Nigel got in touch with us after hearing our BBC radio 4 appeal to ask how he could help. Here he explains what happened next.
“One Sunday morning some twelve months ago as I was timing my boiled egg, I wasn't listening to Radio 4 burbling away in the corner of the kitchen until I heard the unmistakable tones of Stephen Fry making the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Hello World. Now I'm a great fan of Mr. Fry's so I paid attention as he explained, without fuss or fanfare the wonderful work that Hello World are doing, setting up and equipping wifi Hubs. As a retired Lecturer and Examiner in lens based media, I thought that the Hubs might be a way to give young people a basic training in digital photography, using whatever kit and software was available at the Hub to equip them with the skills necessary to share their surroundings and experiences to a wider audience and make their world a more connected place. I contacted Katrin who understood immediately the benefits which would flow from this idea and who gave me every encouragement to write a very basic course which we've called the 'Hello World Certificate in Photography Level 1'. It is designed to be delivered by local expertise and we are delighted that we have found such an able and dedicated leader in Moses for our first cohort of Learners in Fort Portal, Western Uganda. In the two weeks since the start of our first ever course, our learners made such good progress that the Hub came to the notice of a local computer expert who has begun delivering a Web Design course at the Hub to accompany the photography classes. This is the very best result which we could hope for, and I'm proud to have played a small part in it.”
Using the three part curriculum that Nigel wrote, the photography group meets every Tuesday morning for an hour or two. The curriculum covers photography composition, risk assessments, ethics, editing, uploading pictures safely to the internet and more. The Gweri group posts their pictures on a Flickr album that you can find here. It’s a wonderful insight into life at the Gweri Fort Portal Hub and a great way for community members to tell their own story, one of the fundamental goals of Hello World Hubs.
As Nigel mentioned, he is working with our community support officer Moses to deliver this course remotely. Here’s what Moses has to say about the experience:
“I am Ahweba Moses, a Community Support officer of Hello World in Fort Portal.
At the moment I am conducting a photography course with Nigel’s support for 10 participants here in Gweri at the Hello Hub. I’m very excited for the opportunity that this has given me to share what knowledge I have (photography) with others in my community and I do believe that this is going to spread like wildfire from me to others as I’m also encouraging these participants to pass on the skills to others. With these photography skills, Hello World is turning unemployed, unskilled or inexperienced community members into self-employed, skilled or equiped people. Remember, an equipped and educated generation is the hope of the future.”
Nigel found a way to share his knowledge and skills with us. He wrote a curriculum that we could share with our Hub communities thanks to the free wifi and facilities at the Hub.
If you have a skill set and would have time to write us a curriculum, we would love to talk to you about the best way to deliver this at our Hubs. In the dark depths of a lockdown, it’s a wonderful way to donate your time to a Hub that will really benefit.
Finally, here’s what the participants had to say about their course:
“My name is Junior* am 15 years younger. Am one of the students in the photography course l joined this group because l want use the skill in future. l may use it to acquire some technology skills. l have so far learnt how to capture photos and upload photos on flickr. l plan to use the skills to teach other people who are interested”.
My name is Tusabe David, a Ugandan aged 21. I am a secondary student and also a student of this photography course.
Reasons to joining this course:
1. Acquiring advanced technology skills.
2. To prepare for my future economic stability through doing photography works.
3. To learn how to interact with different people.
I have so far learnt the following from this course.
1. Taking different kinds of photos like panoramas, full images and selfies.
2. Interacting with different people who possess different abilities
3. Improvement in my communication skills.
*names of minors have been changed
