A group of DIT students went to Malawi to use their computer skills working with charities and communities, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

THERE’S WORK experience – and then there’s life experience.

A new programme for third-year computer science students at the Dublin Institute of Technology offers an unconventional blend of both, sending them to Mzuzu in Malawi to work alongside charities and communities.

The programme is an alternative to more traditional third-year job placements in Irish businesses. The hope is that it will bring an understanding of how any individual can take their own knowledge and strengths and put them to work for the less advantaged or the broader community, says Ciarán O’Leary, lecture in computer science at DIT and organiser of the programme.

“We put together a programme where students could put to use the skills they’ve learned on a volunteer basis,” he says. The programme is being done in conjunction with the water charity Wells for Zoe, run by Irish couple John and Mary Coyne.

The computer science students who went out last spring did several weeks of preparation at DIT, fundraised to finance their trip, then arrived in Mzuzu where Wells for Zoe is based. Initially, they spent some time assessing the community’s various needs, then each participant went to work addressing those they could, sometimes on their own, and sometimes working in pairs or as a group.

The first team of four – Chad Kinsella, Marc Murray, Cian Kinsella-McLennan and Jean Finley – say their six weeks in Malawi not only provided confidence in their ability to tackle a wide range of problems and make decisions on their own, but also gave them a deep respect for the enthusiasm and creativity of the Malawians.

Did the students have any expectations when they set off? “We didn’t have a clue what to expect, because we were the first year to do it,” laughs Murray.

While their technical knowledge and abilities were in demand, the students also found themselves pulling weeds and planting apple trees on the community farm run by Wells for Zoe, or teaching creative writing in a school.

They say they never knew what to expect when visiting existing computer labs. Some facilities, such as the local university, had working laptops but they were stored away because no one knew how to set them up properly, says Kinsella-McLennan.

An Irish priest teaching maths at the university asked if the students could get the computers running, which they did with Edubuntu, a package of software that bundles a range of educational software with the Ubuntu version of the open source operating system Linux.

Over in the city’s technical college, on the other hand, “they had two guys there running a computer lab with 15 computers running Windows XP,” says Finley. But they weren’t networked, so they helped to set up a server – itself a learning experience for her as she wasn’t very familiar with servers. Luckily a girls’ school had a very well provided-for computer lab.

The students also found themselves helping out at Camara, the Irish charity that brings over refurbished computers and loads them with Linux and educational software for disadvantaged communities.

“The first day we got there, Camara had a giant donation which had arrived from Google. We were going through boxes, digging through computers, mice, keyboards – we might have to swap out parts from one of the donated computers to put into some being refurbished,” says Kinsella.

The students also spent time working at the Unguara youth centre in the area.

“They had any old computers hoarded in the back,” says Kinsella. “So if they had any problems, they could fish around in the back for parts.”

He was amazed at how adept they could be at piecing together a new computer out of scattered bits and pieces. Along with helping to teach skills there, he left a copy of an HTML course he drew up for the Malawi trip with one of the teachers, to help them create their own educational website.

One advantage for the group was that two of the students went out earlier than the second pair, so the first were able to compile a list of things that needed to be brought over.

Not only were they able to gather together the requested pieces, but many fellow students and university departments donated everything from computer peripherals to blank DVDs (valuable for leaving copies of programs with community groups).

All the students say they were deeply impressed with the abilities and skills of the Malawians they worked with. “They use their initiative – it wasn’t up to us to tell them what to do,” says Murray. “They’re very resourceful and they know how to make the most of what they have. If we had to go into our own classes at DIT and bring all our own tables and chairs, or fix all our own broken computers, we wouldn’t know what to do.”

All the Irish students emphasise how much they learned over the course of their stay in Malawi. Finley says one of the greatest benefits of the trip for her was taking on such an unknown challenge “and finding you could solve problems”.

Kinsella-McLennan notes that he “felt like a completely different person in Malawi. In Malawi you do everything yourself; you feel so productive.” Eventually he says he was getting up extra early every morning just to get started on a new day of projects.

“We are all a lot different people than we were a year ago,” says Murray. “We’re a lot more grown-up, and we know a lot more about the world.”

All four plan to make a return visit to Malawi, to check-in with the groups and people they met and to see how the various projects are progressing.

O’Leary says he’s pleased that the course has proved fulfilling to the students, and thinks it is a creative and productive way to broaden education to produce students who will become resourceful employees with a sense of broader community and international engagement. And, three new students are lined up to go on the course next spring.

Murray’s advice to the new group? “Expect nothing, and make it your own.”