iEmpowerment coming to The Hub

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In the developed world almost everyone has access to high speed internet, allowing access to all the incredible education and opportunities on the internet. Get programs like the Khan Academy complete  video learning  library, Wikipedia, access to  tens of thousands of shareware books and millions of how to videos on YouTube are used people around the world every day.

In Africa, it is a very different situation, yes, undersea fiber optic networks  now surround Africa and  connect  to  almost every major city in Africa,  where some now enjoy the same speed and quality as the developed world. For rural Africa, it is a different story, the internet is  there, but it is delivered over the cellular network. This model is beginning to allow all access to the internet, but for the download of HD videos and access to training libraries like the Khan Academy it is simply too expensive for most.

iEmpowerment has done something about this by creating economical technology on a 64 GB memory stick that holds thousands of videos, educational- and training programs.  Think of it as the internet, without the internet. You can also view the iEmpowerment  training and skills development programs and  the educational and healthcare  programs by following the links.

The Hub is adding the iEmpowerment library to its resources, and in April Christian Schmidt and Teboho Lenyora will be delivering a Job-Ready Friday Skills Session to our members on how to use it as a resource.

For more information about iEmpowerment, please visit their website: http://iempowerment.org

 

 

The Hub profiles Morija’s Women In Resistance

With continued support from Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, The Hub is implementing a number of activities geared at engaging its members and young learners from schools in and around Morija around the theme of the Women In Resistance exhibition.

The Hub ran photography and writing competitions in January 2016 to select members who are participating in this project. The selected participants are working in pairs to profile 6 women in Morija who are doing important and inspiring work in their community.

In February, the selected participants have taken part in three intensive photography and journalism workshops to sharpen their skills and to guide them through the process of producing high-quality written and visual portraits. The 6 final portraits will be hung up together with the original Women In Resistance exhibition on March 30.

The exhibition will be up for two months (April and May), and during this time The Hub will send an open invitation to primary and high schools in and around Morija to come for guided tours of the exhibition and to have their students partake in a range of activities designed to engage young learners around the themes of the exhibition. Learners from high schools will be given the opportunity to partake in an essay writing competition.

Job-Ready Fridays continue at The Hub

In November 2015, The Hub begun a weekly series of workshops called ‘Job-Ready Fridays’. They feature special activities geared at providing members of The Hub with skills, motivation and inspiration. The day is split into two main sections:

  1. Skills Sessions cover a wide range of topics, including financial literacy, entrepreneurship, goal setting, preparing for the world of work, money management, and presentation and leadership skills.
  2. Hub Talks feature invited guest speakers, all of whom are accomplished and up-and-coming people working in a variety of fields, ranging from the arts to entrepreneurship. Each talk is followed by an open Q&A session.

The sessions have featured workshops on basic computer skills, budgeting, photography, creative writing and film-making.

With support from Glasswaters Foundation, Job-Ready Fridays continue this year. Look out for upcoming sessions on website design, social media marketing, and graphic design!

Photos from Job-Ready Fridays:

 

The Hub at Ba re e ne re

Ba re e ne re Literature Festival is an annual festival in Lesotho which promotes increased literacy, encourages creative writing and aids artistic exchange between creatives in Lesotho, Basotho outside of Lesotho and creatives from other cultures.

Through an essay writing competition and with support from Glasswaters Foundation, 12 Hub members attended Ba re e ne re Literature Festival held at Machabeng College in Maseru from 5-6 December.

They had a unique opportunity absorb the amazing energy and knowledge shared in the conversations, performances, lectures and mentorship sessions that went down at the festival. They also used their recently learned skills in film-making, and created short films about the importance of reading and writing.

Below,  see the video highlights from Ba re e ne re Literature Festival. Masterfully filmed and edited by Lesotho’s own Sehlabaka Rampeta and his team, the video demonstrates the power of the festival and the brilliance of the guests, performers and audience. So much talent in one place. Enjoy the video and see you at the next festival!

 

Hour of Code

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. It is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week.  In 2015 it took place from December 7-13.

The Hub was lucky host the only Hour of Code event in Lesotho in 2015, run by one of our members, Thejane Malakane. He is a teacher at Toloane Primary School in Morija.

27 Hub members completed the exercise, getting an introduction to computer science.

We would like to thank Mr. Malakane for his dedication to teaching, and taking an interest in The Hub and its members.