Looking for a name for the FOSS Learning center !

          After almost 2 months since I erased the name of the CYBER CAFE,
 I finally have a new name in mind.
  Well, in fact I have the initials, but I still need to find the appropriate name.
            I know that a name defines an organisation but there are so many parameter that need to be taken into consideration. Is also true that I have my vision of ""TRAINING OF DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE without discrimination", and I would like the name to reflect that goal.
          But I cannot ignore market dynamics. What I mean is simple: I can't keep myself in business if I am not able to pay my bills. I have been relying on friends: Recently, a friend of mine paid my electricity bills after 2 weeks when I was out of business because they had cut my service.

          As for the social aspect of what I want to do, I should also look at sustainability - otherwise I will not live enough to empower others.
Anyway, back to the name: My idea is simple. Our new name is CLICspace!
Isn’t it great?
The acronym stands for C....... LEARNING & INFORMATION CENTER.
C can stand for so many things that are important to us: COMMUNITY, COMPUTERS and
CERTIFICATION....and COMPETENT, CARING, and CREATIVE.
           Until I take the final decision I should not ignore that the main services I wish to provide to the
community is information & training on FOSS (Free & Open Source Software).
One thing that people should understand about software licensing is that most of them simply use
one platform because is widely used. Very few people have ever had the opportunity to see how FOSS works, not to talk about using it, simply because no one provides training for them.
            I wish to be the one who will spearhead a revolution of FOSS DEVELOPERS by training those who are coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Most of them are trapped in low end jobs. Many are even jobless simply because they cannot afford to go to a professional training center to acquire the skills they need to land better jobs. And even people with training often cannot find work.
  In fact the "CLICspace " will certainly start by simply training people but in the long run I wish to create an IMPACT SOURCING CENTER inside the CENTER to give them the opportunity to put the skills they will acquire in practice.
           None of knows what the future holds. For me I am confident because my cause is noble. I hope and
believe that many people will benefit from what I am doing.
       
   Here is what is happening in the next 2 weeks:
We are organising skills based workshops on various software to improve office productivity.
We are helping people to access to information that can help them achieve their goals.
We are creating a place where people can acquire the Computer Skills that will permit them improve
their lives.
We are providing a "ladder" to help people determine their level of proficiency in using Computers and then help them acquire the next set of skills they need to contribute to their own success.
We hope you are as excited as we are.
Please come by – in person or by posting a comment below – and let us know what you think!!

Why is friendship important in creating a community and a business in the new Africa?

              This week I started with 3 young students:Confort,Hilda & Lilian. They are learning about computers, starting with the basics.
This is the 2nd day am working with them. On the first day we just introduced word processing and
writing.Today will be even more exciting as we will move onto creating emails and sending emails. And that moves them into being able to connect with others.And of course,
 they want to create a Facebook account.

As we launch into this new program, I am reflecting on the fact that although I have spent months reading about training program from around the world, and have at least 20 different ideas of prepackaged curricula, I decided not to use any of them.What I know is that I have to start by fully engaging the students. Like Paulo Friere, I think about how the process I am following has to begin with what is more important to the students.My internet connection is not good. My computer is unreliable and disturbs our work. Often, I feel I don't really know how to orientate all this.I know that I want to them to learn Foss, and so I ask myself: Maybe I should put Linux on the computer and see if the experience will be different? But maybe that is a question for tomorrow. What I do know is that this is important for them. They are “just” three people in our little internet café.But what this experience will do is to take them to other places in this vast world, and will help them to learn how to live more carefully and more aware.
These opportunities have so much potential.
 This what I received from one of the students, as a first mail to the others and me: ""Friends are the people close to you. you can have [different] types of friends; bad and good friends. the bad ones are out to destroy while the good ones are out to build. secondly, the bad always
  take the best in you while the good bring out the best in you." Together, we are working on bringing out the best in each of us, while trying to create some protection against being destroyed in this difficult work environment. Creating this new digital Africa is really  hard work – although it can be fun as we learn to use
Facebook and send emails. I believe that we all need good friends and mentors to achieve progress, to keep our critical eyes open,  and to help us keep going when the “bad friends” discourage us.
Thank you for reading, friends!  We value your encouragement.
Marc Stephan Nkouly
Technology Evanlgelist

A STEP OF A CLIFF ....

This morning I decided to take a bit of a step off a cliff – I erased the sign board in front of my cyber.  It is a risk because now people walking by won’t know what is going on here. But I found it felt good, and I feel little wings sprouting.

It's true that I have not yet decided what I should write on the sign board. I just felt that it was time to make a new beginning. New beginning with my business, new beginning with my blog.
My dream and my vision is to get into IMPACT SOURCING here in Bamenda. My driving force is to create work for the young people around here who are so talented but have so few job opportunities.
I don't yet know what it will take for me to make it a reality but if there's one thing all the Impact sourcing organisations have in common it's TRAINING OF DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE without discrimination. And that is what I want to do.
So, I am trusting that a great name will show up.
In the meantime, here we go!
We are going to answer the needs of the local businesses, while aligning to international standards.
We are going to have exciting community based educational programs like Basics IT , CRS (Customer Relationship & Sales), DTP – Desktop publishing, How to create a good life with ICT,  Internet for small business in Africa, and so much more.
I love hearing about what others are doing around the world. Imagine if we can get FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) programs in things like Archive Digitization and Records Management, Content Conversion and Formatting, and Transcription, here in Bamenda.
I know that these services can be of interest to the local organisations. So the simplest step for me is also one of the most difficult – to just GET STARTED ! I know we will make mistakes and struggle, but I am a real fighter.
I am learning a bit more about each of the services and particularly look for people with whom we can collaborate to start training.
Our master word will be SUSTAINABILITY. We have seen enough short term projects. This time we want to make sure that the training programs will be of interest to those receiving them and will create real work.
I’ll be writing once or twice a week to keep you posted about how it feels to jump off this cliff. Please leave a comment in the space below. We want to hear from you!
With optimism and geekiness,
Stephan