Supporting Local Talents - PNG Snakeman

I just want to bring to the attention of my readers the amazing things this family is doing, and I'm referring to the original snakeman of PNG.  The leader, their father is known by many as Patsy and hails from the North-East Coast of Morobe Province.  He has a family of six, a daughter and three lovely sons including his wife.

I paid a visit to his village and the purpose of my visit was to find possible ways where I could assist him in promoting his talents.  I've heard so many stories about him previously but wanted to visit him by person so I can propose some of my support to him in the areas of Digitization.

Patsy performing with his python during my visit

I first met him in 2007 at his home village in Buingim, about 2 hours ride by dinghy from Lae city.  It was on a Thursday afternoon when I arrived there and realized that he was attending a funeral service so I thought I should return back to my village which is about 4-5 hours walk, however when he heard of my visit, he sent a message requesting me to stay until the next day so he can have a chat with me.  

I slept with some relatives in the neighboring village (Busung) that evening and around 12pm the next day (Friday) he sent his villagers to get me.  I didn't know he had been preparing the whole morning.  I travelled with my home-crew members since I had a video camcorder and a digital camera to get few shots prior to documenting his story, so they followed me to his place.  Before I actually met him, I got a clear picture of who he really was.  Patsy is a true "Kalsa Man"(cultural promoter) and these were evident from the moment we arrived at his village.  He made an official welcome, treating me and my home-crews as VIPs with the pure traditional welcome ceremony.  His cultural group (Bongalic Culture Group) lead us into their backyard as they danced (traditional singsing) and upon arrival his family gave us warm welcome by pouring us kulau wara (coconut juice) with scrapped coconut meat for us to eat.  This is the traditional welcome practice normally done by our ancestors.  The family later brought a huge bundle of betel nut and some cigars (Brus) to us.  We were told to accept those gifts as a custom whether or not we chew or puff cigar.  We rested for a few minutes then Patsy lead us to an open area to stage a short performance which was organized by his family.  

This was the first time I met him and his cultural group comprising his own family members.  Before the performance, he didn't mention to me of what he intended to display.  He only said briefly that he had a surprise for me and my visiting team.

Patsy dancing with his kids during their performance

He gave us an entertaining and dramatic performance which is surly scary for a lot of people.  He did some crazy things like swallowing a snake while dancing, then releasing the snake out of his mouth.  Grabbing the head of his python in his mouth for some minute while dancing.   He even, swallowed the poisonous centipede while dancing with mouth closed then opened his mouth as it crawled down his beard and he touched the sting-bees in their hive with his bare hands.  All of his performance were unbelievably crazy. His performances that day included;

- Playing with snakes

- Playing with the centipedes 

- Playing with the sting-bees

- Displaying of natural herbs.

I wasn't prepared to film him that moment however had no choice but to use the camcorder to capture some footage.  After their performance, we sat down and discussed some ways to promote his skills and some of the things his family's culture group does.  I promised him that I would do a quick editing of the footage I took and send it back the following christmas so I did.  He was very happy when I gave him a production of his raw performance.  It was pure and traditional.

In the beginning of July this year (2012), me and my team remixed the edit and re-produced a later version of his raw performance.  I contacted Patsy and sent over 200 CDs and DVDs for him and his family to sell and generate some finance to start their fundraising for a major production sometime this year.  These were all done as part of my support to encourage and promote the local talents.  Patsy is not the only one I have supported in one way or the other.  I've worked with couple of other local groups in Lae and Madang assisting them with technical advice, tips and technical support for them to push further.  

We will be working on his major production when we raise enough funds so that we can create class to his creative work and importantly create a stepping stone for other village groups to be engaged in similar cultural productions at the village level. 

June Valley Youths Involved in FREE Computer Training

There were several trainings I've conducted so far but this one is very special indeed and it's targeting the youths roaming around the streets.  The training introduces participants to the basic fundamentals anyone needs to know as a computer literate person.  This set of training is called Basics in Computing and has three parts as outlined in my previous post (If you read this post and would like to know more, please read my previous post where I mentioned the names of all the Free trainings and gave brief overview of their contents).

June Valley Youths in their first training

 It was on the 21st of July 2012 where I had a chance of arranging a group of youths for the training.  I contacted my sources around June Valley area, one of the settlements in Port Moresby and asked them to collect names of Youths, both male and female to come and attend the Free trainings that I have prepared for such group.  These were youths from a particular network who quickly responded to my invitation.  The number was good at the initial stage where we had over 25 participants registering for the training.

The training was fun and the group really enjoyed our first session.  The participants were very emotional about the training and requested for more of similar trainings so they could participate.  They also asked me if they could have the other progressive trainings As Soon As Possible.  I assured them that they would have it as requested but within schedule because I had to be mindful of my obliged duties as an academic within this Institution (The University of Papua New Guinea).  I told them that I wish I had more free times available however I Don't.  I came to an agreement with my family so I had to use the weekends to help "Share the knowledge" as I call.  I therefore, schedule the next training on a weekday and the third on a weekend.  It all turned up well and 90% of the participants who registered completed the training.

Straight after the completion of the third round of Basics in Computing training, some of them came to me and asked if they could come back the following weekend to assist me and learn as we progress with the other participants.  I saw their desire to really learn beyond the basics and at the same time identified the need I had which is additional manpower to assist me during the trainings.

June Valley Youths assisting the Mothers who attended the training for Women

Training a person who knows absolutely nothing about computer is in fact a frustrating and time-consuming move.  Training an elderly person compared to a youth and a very young child also does have great differences.  You need more than one person to assist every participant as the training progresses.  That would equate the time frame for each session and the number of participants interested to learn the basics.  The youths were very committed and have assisted me helping new participants all throughout the three consecutive weekends (before the time of this post). 

