From 'zero to hero' with VIA pc-1

- by Zenda Nel

"From zero to hero; from nothing to something." These simple yet striking words of Ntando Ntuli from Khayelitsha near Cape Town express the life-changing impact access to computer technology has had in his otherwise deprived life.

A life-changing impact facilitated directly by the revolutionary VIA pc-1. 

To grasp the significance of Ntando's heartfelt words, you first need to enter his world, to step into the hopelessness of life in a black South African township. Your home is a two room shack with dirt floors that you share with your mother, three siblings and a grandparent. Electricity is pre-paid, so if the money runs out, you squint by the light of a candle at your text books. You can't really concentrate because your grandmother has T.B. and she's coughing incessantly. You're uneasy and restless because you never feel safe – intermittent sounds throughout the night remind you of this. Besides, you are hungry and cold.

A computer doesn't feature in these conditions. Access to the Internet is a reality for a different world and a bright future all but impossible to imagine.

Then, one day a friend tells you about Ikamva Youth. You learn that others just like you who had felt hopeless and lost, cut off from a world of opportunities they had  only vaguely been aware of and believed would never be available to them, have found a way to access the riches of the 21st century.

Inspired, yet skeptical, you accompany your friend along the dusty roads to the Nazeema Isaacs library. On the way you walk past children playing in a splash of muddy water, a woman is foraging through a heap of trash. An emaciated dog runs hopefully alongside you. Then you're there. The door opens onto your new life. In the library you discover the Ikamva Youth tuXlab with its 20 VIA pc-1 Client computers, linked to a powerful server, running open source software.

Some of the seemingly insurmountable barriers to connectivity in impoverished areas like Khayelitsha have been overcome here. They are the common realities of emerging markets all over the world: unreliable or absent power resources, heat, dust and simply nowhere to put a computer – if you have no bed to sleep on and no table to eat at, it stands to reason that, should you be so lucky to come by a highly advanced first world personal electronic device, it would have to live with you and everything else on the dirt floor of your shack. The solution is low-cost, robust, dust-resistant electronic machines that can run on alternative cost-effective power sources and a clean environment to work on it. The energy-efficient VIA pc-1 processor platform, pioneered by VIA Technologies is that tailor-made solution.

The Ikamva Youth tuXlab in the Nazeema Isaacs Library was established in collaboration between the Shuttleworth Foundation and South Africa's Department of Social Development. ICT skills are provided by Ikamva volunteers. This is an important aspect of VIA's drive to connect the next 1 billion, because as innovative and revolutionary as the VIA pc-1 Initiative is, it’s life-transforming potential would never be realized if it were merely delivered to every shack without making sure that the lucky new owner knows how to harness the possibilities it contains.

The volunteers at Ikamva Youth are students from UCT, CPUT, UWC and Rosebank college, unemployed graduates, and young professionals working in NGOs, government and the private sector. A large proportion of them are ex-Ikamva students, youth from primarily Khayelitsha and Nyanga townships who, despite many obstacles, are determined to change things for themselves, their families and their communities.

"IkamvaYouth are an inspiration to the world in their commitment to drive social change in South Africa, and represents what is possible with the right mix of hope, enthusiasm and the generosity of the human spirit," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "VIA pc-1 is all about empowering people to help them improve their lives and those of the community around them, and the tuXlab is an excellent example of that spirit of collaboration essential for the success and sustainability of community development projects in emerging markets."

This by-youth, for-youth community-based non-profit organization is driving social change in South Africa by enabling disadvantaged youth to access post-school opportunities in tertiary education and job-based training through computer training. Once the lab has Internet connectivity, learners in grades 10 to 12 will learn to find and download past exam papers, access information on the internet, submit online applications to tertiary institutions and are helped to apply for scholarships. The computer literacy training curriculum is youth-focused, context-specific and practical – students produce something tangible and relevant in each lesson, such as a curriculum vitae or list of bursary providers relevant for their future field of study.

But this is not all. In a world where crime is rife, where most people are unemployed and AIDS touches every household, you need more than a brand new computer in a spick and span library to make something of your life. You need to know how to protect yourself, you need constant emotional support and most of all you need hope.
Ntando again: "My life before meeting you guys was all bewilderment and I was like I am swimming in the pool of pandemonium. I used to believe not to believe in myself and having a low self esteem. I used to be a believer of pessimism."