When students at St Aloysius College set about developing their VCAL community projects earlier this year, one group came straight to The Huddle with an intriguing proposal: to teach computer skills to recently arrived migrants. Using The Huddle’s links to the local Eritrean community, a regular computer skills class was soon underway - although not without the odd hiccup. St Aloysius is a PC school - and The Huddle is a MAC classroom, so the students had some learning of their own to do before they could commence their teaching.

Nevertheless, the students devised a program and quickly adapted the lessons to cater for individual needs. According to Princess, “Setting up the program and helping these men was very rewarding. Knowing I was helping them with their future, really motivated me.” The students used their knowledge of Italian, Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese to work through issues relating to font and accents. One of the learners was vision impaired so the girls made sure he had the cursor and fonts enlarged. He was delighted to be able to see his work and make use of the universal features of the MAC computers.

North Melbourne Football Club community ambassador, Yasseen Moussa said: “This has been very good for the community, we didn’t grow up with computers but they are very important for work and for life.” Abdul father of two added “We need more time to type! We need practice, lots of practice!”

The students learned more than they imagined in the program. Lanai noted “we all benefited as we learned more about the history, geography and culture of Eritrea in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.”

Susan Purcell, the VCAL co-ordinator, was particularly impressed with how well the program ran. “The girls worked independently with the planning and delivery of these sessions and proved to be highly responsible and enthusiastic.”

At the end of the program’s six week run, both the St Aloysius students and the adult learners elected to continue. If you would like to take part in the program, or know someone who might benefit, it runs on Mondays from 1-2 in The Huddle. Please contact us at huddle@kangaroos.com.au to indicate your interest.