To Computer From Chalkboards—Skipping Keyboards in Kenya

Kelly Collier Rauh

Word Count: 948

March 08, 2009

To Computers From Chalkboards—

Skipping Keyboards in Kenya

Grace Nyabilo is a remarkable young mother who grew up using chalkboards in Kenya—before being introduced to computers in her early thirties—without learning to type. Baby Boomers used typewriters before confronting computers as adults. Their children began typing at computers in preschool. Grace skipped both types of “naturalization” to keyboards, and was doubly confounded in adjusting to computers as her primary mode of textual communication. Although she has reluctantly embraced digital technology while earning another college degree, and embarking on her second professional career, Grace still finds computer typing slower than writing—“frustrating and discouraging”—much of the time. Other adults immigrating in this generation may face similar challenges.

Grace, whose last name is pronounced “NYAH-bee-low,” is a beautifully elegant East African with a calm, dignified demeanor and intriguing slight accent. She comes from the village of Nyakwere. “In these rural areas we either grow crops or nothing takes place there.” The cities are “very small with limited technology… little towns that have electricity and commercial businesses.”

She grew up speaking her family’s indigenous language, Dholuo, at home and in market places. Grace also became fluent in Kiswahili—alternately called Swahili—which is common in business situations, along with English. At school, she learned English as her third language, and began writing on chalkboards when she was ten, using both Dholuo and British English.

Typewriting was uncommon in education where Grace lived. At Siriba Teacher’s College (where annual tuition was about US $2000), “there was no use of computers.” During the two years while Grace completed her Diploma in Education, handwriting on chalkboards and paper were the primary media. When she taught eighth to tenth grades—even at Thika School for the Blind—keyboarding skills were unnecessary for teachers and students. In 1999 when she was 32, Grace typed on a computer for the first time at a cyber café in Kenya. Her early digital encounters were restricted to personal emails.

Grace immigrated to the U.S. in 2002. She has worked at Kadlec Medical Center while becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant, and earning a 2009 Bachelor’s in Nursing from Washington State University, Tri-Cities. Now a registered nurse at Kadlec, she uses computers daily on the job. She purchased a laptop in 2007 and has home Internet for research and email. She does not participate in social networking, and prefers to text friends and family from her cell phone.

Since I lip-read and cannot hear well over the phone, she was true to her name and graciously agreed to answer these interview questions via email:

Kelly: Describe how you felt when beginning to use this new writing technology.

Grace: I was very frustrated because I did not know what to do or how to type so it slowed me down. I knew I would be faster if I wrote it down, so I just wanted to write because it was so much easier.

Kelly: Describe other ways the computer was different from anything you used before.

Grace: I did not know how to erase whatever I had written down or how to retrieve any typing lost in case I clicked on something on the keyboard. I did not know how to use punctuation marks, either.

Kelly: How else was it difficult to adjust to computer technology?

Grace: I was tempted to write on paper most of the time. I asked my teachers to allow me to write on paper for my homework because that was just faster than using the computer. Most of the teachers were already used to the new technology, so they did not give in to my requests.

Kelly: How was it easy to adjust?

Grace: It never was easy. I am still working on it and am faced with challenges all the time. The biggest problem is not knowing how to find information. Secondly, not knowing how to type slows me down, thereby discouraging me from using computers more often.

Kelly: Did you find using computers exciting, or intimidating?

Grace: I found it very intimidating. I just don’t know how to navigate that well. I get frustrated so quickly and give up.

Kelly: How did you use computers at work the first few years?

Grace: Mostly clicking on provided alternatives to do patient charting.

Kelly: Which computer text usage did you resist until later on?

Grace: I have resisted most of it. I am only comfortable with personal communication through email.

Kelly: How has using this medium changed the way you write?

Grace: My ability to think and write has decreased, since I am able to reach so much literature out there that provides the information I need. My spelling is poor too.

Kelly: How do you use computers to communicate in text internationally?

Grace: I write in English as briefly as possible. If I need to be lengthy, I call instead.

Kelly: Do friends and family in Africa now use computers at home, or by public access?

Grace: There are cyber cafes that charge by the minute as soon as one gets connected. It is very expensive. Very few rich people have computers at their homes. Public libraries don’t have computer access for the public.

Kelly: Anything else you would like to add?

Grace: I still don't know how to do many things on the computer. I do, however, like to find information on the Internet so I don't have to go out and look for people to give it to me. That helps save time. I like the technology because I can pass information to people, and I don't have to call when I'm using email. Now it is a little less intimidating. It is exciting when I know what I am doing!