Somebody made me attentive to the fact that the human eyes can only focus on one object at a time. I had my own arguments but after experimenting with myself, I now agree with him-I don’t remember who it was, I would have acknowledged him in the spirit of literary borrowing. The society (read nation) is much the same as the human in that it has always tried to be fair to all but in the end finds itself looking at one section of society all the time. Naturally, some objects command more attention that others.

I have been actively working with community participants for the last one month and true to the above analogy they are forgotten, or let’s say they are not attractive enough to gain attention of the beholder. During brainstorming sessions with them I discovered that there is much that can be done by the rural folk to accelerate their development as well as the country’s economic growth. The best that some of us do is to sympathize with the left out of our communities and sing the emotional hymns of ‘the poor’ and ‘those living on a dollar a day’ in reference to these people. We sometimes also pray to have enough money so we can donate to these ‘poor of God’. It is either we rarely have the time to think about how we can empower them to fend for themselves or if we ever do we fear their competition.

Listening to some policy makers we hear about how we need to advance our systems to equal other developed countries. They almost always never mention how  they will enlighten those in technology darkness to at least bring them up to the technology we want to upgrade, let alone the new one we want to adopt. In case guilt prompts them to mention something, then theoretical frameworks to address impoverishment are copied and pasted without properly looking at them with keen attention on appropriateness. With the current digital era where just about anything is done with a click, it is inhuman to have a section of us who have never seen a computer. During my work with community participants I have discovered how desperate the otherwise ignored members of society are for knowledge and their desire to keep up with the dynamic global economy.

These people need to be looked at. Not because of their attractiveness to the eye, but because they are part of the society and are parts of the field of view.  Again, what they need is not donation but empowerment. Some organizations have taken this as their role and have put in place programs to empower these communities.

DOT’s reach up program is one of these programs.  The program aims at first making these community participants conscious of themselves by recognizing their strengths and abilities and regain their self esteem, if it was ever there to be lost, and then appreciate the zillion livelihood opportunities within their communities and finally act to take advantage of these opportunities. They are then equipped with ICT skills and business skills to aid their pursuits in sustainable livelihoods considering the current era.

The result of the above initiative is a community with people with a positive attitude towards themselves and high self esteem and self worth who believe they have a control of what they can be. They also believe they have the resources to help them achieve their goals. They are the first beneficiaries of their efforts as have tangible fruits they can take home to feed themselves and their families. Because of their businesses they don’t have both the time and the reason to indulge in criminal activities. They are also not bitter at anybody as they feel part of the society. They also pay taxes and contribute to economic growth. The second biggest beneficiary from their activities is the government in terms of taxes, reduced crime rates, job creation hence lower unemployment levels and higher standards of living.

In conclusion, I insist that the best strategy to fight poverty is empowerment rather than sympathy and tokenism-which we all think of first. The gold is in the ignored green countryside. Let us send the spade and shovel to the goldmines and wait for the rewards.

I arrived at the Sega Silicon Valley on Friday May 2. I was well welcome at the centre by the youthful staff who were eagerly waiting for me. the centre derives its name from the Silicon Valley in the US which is a one-stop ICT centre in the US. The centre aspires to be just that in the region.

We started our sessions on Thursday 8th just a day after my Birthday.

The particiants really like the program. They were really excited to realize their strengths, passions and skills. They were also surprised to realize just how much one can do with his/her passions after we brainstormed one of the participant's passion and came up with 8 different ways she could create a sustainable livelihood.

Some of the participants are staff at the centre and they find the program empowering.

I hope they keep the same spirit.