Comments on: Lessons on The National Road of Mozambique http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/ Blog of P. Clint Rogers, PhD: Culture, Training, and Technology Specialist Thu, 17 May 2012 22:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: Andrés http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4956 Andrés Thu, 27 May 2010 13:28:23 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4956 Clint, Thanks for the firs-hand account of a trip in Mozambique. For sure, I will come back to this post while in Mozambique to look for inspiration and relief. The road can be travelled! Cheers, Clint,

Thanks for the firs-hand account of a trip in Mozambique. For sure, I will come back to this post while in Mozambique to look for inspiration and relief. The road can be travelled!
Cheers,

]]> By: Clint http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4959 Clint Thu, 27 May 2010 14:20:57 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4959 Andres - I'm looking forward to hearing about your many upcoming adventures! Andres - I’m looking forward to hearing about your many upcoming adventures!

]]> By: Andrea http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4957 Andrea Fri, 28 May 2010 02:21:13 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4957 I completely agree with Xavier. I conducted an evaluation in Mozambique for one of the non-profit organizations there and one of the most frustrating things I realized while I was there is how little people knew about using the resources they did have. For example, bananas are a very common fruit in Mozambique, but nobody there had ever even tasted banana bread! This is just one small example. Mozambique is truly rich. The country has many resources, the land is rich. And the people are have a rich knowledge of human relations. It's a beautiful place on this earth. I completely agree with Xavier. I conducted an evaluation in Mozambique for one of the non-profit organizations there and one of the most frustrating things I realized while I was there is how little people knew about using the resources they did have. For example, bananas are a very common fruit in Mozambique, but nobody there had ever even tasted banana bread! This is just one small example. Mozambique is truly rich. The country has many resources, the land is rich. And the people are have a rich knowledge of human relations. It’s a beautiful place on this earth.

]]> By: Clint http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4960 Clint Fri, 28 May 2010 14:23:27 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4960 Thanks Andrea. From your evaluation did you have any ideas come to you about how to help people recognize and utilize more of the richness of resources around them? Thanks Andrea. From your evaluation did you have any ideas come to you about how to help people recognize and utilize more of the richness of resources around them?

]]> By: Andrea http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4964 Andrea Mon, 31 May 2010 15:20:51 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4964 Although the questions that my evaluation aimed to answer were not specifically about resources, part of my final recommendation was related to that topic. I realized in working with the people of the communities in Mozambique that the way to help them had to begin with the very fundamental aspects of their more immediate personal and interpersonal lives. In other words, changes that improve the country begin with improving the people, working from the inside out rather than the other way around. I was convinced during my study that education is one of the most important resources this country has. Education that not only teaches the people skills, but it improves their self-confidence, self-esteem, community involvement and infrastructure. It changes the core of who they are and helps them see what lies beyond their immediate surroundings. I was amazed that Mozambique has wireless internet access almost everywhere, but there were no computers! The organization I evaluated held a technology class that was taught in a lab with some really old computers and every time I walked into the lab, it was full of people, different people every time. When I say education, I mean education about everything. I mean teaching women to read and write, teaching children more technology, teaching women how to cook and use the fruits and vegetables they already have access to to feed their babies who are dying of malnutrition, etc. But more importantly, I am talking about creating opportunities for the people to improve their self-confidence, opportunities that raise their motivation and the way they see themselves. I don't want this to sound like I'm proposing a solution that fixes all the problems in the country, but it's a start. No matter what resources we have, if the people don't have self-reliance, self-confidence, self-esteem... all of those resources will probably not be very useful to them because they won't have a desire or knowledge of how to use them. What I am saying is that using resources in this country needs to begin small and it needs to begin from the inside-out. Although the questions that my evaluation aimed to answer were not specifically about resources, part of my final recommendation was related to that topic. I realized in working with the people of the communities in Mozambique that the way to help them had to begin with the very fundamental aspects of their more immediate personal and interpersonal lives. In other words, changes that improve the country begin with improving the people, working from the inside out rather than the other way around.
I was convinced during my study that education is one of the most important resources this country has. Education that not only teaches the people skills, but it improves their self-confidence, self-esteem, community involvement and infrastructure. It changes the core of who they are and helps them see what lies beyond their immediate surroundings. I was amazed that Mozambique has wireless internet access almost everywhere, but there were no computers! The organization I evaluated held a technology class that was taught in a lab with some really old computers and every time I walked into the lab, it was full of people, different people every time. When I say education, I mean education about everything. I mean teaching women to read and write, teaching children more technology, teaching women how to cook and use the fruits and vegetables they already have access to to feed their babies who are dying of malnutrition, etc. But more importantly, I am talking about creating opportunities for the people to improve their self-confidence, opportunities that raise their motivation and the way they see themselves. I don’t want this to sound like I’m proposing a solution that fixes all the problems in the country, but it’s a start. No matter what resources we have, if the people don’t have self-reliance, self-confidence, self-esteem… all of those resources will probably not be very useful to them because they won’t have a desire or knowledge of how to use them. What I am saying is that using resources in this country needs to begin small and it needs to begin from the inside-out.

