A major need today is a presence on the internet, through an official web site (simiatug.com) and on social networking sites such as Facebook, to express, spread and share all the work being done: running communities, breeding of small animals, growing vegetables, work in ‘Mingas’ (various activities performed by the entire community), and administration of numerous small businesses, such as bakeries, tailoring workshops, clothing, processing plants and herbs, embroidery, knitting, ‘shigrear’ art, educational games, painting Andean painting and the creation of colourful jewellery.
For this reason the Salesian Province of Ecuador (ECU), through its Communications Office, ran an ICT training course attended by men and women from the indigenous population and one Salesian Sister. The content of the course provided the tools needed to set up and administer a web site. The topics covered in the course were chosen after discussion between the instructors and the participants.
Written and spoken language, presentation, email, search engines, Youtube, Skype and Facebook were just some of the topics covered during these busy days. Those taking part in the course showed great interest and creativity, exploring the inner workings of web 2.0 and making use of the numerous resources on the web to spread news of their work, their efforts and their own organisation.
The workshop ends today, 6 August. The participants finished the course by creating a web site which lets them work together and have a presence in social networks, so as to understand the role of communications in leadership, information, training and accompaniment in the Province.
Published 6/8/2010
