Today was a momentous occasion: the first meeting of the village Computer Club, and the soft opening of the Computer Center. It’s been a long time coming: I started working on this project about a year and a half ago, and it’s finally come to fruition with the help of a BUNCH of people (more on that later).

The idea for the Computer Center is to make the computers (and internet, I hope) available to the people in our village. It’s especially targeted at the high school students, who only have computer access for their coursework at the high school or the internet cafes, both 40 minutes and 10q away by bus. This is an affordable and convenient alternative. The second goal is to make computer learning available here for anyone else who wants it, regardless of their educational status. That means there are two user groups: drop-in users, and those who want to take classes.

This brings me to the Computer Club, the second half of the equation. I’ve asked the most energetic, interested people (mostly teenagers) to participate. The club is a way for them to get more access, one-on-one training, and knowledge of how to manage computers. My hope is that the club and center will feed off of each other, with the club members running the computer center and managing the business, while the center giving them the opportunity to further their education.

Oh, that’s another part. We discussed in the meeting today how this needs to be a community-run business. We are going to charge 1q for someone to use a computer (it’s 5q in town) or to print a page, and classes will be free. The money will be collected and managed by the computer club, and used to buy supplies (printer paper and ink) as well as pay the internet and light bills. The club will set up a schedule, and club members will work shifts to man the center… and get free computer time while doing so.  

I hope this idea works. We’re going to present it to the village leaders some time next week.

So, now I want to thank everyone that made this possible.

• The village leaders, for buying the electrical meter and service
• The village carpenters, for donating the furniture
• Mark, Missy, and Wieland Furniture for donating 8 computers
• Bill and students of Eastern Washington University for 8 monitors
• The Hogan family for two SWEET monitors, a scanner, routers, and lots of peripherals
• Jim T. for a bunch of networking stuff and pelican cases to carry it all in
• The dudes at US Architects

…and a bunch of other people, for lots of other support: materials, logistics, and emotional reinforcement. You all know who you are.

And I want to especially thank Mark, who’s sage advice has saved the ship a half dozen times. Here’s me, stressing out about a video driver problem that threatened to ruin everything, about a half hour before Mark sent me the magic software and carried the day.