Hesed’s communal computer club offers its assistance those who are eager to learn the computer grammar and improve his level.  In cooperation with the children’s program “Ken Eladim” computer center offers study of Jewish history, culture and tradition with the help of computer games.  Elder children , pupils and students make use of Jewish Internet recourses and searching  engines in order to get information about  Jewish history, culture and traditions as well as to  email to their  friends from others Jewish communities all over the world.  You can also master office programs here.

Computer class is very popular not only among children, it is successfully attended by grown-ups who want to be in the vortex of the intellectual life and not be behind the time.  The computer class serves totally 8 age groups, app. 180 people monthly. 

Communication with computer  – is that a necessity, a need, a way to success, entertainment  or leisure ? Apparently all together.

Let us have a look into computer class. You will see 4-5 years old kids here. It is incredible how their little hands smartly monitor keyboard and mouse, how happy they are to demonstrate their pictures made on the screen.  Very attentively with widely opened eyes they listen to the teacher’s explanation. Computer for them is a fascinating toy with new possibilities…

You can find here not only little ones but also elder people, less emotional but with extremely concentrated faces and attentive eyes. Like their young friends they are happy when manage to complete the tasks set before them. You can ask. Why did these retied people want to master computer?  Simply they do not want to be left behind the life, they desire communication with the world, they want to prove themselves that they are worth something.  And they manage to achieve brilliant results.

But the most important here is a teacher. All eyes in the class room are directed to a lovely, patient, extremely charming and friendly Lyudmila Bejlis. She makes the most complicated be the easiest and clear. Her explanations are correct and understandable, she is tactful and persistent and tries to make a soulless computers your closest friend.

Elvira Altman

Within the last 15 years information technologies have been rapidly developing.  By means of Internet and correspondence via email new programs and elaborations sufficiently improve efficiency of work and assure contact all over the world .

But now in Ukraine, 30 years old and elderly people have dim idea about the work on computer.

At the same time teaching of computer literacy leaves much to be desired and is extremely insufficient because of poor material recourses at secondary educational establishments (far not each school with average number of pupils of 800-900 is equipped with one computer class at least). Average wages in Ukraine are low, therefore not each family can afford to buy computer or visit Internet cafe. However, without modern technique and proper skills it is impossible to get a qualified job.

All-Ukrainian Jewish Charitable Foundation “Hesed-Arieh” with financial support of  “Joint” tries to help community members of the city to improve their professional qualification.

This year with the framework of Hesed’s Community programs new computer center has been opened.

We already have some work experience and now are summing up. Computer center has been properly equipped: with modern computers, a scanner and a printer, computers are connected to the local network with Internet assess. The curriculums have been composed and is intended for the groups of different ages and levels.

Together with children’s program “ Eladim” we offer studies of Jewish national culture and traditions with the help of children’s developing games ( “Who stole Khanukah?” , “ Interactive Agada”, etc.).

Students can use Jewish Internet resources and encyclopedias in order to look for the information about history and present days, about culture and traditions of their people, a well as, to correspond with their friends from other Jewish communities, to master office programs and to do many other things.

Many old community members also attend our club because they do not want to be behind children who study computer at school. For old people our lessons help them to feel themselves in the center of active life.

The Club arranges lessons for five groups simultaneously with the line for 2-3 months ahead. Individual consulting for community members is also in practice. Communal Computer Center attracted numerous Jews who earlier did not attend any communal programs.

“Hesed”’s employees and volunteers actively use Jewish Internet resources when prepare for Jewish holidays (scripts, pictures, poems, songs, etc.).

As a rule, primary computer knowledge received at school is not sufficient for the youth,  they want to continue their education : independently draw, compose their own programs and games on Jewish theme, open their own web-sites.

In the future we are planning to arrange more complicated courses. We can see the needs and possibilities of community members. For the old ones- that is work with MS Office programs, Internet browsers, programming. We hope that such groups will help the youth to realize their potential in a wider range. They will be able to help the community with graphic arts and design works.

Computer Center has become very interesting and useful for the city’s community. In the nearest future we are going to extend its activity.
 
Dmitriy Akimov.