A community center in Asmara

Some free courses being offered

While wandering around Asmara I stumbled upon this tidy little community center. The young men didn't seem to mind me snapping a few photos of the place. The fellow on the left, who turned out to be the director, even invited me inside for a tour. I was pressed for time so I declined his friendly offer. As you can see from the second photo, they offer an impressive array of free courses. You can study Italian, English or Arabic twice a week for free. As I resumed my walking tour of Asmara I couldn't help but reflect on the experience I had at the internet cafe the day before. I know that Jackson and I lamented about how technology is having a negative effect on youth in the West, but I ran into him again this morning and the first thing he said was, "hey man, if you ever come back to Eritrea make sure you download the final season of Breaking Bad for me and bring it on your computer; will you do that for me?" "Of course" I replied. I'm sure the director of that community center would love to be able to offer more ICT related courses and have his students connect with other learners from around the world. The increasing importance of multicultural communication course offering jumped out at me as I quickly glanced over the bulletin board. I thought again of the digital divide and how so many Eritrean kids are being left behind because of inadequate technological resources. As I mentioned in my previous entry, many young Eritreans are doing their best to circumvent these obstacles, but what about the non urban population? How would they be able to cope?