]]> By: Clint http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4966 Clint Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:53:21 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4966 Andrea - great thoughts. One of the things that Xavier and I worked on during the drive was an outline for an ICT Teacher Training curriculum. http://ict4dconsortium.rhul.ac.uk/elgg/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=7253&group_guid=353 The issue is that the national government has now required secondary schools to teach ICT topics, but there are very few teachers who are qualified or capable of it. So he is wanting to create the first university curriculum in Mozambique so teachers can take a one year course in preparing themselves to be able to teach ICT in secondary schools. Although it does not solve all the issues you raised, it is a start. Would love your thoughts on the outline we created... http://ict4dconsortium.rhul.ac.uk/elgg/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=7253&group_guid=353 Andrea - great thoughts.

One of the things that Xavier and I worked on during the drive was an outline for an ICT Teacher Training curriculum.

http://ict4dconsortium.rhul.ac.uk/elgg/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=7253&group_guid=353

The issue is that the national government has now required secondary schools to teach ICT topics, but there are very few teachers who are qualified or capable of it. So he is wanting to create the first university curriculum in Mozambique so teachers can take a one year course in preparing themselves to be able to teach ICT in secondary schools.

Although it does not solve all the issues you raised, it is a start.

Would love your thoughts on the outline we created…

http://ict4dconsortium.rhul.ac.uk/elgg/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=7253&group_guid=353

]]> By: Rody http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4967 Rody Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:42:36 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4967 Yeah, Mama Afrika :-) You are doing a very good job Clint. The World cup in South Afrika is high Tech and quite Humanistic and it is African. Good use of ressources and a lot of knowledge transfer, North-South, South-South, South-North. Pride is a fundamental aspect of curiosity. In Afrika. Cheers, Rody. Yeah, Mama Afrika :-)
You are doing a very good job Clint.
The World cup in South Afrika is high Tech and quite Humanistic and it is African. Good use of ressources and a lot of knowledge transfer, North-South, South-South, South-North. Pride is a fundamental aspect of curiosity. In Afrika. Cheers, Rody.

]]> By: Clint http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4969 Clint Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:18:23 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4969 Thanks Rody. You know Africa -- and I'm sure you're enjoying the World Cup now. Thanks Rody.

You know Africa — and I’m sure you’re enjoying the World Cup now.

]]> By: Loknath http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4987 Loknath Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:19:58 +0000 http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/27/lessons-on-the-national-road-of-mozambique/#comment-4987 Hello Wonderful Man ! I was tracking infos around you in early morning today from Mumbai! I saw your posts on world Cup in South Africa on Twitter ! I saw you describing World Cup for the first time in Africa as "landmark" . I had heard about your interaction with grand mother of Obama http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/07/speaking-with-pres-obamas-grandmother-her-advice-for-you/! I saw your quest for divinity from your profile on Twitter! I visited http://www.theeverydaymother.com/ , a site developed by your sister ! I was moved when I saw your post with concern when Pakistan banned Facebook ! I shall visit this blog regularly ! We also invite you to visit India ! Hello Wonderful Man ! I was tracking infos around you in early morning today from Mumbai! I saw your posts on world Cup in South Africa on Twitter ! I saw you describing World Cup for the first time in Africa as “landmark” . I had heard about your interaction with grand mother of Obama http://www.clintrogersonline.com/blog/2010/05/07/speaking-with-pres-obamas-grandmother-her-advice-for-you/! I saw your quest for divinity from your profile on Twitter! I visited http://www.theeverydaymother.com/ , a site developed by your sister ! I was moved when I saw your post with concern when Pakistan banned Facebook !

I shall visit this blog regularly ! We also invite you to visit India !

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