The Mwange Computer Training Center, also known as "Laboratoire Informatique Safari" was named by the Mwange community to mean “Computer Technology Center: Journey” in French and Swahili. It is a fully-equipped, solar-powered computer lab that serves the entire Mwange community. Because very few refugees have ever touched a computer before in their lives, the computer courses focus on basic skills such as typing, navigating a computer screen, and using Word and Excel. Some advanced classes exist for more experienced users.
In this increasingly high-tech economy, computer skills have become instrumental in acquiring employment in most places in the world. The DRC, the home country of Mwange refugees, is no different. Without the Laboratoire Informatique Safari, refugees in Mwange would have no way to pick up computer skills. They would return to their communities upon repatriation unprepared to be competitive applicants in the job market.
Since opening in July of 2006, the Laboratoire Informatique Safari has offered 9-week computer skills courses to more than 300 refugees, young and old. It has quickly become one of FORGE’s most popular projects in Mwange, with waiting lists of refugees who wish to partake in computer training. LISa also provides a facility for the community newspaper, Journal Mwange, to draft and compile each issue of its paper.
• Holding basic and intermediate computer skills classes
• Holding practice hours for community members to hone their computer skills
• Providing the facilities for the publication of Journal Mwange
• To equip refugees with valuable computer skills that will help them gain employment upon repatriation to the DRC
• To train 400 new computer users each year
• To offer affordable word processing and printing services to members of the Mwange community
• To prepare students for potential university studies
