May 2016 - Newsletter vol. 10
Summer Spotlight: Computer education
and Business Plan Competition!
Do you see their smile? Do you see their first letters produced on computer?
It is the fruits of your love and prayers! To me, it is work of art, blossoming from 11-year old students ~~
It has been another successful semester for students in Edmund Rice secondary school. Most of them were totally NEW at computer when they were enrolled in Jan (I,e it was first time to touch the mouse). Now they have learned how to type, to open their own files and save their precious docs. They are now learning Excel and PPT skills. I wonder how much they would grow after 2nd semester in fall. Currently, there are 200 Students in 8 classes, taking this class. Good Job done by Jiwon and Hope (our local staff)!
Arusha Visit
I visited Arusha March, 2015 and was very glad to see the progress that they have made since then. The classroom was decorated nicdly, and I could see that students were feeling very comfortable following procedures and eager to learn new skills on computers.
A new staff (Jiwon) from Korea is effectively engaged in school ministry - scheduling, contents development as well as training the local staff.
The highlight is the fact the local staff (Hope) is now handling most of teaching, after 6 months of learning. She shared her grateful heart on how patiently David and Ben provided training.
A workshop/retreat was held with our local staffs and we all had a great time sharing our lives, hurts and visions. We traveled together to visit the Empower Community Center in Gongali, which was established 2 years ago. The general director (Dr. Hilonga) was able to secure funds for a couple of wonderful projects with this base platform with a biofuel energy system and a water filtering system.
Computer Institute Started
We also started a computer institute to provide computer skills to general public; young adults, business people, etc. At the moment, we are only offering basic skills, led by a local staff (Gerald). Gerald also shared how lonely he grew up without the parents. The work with our staff is beyond his imagination and he was grateful to God.
We will need help on expanding more classes. Ben is expanding more IT services and leading more marketing strategies reaching out to other institutes for their employees' IT skills. Ben is leading this program with Gerald teaching the courses. Can you come and start a new class for us and students? Web-design/construction, mobile app development, java, Python? We welcome you with FREE room and board~~
Upcoming Events in Summer 2016
June 13-24: 200 Teachers' Training for ICT Education. REO (Region Education Officer) has approved the regular training. 200 local school teachers in Arusha are now registered. Our experience from the last year clearly tells us that school teachers need to be trained first, NOT ONLY for the computer knowledge BUT ALSO the interactive and practical teaching skills. We are excited to use STRIDE e-learning system (by EMCAST in Korea) to introduce simple coding classes too. New teaching curriculum will include project based activities, which will provide the skills to apply to real-life work with what they learned. I.e creating letters, newspapers, advertisement poster, etc.
We are planning to identify the adequate teachers for certification to train. With these qualified teachers, more schools will be able to adopt new teaching methods for IT education. I am very certain that we are on the right path to resolve the critical challenge for true teaching and learning to take place in regular classrooms instead of expensive computer centers. The technique can apply to other subjects as well. Please join us with this cause.
It will cost about $20,000: $14,000 for HW/SW (for needed 70 computer stations), $6,000 for implementation cost (i.e. lunch for 200 students for 2 weeks, bldg., office items, drivers, etc). We have $8,000 raised so far. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
June 20-24: Business plan / Startup Competition. This is our first incubation activity in Arusha. We want to look for young adults who are passionate about starting up their own business. We are planning to collect business plans, review them, select a dozen good ones, provide a lean startup workshop and have them give us the presentation etc.
We will select 3-5 finalists/winners to sponsor them with the business startup fund, and are planning to monitor, collect status updates and provide continuing education to create a business community with Christian worldview. I and Mr. Son from SK will be leading this activity.
It will cost $ 5000.00; including prize fund ($1500 - 1st place, $1000 - 2nd place, $500 - 3rd place, and implantation cost...)
New schools in the fall (computer education): El-Shamma Secondary school has been waiting for the program for a few months. Thanks for waiting. We are more than ready to start the class! Our new local staff Jill will serve this school. We could expand to a couple more schools after the teachers' training, as long as there is funding for HW/SW and HR. You can sponsor another school for the team.
Kim Family moving to Tanzania: E3's founding board member Sung Soo Kim and his wife Young Soon will be moving to Arusha in July (with one-way ticket!) Both will be a great encouragement and blessing to our staff in Tanzania and to the local community! Continue to pray for them for the move process and smooth settlement in the area.
Prayer Requests
Vision and passion for the staff: God has sent us good servants and our family of workers has grown a lot including 5 local staff (Edwin, Jill, Ibraham joined). Please continue to pray for them for good wisdom, discernment and love. They will be next generation leaders of the community.
I will be travelling to Tanzania from 6/10 to 6/25 to support the upcoming events. I am sure that God will move us step forward through these events. Please pray so we can see what He has in His mind. We pray that there will be a major breakthrough in people in Arusha and that there will be a new movement in the local community.
Brother Son and his son will also travel (6/17 - 7/5) to Arusha; it is their first time to travel to the country. Pray that God will show them a great vision and passion of His heart. Please pray for their family in Philadelphia too.
Financial support will be appreciated:
The fund is short for the upcoming ministries. We will do what He provides to us. Join us with what you can so we can touch more lives, sharing His Gospel, releasing them to their full potential and for the recovery of the community! Your partaking in this will be a precious encouragement to all of us!
New trips in the fall: There are a couple of trips that are being discussed. If God is touching your heart with your talents (IT skills, business admin work, accounting, pastoral...), please contact us. We would love to hear from you...
Contacts: Ji-Young Rhee, jiyoung@e3empower.com
David Kim taekim@e3empower.com
This is one of our Micro-Enterprise items which can be easily assembled and hand carried in a box. This will help villages become eco-friendly and smoke-free environments.
