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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>Karin,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>That is a fantastic story and I really admire the work
you are doing and the women, farmers and others who have been empowered through
the telecentre access and associated community development. I have circulated it
in our Solomon Islands ICT Working Group list. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>Immediately, someone pointed out something that had
occurred to me, and I was interested to see how soon it was brought
up:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=551471000-08102004><SPAN class=707530800-08102004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT><SPAN class=551471000-08102004><SPAN
class=707530800-08102004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>There is
maybe a sustainability issue here, that the centre was too directly
associated with the community development activity (women's empowerment). The
activity obviously had great results for women's empowerment but not such good
results for the telecentre.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=707530800-08102004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=707530800-08102004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>In our research we have shown that it is important that the
centre has the full ownership, and if it is regarded as belonging to one
section or interest, people will not utilise it as much, or worse - <SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>in one case when we were </SPAN>field test<SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>ing some technology without proper community
participation, the test facility</SPAN> was razed to the ground<SPAN
class=551471000-08102004>. I</SPAN>t was perceived as not being a community
asset, but attached to an entity with political
associations.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=707530800-08102004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>David Leeming PFnet</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN class=551471000-08102004><FONT face=Arial size=2>Solomon Islands<BR><A
href="http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/general/pfnet.htm">www.peoplefirst.net.sb/general/pfnet.htm</A></FONT></SPAN></P><BR>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> telecentres-bounces@wsis-cs.org
[mailto:telecentres-bounces@wsis-cs.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Karin Delgadillo
Poepsel<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 8 October 2004 10:46 a.m.<BR><B>To:</B> Don
Cameron<BR><B>Cc:</B> telecentres@wsis-cs.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[Telecentres] RE: [Telecentre's] Basic Telecentre Items<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Hi Don,<BR><BR>Thanks for
your message. I do agree with you and your approach because that is responding
to the dynamic of Australia and the system in place there. Reading your mail,
make me realize that we are fractals of the system and that means that we live
in a systemic society. Communities responds to the structure of that society
that are in place and their rules. In Ecuador we have grassroots
communities, indigenous cofanes communities as an example, as well as slum areas
that are organized as a community, street children and other type of communities
as you explain when people gather and meet because they have a need or interest.
In this context telecentres plays a role. telecentres, people and community can
not been seen isolated and we need to see in a holistic way. In your
experience remote telecentres is the community. In my experience as well,
community or communal houses are the meeting point and the telecentre plays a
role in it, normaly people do not call telecentre. They call "jambi huasi" or
casa communal, I mean it reflects their cultural background and
reality. I do agree with your concept we are the telecentre not the telecentre
is there, that is why in this concept of communal house or jambi huasi,
computer, loud speaker, mural newspaper or just the assembly are tools that
attends the needs of that community. You call telecentre, i do call also
telecentre in the international scenario but I do not call telecentre in the
local escenario, people call as they feel responds to their cultural reality.
The importance is to highlight the concept of a telecentre responding to
the dynamics of a community and how digital technologies among others could
respond to the needs of that community. We described a telecentre as: Community
telecentres are powerful tool for supporting community development through the
use of digital technologies linked to their own ways of communication. Community
telecentres represents and experiment in using digital technologies as tools for
human development within a community. The stress here is on the social use and
appropriation of technological tools and communication tools that responds
to the needs and demands of the community . Community telecentres are places for
social encounter and interaction, for learning, for personal growth and for
mobilizing efforts to address community problems and needs. <BIG><BIG><SPAN
lang=ES style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">But the
telecentres do not only respond to the communication and information needs of
the community. Instead, they are also an instrument for measuring the impact
telecomnunication tools have in advancing social equity and economic development
at the grassroots. </SPAN></BIG></BIG><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR>In remote and impoverished groups in
Ecuador and Latin American, people are thinking how I am going to survive, not I
need computers or a telecentre. 70 percent of the population lives under the
line of poverty, so their needs are focused on how I am going to eat and the
community house is the center or focal point to gather meet and plan. A
telecentre emerge in this concept because internet could be a tool to attend
such demands linked to their own ways of communication if they got connectivity
if they do not got connectivity they find ways on how digital technologies can
be used . Let me explain or describe a story so people understand better
what I mean specially in the concept that are not the telecentre it is the
dynamic. Apparently this is story is negative but it is not. Sorry for the
lenght of the message.<BR><BR></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">PASTOCALLE: MATANGA AND PUCARA
INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY<O:P></O:P></SPAN></B></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CATALYSING LIFE-ALTERING
CHANGES<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">This very special story began in
February 1998<SPAN> </SPAN>and continues until today. In sharing it, I
will not mention names because of the sensitive nature of what is currently
going on in the community and because the women in these indigenous communities
requested me to protect their privacy.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Pastocalle, a town in the Andean
highlands, is located 3.100 meters above sea level. The population is made up of
indigenous people and mestizos; most are small farmers. The community decided at
one point that they had to have a computer. In order to buy one, they sold many
of their guinea pigs and other animals. Having finally acquired a computer, they
installed it in their community house. Chasquinet helped connect Pastocalle
through the telecentre, which was used by the farmers to their advantage when
their potato crops were hit by a strange plague of ants. (But I am getting ahead
of the story)<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The farmers, at their wits’ en on
how to save their crops, decided to make not one but several costly trips to
Quito to try to secure help from the Ministry of Agriculture. The government
was, after all, supposed to help the people. But the visits to the Ministry
office produced nothing for the farmers. Just as when the farmers were about to
give up, the farmers met Chasquinet which put them in touch with other farmers
organisations who could help them. And help the farmers of Pastocalle got.
