As part of the Global Days of Caring 2014 initiative, Alcatel-Lucent employees in Ghana volunteered by visiting the Soronko Foundation and spending the day with less privileged children at a slum in Mamobi, Accra. The team of volunteers and the 30 children had a chance to meet Regina Agyare, a Computer Science graduate from the Ashesi University in Ghana, who is dedicated to empower girls from the slum area through ICT training, with a focus on IP and HTML coding.
The purpose of the event, with the theme ?You can also make it!?, was for the Alcatel-Lucent volunteers to interact with the children by sharing real life experiences, motivate them in generating better dreams for the future and train the girls to set up email accounts and learn the basics of using the Internet.
During the interactive section, volunteers spoke on the following:
? Real life experiences: placing emphasis on determination and discipline in time management
? The importance of having key values such as integrity and trust, along with building life skills in an international setting
? The importance of self motivation, benefits of research into chosen career fields and having a career development plan as a key guide towards success.
? Leadership, with examples of influential women like Christine Lagarde, Marie Curie, Prof. Ewurama Addy and the originator of the Soronko foundation, Ms. Regina Agyare. The girls were encouraged to emulate the same sense of focus which will help them not only to become successful in any area they venture into, but enable them to potentially go beyond their expectations.
? The girls were advised not to undermine the need for ICT skills as it cuts across multiple professional areas and will provide a broad set of opportunities that comes with a variety of career choices.
? Later in the day, the girls were taught how to use the Internet, setup email accounts and send and receive messages. To practice, the girls exchanged emails with their friends in the class. One of the girls took the volunteers through her knowledge in basic HTML coding, she explained the key terminologies of HTML and gave an example of a HTML page.
? The visit gave an insight into the challenges children from less-privileged backgrounds are facing despite most of them being academically gifted, and this encourages us to continue to do more for those that are less privileged in the future.
