Inspiring Women/Ladies in ICT

A while back the Department of Information Systems and Computing at the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton held an event named ALUMNI TRACER VISIT – 2013 with a THEME: “Looking into a brighter future from windows of the Past” the event involved inviting alumni from this department to hold talks with students to inspire them and share their experiences. I am very grateful that this event accomplished its aim to inspire the students but also this is not the only positive effect that came out of this event.
During this event Simeon Oriko who is the co-founder of the Kuyu Project and Deputy Executive Director of Jamlab who is proudly an alumni of the University of Eastern Africa Baraton took an initiative to hold talks with the ladies in the Department of Information Systems and computing encouraging them in their endeavors in the men dominated ICT field. And out of these talks was born the all-girls arm of BITSA (Baraton Information Technology Students Association which is the official club for the Department of Information Systems and computing)
The all-girls arm of BITSA has officially started their impact on the community around the university by holding an ICT literacy drive to SBASS (Segero Baraton Adventist Secondary School).

According to a report that was drafted by Jemima Akilimali, the presentations which took place in the schools main hall included but were not limited to:
1. The basics of IT (Information technology)
2. Importance of computer
3. Career opportunities in IT
4. Internet
5. Women and IT

She goes on to mention that although the event was successful they were able to observe that the School has no computer which she put across as a very great problem that affects not only this school but many others within Africa.
There was a total of 184 students who attended the literacy drive which was a good turn up. Out of 184, 81 were ladies which still shows that considering the fact that the population of ladies is higher than that men, there is need to put emphasis on exposure of ladies to educational opportunities. Two teachers were also present during the event.
“It was a good experience and we had a lot of fun with the students and answered all the questions that they had concerning the IT world” said Jemima.

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The Information and communication Technology industry is dominated by men in Africa and all world round, there is a great need for us to help empower women in this industry, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who are putting an effort towards the accomplishment of this matter.
In the same way in many parts of Africa there is still need to educate ladies not only in ICT but as well as other disciplines, there is still a great gap to be filled in providing equality of opportunity to the girl child in Africa. Lets join hands in bringing impact to Africa to make it a better place to live in.
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