Hartzell Primary Computer Lab

       The Primary School has a full scale computer lab!  Located in what was the original library, it has about 15 operative, though old, computers.  Cyril Sauramba is its teacher, with classes for all the children from the fourth grade up.  We were able to accomplish this by including used computers in the two containers we sent in 2001 and 2004.  Cyril [pronounced as in cereal] had begun volunteering after school hours as soon as the very first computers had arrived and when there were enough to handle a class–with three on each computer–the government authorised him as a fulltime computer teacher. 

Children working in the Hartzell Primary School computer lab.

       We continue to help by sending ink and supplies. Should we send another container, we will include more and newer computers, as the old ones continue to break down and parts are difficult and expensive or even impossible to obtain.   With typical ingenuity, defunct machines are mined for spare parts to keep others running.  

        A fair number of parents who have the money and might otherwise send their children to one of the city schools, are sending them to Hartzell instead because the others don’t have such a computer program.  The library is also a drawing card for new students.  We would like to think that these two new programs have played a significant role in the school’s 99+% pass rate in the nationwide exams at the end of primary school.