Course 34

23 students from Course 34 graduated on Wednesday 9 December 2009 after completing 9 weeks of training every Wednesday from 12:00pm-2:30pm. Students received refurbished computers with Broadband Internet connections, an E-Learning attendance certificate for attending and participating in Computers in Homes and a Digital Porirua Trust Stepping UP certificate for completing four Digital Step for Work modules as part of their training.

Certificates were presented by Chris Kirk-Burnnand who is currently involved as a Trustee on Johnsonville Youth Grants, Whitireia Foundation and Life Education North Wellington Trusts.

CiH Family Stories

Click here to read stories about the impact Computers in Homes has had on some families who have participated.

Manchester Unity Friendly Society

On Wednesday 10 June 2009 the Manchester Unity Friendly Society presented Computers in Homes with a very highly appreciated donation. Computers in Homes is extremely grateful and cannot say thank you enough!

The Manchester Unity Friendly Society confirm they are pleased to support the E-Learning initiative because they were impressed with the literature provided. The Manchester Unity Friendly Society says "It is a well run project providing lots of follow up; helping to make a difference in the lives of those lucky enough to be taking part"

The money the Manchester Unity Friendly Society receive come from donations from members and raffles. The society is very cautious who they give money to. In the past their support has gone to:

Take Heart
Life Flight Trust
Australia Bush Fire
Sailability

Award honours E-Learning Porirua Trust work

E-Learning Porirua Trust has won the Educational and Child/Youth Development category in the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards for Porirua City.

The E-Learning Porirua Trust funds and manages the delivery of digital education and training services in the community be delivering consistent and high quality training services to families in Porirua's low decile areas through the Computers in Home programme.

The Trust has contributed computers or finance for computers to 24 low decile schools in Porirua City. Children are now able to do their homework on a computer, meaning they are not so disadvantaged and are doing much better at school. The Board of Trustees are all volunteers who contribute their various business skills to the Board's primary function of fundraising and administering these funds.

There are also 100s of volunteers over the years who have contributed giving 1000s of hours assisting families, especially in low income areas to become computer literate. This has led to many parents gaining computer skills and getting full-time employment as the Prime Minister found out when, earlier this year, he attended the launch of the Porirua Digital Trust. The work of E-Learning Porirua Trust had a huge influence on the Porirua Digital Trust being awarded US$400,000 by Hewlett-Packard for hardware in the community at Community Access Points and Netpods in our schools.

Course 33

Hard work and dedication saw these families complete 10 weeks of training with the assistance of a Burmese translator. 11 Burmese families consisting of 20 people, successfully completed course 33 and graduated on September 23 2009. Burmese families gathered each week on a Thursday evening from 5.30pm - 8.00pm to participate in Computers in Homes and learn Internet/Email and Word Processing. In addition to Computers in Homes, the families also participated and completed four Digital Step for work modules from Stepping UP.

Certificates were presented by Winnie Laban. Also present at the graduation were: E-Learning trust members; Graham Kelly, Pamela Meekings-Stewart and Wendy Betteridge, Plimmerton Rotary Club President; David Pine and Refugee Migrant Service (RMS) Director; Jay Edwin.

A big thank you to all the Refugee Migrant Service (RMS) volunteers who attended and assisted the families they support to take their computers home.

Course 32

20 students from Course 32 graduated successfully on Wednesday 23 September 2009 after completing 10 weeks of training. Not only did they receive a computer and attendance certificate, they also received a Stepping UP certificate for completing four Digital Step for Work modules in the popular Stepping UP programme. Stepping UP requires students to complete 10 hours of training.

Certificates were presented by Employment Hub Acting Manager; Arlyta Huriwai. Also present at the graduation were: E-Learning trust members; Graham Kelly, Pamela Meekings-Stewart and Murray Woodley, and Plimmerton Rotary Club President; David Pine.

Course 31

25 families graduated on Wednesday 1 July 2009. The families that have been participating on course 31 have learnt so much and are very deserving. Here is some of things that we have covered:

creating a document, creating a folder, save a document, locate a document, navigate through a document, scroll through text, Insert text in a document, select and format text (change font type, size, alignment and colour), edit a document by deleting and restoring text (undo/redo), save a file with a different name, insert clip art, insert a border, insert background colours and textures, resizing and reposition a picture and domain names, web browsers and searching the internet

If you scroll down to the end of this page (alternatively hold down ctrl on your keyboard and press the end key) you will see an outline of what we cover on our computers in homes courses.

Course 30

Litea Ah Hoi and Graham Kelly presented certificates to all 23 families who completed course 30 in April 2009.

Digital Porirua Trust Launched by Prime Minister at Te Rauparaha Arena

Digital Porirua was officially launched by the Prime Minister, the Honourable John Key on Wednesday 11 March 2009. Computers in Homes was involved in this launch.

Hewlett-Packard and the Digital Porirua Trust announced an initiative that will dramatically improve Porirua community’s access to essential new technologies.

The Digital Porirua Trust has used a $400,000USD education grant from Hewlett-Packard to build a network of community access points in church halls, marae, community centres and schools within Porirua. The centres are designed so people feel safe to explore new ideas and develop themselves through the use of technology.

The community access points form part of the wider Digital Porirua project. It recognises the important part technology plays in connecting our communities, helping people work together, increasing business productivity and helping individuals reach their aspirations.



"Digital Porirua aims to make access to technology easy: Whether it's meeting the broadband needs of our high tech industries, better connecting our communities with the use of community portals, or bringing the benefits of technology within the reach of all in our community," says Dr Roger Blakeley, Trust Chair and CEO Porirua City Council.

“With the help of Hewlett-Packard, we are on a clear path to achieving our goal to become a digital city. The Digital Porirua Trust has been created to administer the grant and oversee the community activity on a day-to-day basis.”

“It is exciting to see access to technology having such a profound influence on the lives of people from all ages in our city. With many children using the centres to do their homework while retired community members learn how to keep in touch with friends and family online.”