Community Resource Technology Centre Digital Libraries - Gulu
The whole idea of the Community Resource Technology Centre Digital Libraries (CRTC-DL) was well conceived and very timely. It came at the time of great need for which we are very grateful.
We the people of Gulu and northern Uganda as a whole needed something to help us come out of our situation of helplessness and desperation and move towards a meaningful life full of hope. We needed to regain our lost glory, pride and confidence. We needed to cast a ray of hope on our children and imbue in them enough courage to face the reality of the world. We wanted them to put away the past, as difficult as it might be to forget. All this could best be done through empowerment of members of our community. And it is for this very reason we are so grateful for this project.
With the Resource Centre in place, there has been:
- Maximum exposure for our youth who had been confined in the squalid camps for a period of two decades. They are now able to learn what goes on in other parts of the world via the internet.
- Instillation of hope and confidence in our youth as they benefit from e-Mentoring.
- Opportunity for acquisition of new knowledge and skills through Internet search to our community.
- Improved academic excellence for our school-going children. This is because they now have a diverse source of knowledge through the Internet
- Attitude change among members of our community; previously, members of our community expected to receive and seldom did they think about giving. This attitude has now changed as the Resource Centre provides a sharing experience.
- Inspiration to do things differently as a result of the new knowledge and ideas - we have learnt better ways of doing things.
However:
At the moment, the activities at the CRTC-DL are financed externally. In order to sustain the project into posterity, we (the community members) need to find means of raising the finances. A mechanism should be put in place for fund raising. Emphasis should also be made to the project beneficiaries to give back in one form or another for sustainability. This can be immediate or in future.
