Sabrina’s Technovation Journey – Technovation
Please read this wonderful article on Sabrina. Sabrina spent a year working with Oysters and Pearls, one of Technovation’s partners that implements their program in Uganda.
3-D Designs Make Difference for Gulu Primary Blind Annex
3-D Original Designs Make a Difference for Primary Learners at Gulu Primary School Blind Annex.
O&P-UG Assisted Students to Excel in National Exams
Two students who got financial assistance from Oysters & Pearls-Uganda are among the top students in the just released national examination results for entry into University and other institutions of learning.
Known as Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education, UACE, the examinations are marked out or 25 points.
Mathew Awucu Mathew Awucu, who gradually lost his sight in a span of one year (December 2014-January 2015), scored 15 points out 25, beating all 15 sighted students who sat the same examination with him late last year, from Gulu High, a blind inclusive School.
Mathew said he only scored 9 points in his mock examinations which gave him the drive to study harder.
“I am an orphan so my future depends on my grades at school. I spent sleepless nights revising my books and having discussions with fellow students, that is why I got a good grade,” he said.
“Oysters and Pearls-Uganda also gave me a Victor Screen Reader, enough brailed and scanned notes that helped me during revisions,” he said.
Daniel Odoch, the head of department of special needs at the school, described Mathew as a disciplined and hardworking student, who never got in trouble.
Mathew said he has always wanted
Blind and Visually Impaired Ugandan Teachers More Keyboardinated after Touch- Typing Training
Eight months ago, a number of blind and visually impaired teachers in Uganda had the privilege of a touch typing training during Oysters & Pearls – Uganda sponsored annual technology camp.
The results are now remarkable!
Touch typing is an idea that each finger has its own location on the keyboard. It eliminates the need to look at the keyboard, hence, it is one of the most important and useful skills blind and visually impaired persons need.
Lawrence Apil, a blind teacher at St. Hellen’s Primary School in Mbarara, is among those who benefitted from the training. Before the experience, Lawrence spent time working on his laptop, and had to get the help of sighted teachers to assure him that his spelling and punctuation were correct.
“I no longer need to give my typed work to a colleague to help me correct misspelled words. It [the training] gave me a sense of computer-independence”
A great number of blind and visually impaired learners and teachers in Uganda lack access to assistive technology to aid their learning and teaching, respectively. Lawrence suggests that organizations supporting the blind and visually impaired should do more than just advocate for their rights, but empower them with enough skills and gadgets, like O&P-UG is doing, to make them
Visually Impaired University Student to Teach Computer at O&P-Uganda
Claire Akello is among the blind and visually impaired persons who recently earned her JAWS Certification from Freedom Scientific after completing her 3-month computer training at Oysters & Pearls-Uganda.
O&P Documentary, Pathbreakers, Wins Best Short
Oysters & Pearls is pleased to announce the documentary, PATHBREAKERS, that premiered during this year’s The African Film Festival (TAFF), was awarded Best Documentary Short.
More blind & visually impaired enroll in computer training at O&P Uganda
Oysters & Pearls-Uganda continues to offer computer training to the blind and visually impaired community members across Uganda. JAWS is a computer screen reader program that speaks aloud the screen for those who are blind or visually impaired. O&P-UG has a Country License agreement which enables us to negotiate an affordable price for education. In Uganda, an estimated 30,000 people lose their sight annually, yet the Uganda National population and Housing Census 2014 shows that already, more than 2.1 million people are living with visual impairment and 250,000 are totally blind.
Props to Kiira College, Winner of National Science & Technology Challenge 2018
The 2018 Science & Technology Challenge sponsored by Oysters & Pearls-Uganda was won by Kiira College Butiki. Their winning entry was a model of a ‘Smart Farm’, an automatic greenhouse designed to solve the problem of unpredictable weather, the burden of manual irrigation and pests and diseases.
Robotics Training Gives Students Solid Foundation for Future Science Jobs
Evening’s last light got us disembarking from the last taxi that brought us from Gulu, one of the districts in northern Uganda. Then, the next morning’s first light brought a promise of a long day, going from school-to-school. The work awaiting us, robotics training, would prove enlightening to trainees, on the warm Saturday.
For students who study in schools with ill-equipped computer or technology labs- where there are no robotics instructors-salvation depends on enrolling for a free robotics training by Oysters & Pearls-Uganda, even if that means spending an extra hour in class, or having to forego Saturday’s much needed rest.
To Joyce Atim, an A’ Level student of Lira Town College, spending 30 or 60 minutes more in class, is a privilege. Prior to the Robotics training, Joyce struggled to grasp the concepts in ICT. She experienced firsthand, the effects of lack of practicals in that class. She attended it like she would any other Arts subject.
Much as she desired to have a career in ICT, the prospects seemed grim, given the hypothetical conception she was being given by her school.
“Our class is massive. The teacher can’t handle us one-on-one. Besides, students are always distracted; this demotivates the teacher more,” Joyce observed.
However, this year, Oysters &
Technovation Ambassador Determined to Recruit more Girls to Develop Apps
For women and girls in Uganda, a dream career in computing is still incredibly challenging. Despite its extraordinary rise over the last five decades, and the country’s ever increasing reliance on technology, women and girls still constitute the lowest percentage of the workforce in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers.
The dismal percentage of women in the field of STEM is explained by a number of barriers that smother their ideas right from childhood.
The notion that computing can only be handled by the male gender is deeply ingrained in Ugandan society. Consequently, the few girls who aspire to join the computing world first ponder if they haven’t been overrating themselves, and hesitate to geek.
“During initial mentoring in Technovation, girls took so long to finally share their idea. And when they did I wondered why they were afraid to express it,” said Sabrina Atwiine.
A student ambassador for Technovation in Uganda, Sabrina hopes to change the status quo by recruiting more girls in Uganda to join Technovation when she returns from the international Technovation Pitch event in August in California.
“I want to contribute in changing the misconception that girls can’t handle anything scientific.”
The cultural and systemic barriers to STEM fields has led to