointed at the left side of the screen].” Exactly! And do you remember how to pick a new color? “Down here?” There you go! So she clicked on the circle icon, clicked on the color brown, and she drew a hollow brown circle. “Is this what we want?” Does that look like the original picture? “...No.”

We continued like that for the next hour, and finally the first day was over. She had drawn a blue box and a white rectangle... By the end that seemed like a good compromise.

The first day of typing was similarly entertaining. Remember, their French is not strong, so typing on a French keyboard when one girl doesn't even know the French alphabet very well is difficult.

We loaded a typing program onto the computer (after they had started the computer themselves!) It was a simple typing program that started by teaching the keys 'd', 'f', 'j', and 'k'. After each secretary completed the first level, we re-started it and I held a piece of paper over their fingers to make sure they weren't looking at their fingers.

The first girl started well enough. This specific typing program waits for you to type the correct letter before moving on to the next letter. It beeps when you press the wrong key. But pretty soon the computer was beeping after every single letter. I lifted the sheet of paper to see what her fingers were doing.

She was pressing all five keys we were working on ('d', 'f', 'j', 'k', and 'space bar') at the same time. In fact, she was pounding on the keyboard. So at each letter she was TECHNICALLY hitting the correct key, meaning the program was moving on to the next letter, but she was also hitting all the incorrect letters, meaning the computer was beeping after each letter as well.

I decided we had moved too quickly. We needed to make sure we knew the alphabet WELL before I expected anyone to type. Except the second girl was a natural. She understood the concept of typing, and she accepted that she shouldn't look at her fingers. So then we switched back to the first girl.

We repeated the first level again. This time she navigated the keys better. It was obvious that the letters were starting to make more sense. But halfway into the program I started hearing the error beep after every letter again. This time she was hitting 'space bar' after every single letter. I explained that we only wanted 'space bar' every time there was a gap between two strings of letters. “Okay. What do I press now?” Which letter is highlighted on the screen? “Space?” Is that a space? “No, it's a J” Okay then press J.

“Space now?” Is that a space highlighted on the screen? “No, it's a D.” ...Okay... hit D.

“Space now?” Is that a space highlighted on the screen?

...you get the idea. I am pleased to report that since the first week we have made considerable progress. They can now start the computer and get into the typing program by themselves. The two secretaries also started each holding a piece of paper over the other's fingers. Once I arrived to the evening lesson and they proudly reported that they had practiced by themselves all morning. I'm excited to return to site and see what they have tried on the computer. I'm also excited for them to teach computers to others, partially because I hope they get a taste of how frustrating it can be. :)