CiH for children of refugee background: Wellington Refugee Graduation June 2015

On Saturday 18 June 14 families from the Wellington Region graduated from the Computers in Homes programme. Each family completed 30 hours of digital literacy training, both 'in-class' and 'in-home'. A big thank you to the e-Learning team of Tim Davies-Colley (Project Manager), Ibrahim Raouf-Morton (Tutor) and Peter Lynch (Tech support), who delivered another outstanding programme.

Gina Gonzales and Maureen Zaya (Ministry of Education - Regional Refugee and Migrant Coordinators) attended. Maureen spoke to the group in Arabic as a former migrant. She said when she came to New Zealand 15 years ago (from Iraq) she had a lot of help and Kiwis want to help - so just ask.

Graham Kelly as Chair of the e-Learning Porirua Trust, encouraged the graduates to make the most of the technology and their new skills, to learn and get jobs and Shona Te Huki (Wellington Refugee Regional Coordinator) also spoke to each of the graduates congratulating them on committing to the training and to make the most of what they have learnt during the programme. Shona presented each of our graduate with their certificates of completion.

This was another multi-ethnic group: 10 from Syria, two from Afghanistan, one from Colombia and one family (husband and wife attended) from Vietnam.

Well done.

Wellington Refugee Graduation June 2016 on PhotoPeach

Shona Te Huki, Computers in Homes Manager

The 20/20 Trust provides refurbished computers and internet access to about 100 refugee background families nationally per year, under a Ministry of Education contract. The Ministry also contracts separately a regional training provider to deliver the training component, employ family liaison and provide technical support to the families during the 12 month contract.

The initiative runs in refugee background communities in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Nelson.

Goals

1. to give refugee families the necessary computing tools and skills to become active learners
2. to provide refugee children and their families with access to online educational resources from home.

Outcomes

1. Greater self-confidence in using IT resources
2. Improved child/parent and home/school relationships
3. Families accessing educational resources relevant to their language and cultural backgrounds.
4. Improved literacy and numeracy for refugee children and their families
5. Improved communication skills

These projects are managed from CiH National Office.

Contact

Shona Te Huki

021 840 053

shona.tehuki@2020.org.nz.

Computers in Homes

Bringing Technology to New Zealand families since 2000

Computers in Homes works with low decile schools, helping students and their families use internet, email and computers at home, school and work.

Between July 2015 and June 2016, we helped 1,750 families from 421 schools and kura. We've helped 16,890 families since we started.

Visit www.computersinhomes.nz

The 20/20 Trust

New Zealanders fully participating in our digital world

Computers in Homes is an initiative of the 20/20 Trust.

The 20/20 Trust works with communities, leading programmes contributing to New Zealanders’ digital literacy, skills and inclusion.

Our other programmes include KiwiSkills, Stepping UP, ICDL and the Digital Inclusion Map.

Visit www.2020.org.nz