Ishimwe’s passion is to give children free computer lessons

Celestine Ishimwe is a 22-year-old facilitator at Kigali Public Library. She teaches children aged between 9 and 13 the standard operations of the XO computers. This training, which includes games and start-up projects, helps them to discover the computer by themselves. The Laptops were donated under the One Laptop per Child Programme, which was initiated by the Government of Rwanda in July 2000. Education Times’ Grace Gatera visited the Library for a brief chat with her.Where did you learn to do this from?The OLPC team from America gave us six months training. However I had previous education in Information Technology since it is what I studied in my secondary and it is what I am doing right now.Why did you choose to work with children?I chose to work with children because their future is brighter than ours. With early exposure to the Internet and all of its wonders and limits, this generation is facing a broader horizon with more opportunities than we ever had. Besides they are willing to learn and pick up easily.What are your best and worst experiences in teaching toddlers?Every day is a delight for me. Teaching and seeing the future leaders of Rwanda develop their skills in the Information Technology sector gives me hope for the economic development of the country, so I am very happy each day.Worst moments are when I see parents ignoring the importance of technology in this day and age. Parents need to expose their children to technology at an early stage. It is the way to go.Describe the activities carried out in the sessionsIn the morning we start off with the simple computer procedures. We learn how to open, shut and boot a computer. Then we learn how to run a writing program and we have typing games.The children create emails, explore, share and write their own stories. We do not forget that they are children so we dedicate two hours for games to them.In the afternoon, they go to the Internet and work on their social media skills. Many have opened up Facebook accounts and it is a must that they have email addresses. In total we spend six hours a day with them. How many children do you handle on average, per day?These sessions in the holidays are well attended. On average we have 45 children each day. In the school season they dwindle to about 20 per day. But this is also caused by parents who are not aware that OLPC programs exist here in the National Library free of charge.So this is really free of charge? Yes it is, absolutely free of charge. So I call upon all parents to bring their children. And if they can, they should buy the computers for their children.Do you have a role model?Yes, it is President Paul Kagame. His initiative for the country is turning it into a regional ICT hub. Any last words?Parents should let their children come and learn with others. And schools that have the computers should let the children have access to them.