My name is Dede Precious. An alumna of AbaLIFE 2017 Batch A. I heard about AbaLIFE after my secondary school education through a friend of mine in July 2016. When she told me that there is a training center here in Aba where computer courses, skills, and other training could be acquired free without paying a dime, I doubted her. I became so curious that I had to follow her to the center when she wanted to return her application form.
When I got there, I exclaimed, what a nice place. The environment got me amazed and curious as well. I nudged aside and asked my friend again, are you sure you know what you are talking about? will they not demand money along the line? She told me No though I was not confident with her answer. I decided to meet the program officer as he came out and explained everything. I was amazed, and out of my curiosity, I told him to show me the ICT room.
To my greatest surprise, I saw a room fully air-conditioned and equipped with computer sets and projectors. The program officer told me that each enrolled student is entitled to one computer set until he/she would have completed the training. I could not believe my ears because other computer centers I know would provide a computer set quite right but would not be your permanent computer for the training duration.
Having heard this, I was fully convinced because I wanted to acquire ICT skills but could not afford the money at that moment because I was still a fresh school leaver with no capital at hand, my parents could not afford it either due to some financial constraints.
On getting home, I told my parents that I saw a training center where I could learn computer lessons free of charge. I had to cancel my trip to Owerri to attend the program. When I returned a few days later to pick the form, registration has ended for that batch. I was disappointed but did not lose hope. I decided to wait for the next batch.
During my waiting period, I got a teaching job till the end of 2016. At the beginning of 2017, I left the teaching job then applied for the program. I picked up the application form, followed the procedures, and got selected for the training. I had difficulties in transportation because my house was far from the center. At times I had to trek for an hour to the training ground due to lack of transport.
Though distance could have been a barrier, what I saw, learned, and practiced on my first day kept motivating me. The lessons were very simple and easy and what excited me the most was the practical aspect where you practice alongside the facilitator and also opportunities given to display your work in form of a presentation on a projector screen. I thought earlier ICT was for a particular set of people and that it takes years of training but to my surprise, I acquired the skills within a space of 10 weeks.
After acquiring this knowledge, it changed my mentality and got me more exposed. I got a better teaching job with an attractive salary than the one I got before the training. I also lectured my elder siblings on ICT. I encouraged my elder sister to start up a business and the importance of product branding and packaging. Now I can browse freely on the internet and get information from it. I would also love to learn more about web design and development.