Before the start of every trainings and after every trainings, I normally take some time off, asking the participants to tell me where their level of competencies are in computing.  The amazing discovery is that more than half the participants of every training said they can't believe they could get such training for free and how far they've gone compared to the time they've started.  After completing the 7 hours of trainings (three trainings) they looked back and reflected commenting "We don't know anything about using a computer and performing actions such as "starting and shutting a computer, navigating around windows explorer, creating and manipulating files and creating their first document" but now we can do those.   

FREE Trainings at the ADOC Center

The ADOC Project, initiated by the ADOC Secretariat in Taiwan, launches another ICT project in Papua New Guinea.   The aim of the project is "To bridge the digital divide in Papua New Guinea and create digital opportunities".  I was honored to work alongside the ADOC Secretariat and the Chinese/ Taipei (Taiwan) Trade Mission with the University of Papua New Guinea to coordinate the project.

Participants of one of August Trainings - Basics in Computing - Part 1

Since July 1 of 2011, numerous trainings in computing have been conducted at the APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC), University of Papua New Guinea.  The project had attracted participants from various sectors in and around Port Moresby.  The current focus is centered around the disadvantaged groups which covers the majority of the population within the settlement areas and suburban areas within the city.

The ADOC Project is a collaborative initiative and I have raised my hands up to connect these partner organization with the community.  Over the past 13 Months, I have trained over 500 participants to undergo various trainings in Basic to Intermediate computer trainings.  The trainings are all free for the basic computing courses.  

The current basic programs range from;

- Basics in Computing Part 1

This training introduces participants to the basics of using a computer which every person needs to know.  It covers the different computer hardware and software in an overview approach.  It also provides an atmosphere for the participants to adjust to the digital tools needed to proceed with the use of computing facilities.  It focuses on the exploration into the operation of the operating system and its interface.  The training is designed for the starters.

- Basics in Computing Part 2

 This training elaborates more on the specific functions of some of the main components of the use of computing facilities, especially with the use of mouse and keyboard.  It stresses on the different mouse buttons, the keyboard character positions and placements and further the arrangement of alpha numeric characters on the keyboard.  Much of the time would be spent on learning typing basics, which this training introduces.  The training is a followup from the previous training, part 1.

- Basics in Computing Part 3

In this training, participants should now be familiar with most of the basic functions, commands and actions they need to know about basic computing.  This training introduces the use of software programs to perform various tasks such as Typing Texts, Formatting texts(alignment, justification, underline, bold, italics, sizing fonts, etc..), spacing (spacebar), moving onto new lines(enter), deleting, redo/ Undo, adding and manipulating images and saving files.  This training is a progressive training from part 2 and is also a beginners training.

- Internet Basics

This training introduces participants to the basic concepts of the Internet and how it works.  It further explains the fundamentals of Internet technologies, the uses and the purpose of the Internet.  Participants are given the opportunity to access the Internet, surf and have a hands on experience on the use of Internet.  General terms such that are needed by every beginner is introduced in this training.  Those that include, search engines, address bar, website address, email address, keywords, search, protocols, website and others are introduced in this training.  The training is designed for the beginners.

- Creating Emails

 This training is a progressive training from the Internet Basics training.  It introduces participants into the uses of internet in communication and importance to time in today's business world.  The training involves the creation of email accounts, sending and receiving emails and managing email data.The training is beginners - intermediate level.

- Managing Electronic Files

This training is an enrichment training program for every computer literate person.  It introduces participants to the importance of managing files electronically and how important it is to manage files orderly.  The training focuses on the standards particularly the file naming conventions and document hierarchy structures for effective file management.  This training is a beginner - intermediate level training.

- Learning Keyboard Shortcuts

This training is designed to stress on the importance of time in today's business environment.  The focus entails around the use of keyboard keys to execute various functions that is normally done with the use of mouse.  This is a very useful training which helps participants value the importance of keyboard.  The training is for intermediate users.

Apart from the above basic computer trainings, there are other specialized trainings targeted towards respective target audiences.  The specialized trainings have fees which are charged at affordable rates to cater for the expenses such as stationery and refreshments in some courses.  Alongside specialized trainings, there are trainings which are designed based on demand. 

So far, the ADOC Center have trained more than 800 participants.  Of the 800 participants, I have trained over 62.5% of those participants since the establishment in July 2011, all for FREE.  Around 55% of those that I have trained at the ADOC Center were from the community while 45% were students.  Almost 60% were male and slightly above 40% were female participants.  Besides, the age gaps varies as there were various trainings conducted for the participants.

In regard to supporting the Government's vision 2050, the trainings I have already conducted addresses the issues of;

- Effective Leadership & Good Governance

- Healthy, Educated and Skilled Citizens

- Enabling Citizen Values & Participation

- Financial Capacity

- Performance & Accountability

These, in broader perspectives have contributed to;

- Support and promote education

- solve Law and Order/ Crime Reduction

- Equate Gender Balance

- supporting Health sectors

- Create employment opportunities in digital opportunities

It is not only the trainings that are conducted.  Evaluations and Follow-ups are also carried out to assess the progress of the trainings.  So far positive results have been obtained in terms of the project contributing to achieving the Government's Plan and Vision.  To date, a number of participants have secured placement in education and employment, a number of them have established small businesses and there are some who have now assisted in conducting trainings at the Center.  

There is a schedule for a workshop in October 2012 for the assistant trainees to undergo formal training to become certified trainers and I am in the process of organizing the formalities with the National Training Council of PNG to make these possible.