Plenty in fact. Eventually, thorough the help of other farmer organisations and
by accessing information through the Internet, the farmers of Pastocalle were
able to solve the problem.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But there’s
more.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">To get the community to learn how to
run and use the telecentre, Chasquinet conducted a series of training with the
people. The women were most active in the entire exercise. They were mostly
concerned about protecting the ecosystem of the community. And it was most
natural for them to mount a campaign to declare the zone between Matanga a
Pucara an ecological reserve thereby preventing the sale of the land to a Dutch
company that wanted to build a hotel in the area. From strategising and running
the campaign, it was the women who took the driver’s seat, so to
speak.<SPAN> </SPAN>Using the internet and local Ecuadorian media, the
women of Pastocalle received a lot of support for their
advocacy.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The experiences of the women
encouraged the local community to get interested how to harness the tools of the
Internet for their various goals. The young people, for example, decided they
wanted to create webpages to promote ecotourism. The women also started ways to
use the Internet to promote their clothing micro-enterprise by streamlining
administration and marketing. So the whole community began learning about the
other worlds beyond the Andean highlands. What could be the better way of ending
this story?<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Except that this is not yet the
end.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">One day, a group of girls
approached<SPAN> </SPAN>me with a bit of gossip. The boys, they said in
the hushed tones, were using the Internet to access pornographic sites. I caught
myself just in time before I blurted out to agree with them that the boys were
wrong. Instead, I asked the girls about what they felt aout the situation and
why they thought it was wrong for the boys to be ogling at naked women in the
Internet.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">What was revealed to me afterwards
triggered the discovery of a very serious problem in the community –one that is
not easy to confront and address. I found out that most of the furs ad been
raped by an uncle or some other male relative. Concerned for the girls, I
brought out the information with the community women. I soon realised that the
women’s sufferings ran long and deep. Many of them had also been raped by their
male relatives.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I began to use the internet to look
for support and healing, because unfortunately no one here in Ecuador except the
elite has access to this type of emotional help and therapy. Meanwhile, the
internet training sessions with the girls and women continued; but most often
than not, these sessions became a venue for the women to<SPAN> </SPAN>open
up about their experiences of domestic abuse and their husband’s alcoholism. The
sessions became a forum for mutual support and solidarity. An energy of caring
was created and fostered and practices of solidarity began to develop. The women
quickly transformed the telecentre into a space of their own where they could
collectively support and heal each other.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Meanwhile, the men became uneasy and
annoyed. By then, we had decided to prioritise the women’s training course,
which I now think was a mistake. The men felt envious of the attention the women
were getting. They became increasingly bothered by the courses’s strong emphasis
on harnessing self-esteem.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Until one day, a woman whom I will
call Rosita, arrived at our training session with a black eye and blood on her
cheek. In between sobs, Rosita’s story<SPAN> </SPAN>of long-standing abuse
and humiliation in the hands of her husband poured out. I felt then that it was
important for Rosita to cry and share what had happened to her with the group
which diminished her feelings of isolation.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A week after, Rosita returned to the
telecentre, beaming. For the first time in her life, she told us, she stood up
to her husband. She defended herself, and more than that, she hit back at her
husband using<SPAN> </SPAN>a stick to deliver the message that she will no
longer cower in fear. Rosita was triumphant and it
showed.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Not soon after disaster struck. The
community’s leadership changed hands and two days after Rosita’s brave
confrontation with<SPAN> </SPAN>her husband, the community’s new directors
closed down the telecentre. Cries of protest form the women, young people, and
children fell on deaf ears.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I have often asked myself, what
lessons have we learned form this experience?. Chasquinet never earned a penny
from its work with<SPAN> </SPAN>the Pastocalle. Our relationship with the
community was based on exchange –they give us sacks of corn in return of our
work with them. But after working for years with this community, we got much
more than the sacks of corn in the fair exchange. We were made richer by the
invaluable lessons we learned from the many brave women in the
community.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In my view, the telecentre and the
Internet when they were integrated into the community became tools for aiding
community development. They also served as instruments to unearth deeper
community problems, those that festered and were kept hidden like rape and
incest. However, these tools are not in themselves the forces that finally
altered the relations of power within the community. The power to transform the
relations in the community comes from the women’s new-found strength, their
realisation that it is alright to demand changes for their betterment, and the
discovery of their voices by which to assert
themselves.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In the face of such changes, the men
felt vulnerable. Blaming outsiders proved the easiest way for them to cope with
the new situation. Chasquinet was after all the one conducting the trainings,
and it was after sessions began that the problems with the women also started.
Ego, Chasquinet must be teaching the women “bad
things”.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The telecentre remains closed and
the community directors refuse to re open it or give any information about their
plans for it. Despite this, the women of Pastocalle travel once a month to Quito
to meet in Chasquinet’s office and to use the computers
there.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><!--[if
!supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A major change has indeed taken
place in their lives.<BR></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Hope this illustrates better what I am
trying to explain. It is always difficult to explain in workds and in english
:-)<BR>All the best,<BR><BR>Karin<BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR><BR></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid200410071001.i97A1k4Y011431@smtp1.adl2.internode.on.net
type="cite">
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