Mums take on technology

050315graduates WINNING WOMEN: Waitutu Taylor (left) and Thelma Scanlon-Marino know the value of learning to use a computer. PICTURE: PAUL BROOKS

There are many reasons people face the unknown and sign up for a Computers in Homes course. For some, it's about their children; to give them access to the world via the internet. But along the way, Computers in Homes students find they're doing themselves a favour too.
Castlecliff residents Thelma Scanlon-Marino (51) and Waitutu Taylor (37) are graduates of the Computers in Homes course run at Castlecliff School.
Thelma is now the school office administrator; Waitutu teaches Te Reo Maori, also at Castlecliff.
Before Thelma started the course, she had no computer at home nor access to one. A computer and its uses were completely foreign to her. Her children - she is mother to 11, stepmother to six, grandmother to 28 and great grandmother to four - used computer technology at school.
"Because I had a variety of ages - and still do - they were coming home from school saying 'we studied this and we did that, and Mum, you should be on Facebook'. Even my parents had a computer! I felt I was missing out.
"Once I got the confidence to use a computer, I was able to move on to study business admin and computing at Training For You. During my studies, I was able to come to Castlecliff School for work experience and then I got a job here.
"I am so grateful to Computers in Homes, every single day. That's why I say to our parents who come in, 'Have you registered for Computers in Homes?' It's amazing how many haven't and don't know about it!"
Thelma says when she got her computer when she graduated, she was so happy because her children would now have a research tool at home.
"And that computer has brought me to where I am today," she says.
Last year, in the national ITENZ Awards (Independent Tertiary Education New Zealand), a competition open to independent tertiary providers all over New Zealand, Thelma won the ITENZ Student of the Year award. She says her children were so proud of her.
Waitutu, a mother of five, says her children know more about computers than she does even now, but learning how to use one has brought her a long way.
She and her family moved here from Hamilton, where she was studying through Waikato Polytech without the aid of a computer."All my assignments had to be submitted on-line so I'd have to drag a friend or my daughter to the [computer] hub and they'd talk me through what I needed to do to submit my mahi. I was way behind the game, but I had the cheek to sign up for a Bachelor's degree in Maori counselling. I got through the first year then we moved down here."
Waitutu read about Computers in Homes in the newspaper. "I was itching for something to do because I can't sit around home," she says. "I signed myself up for it knowing it was what we needed. That decision starts off from the heart; it's for my kids, that's what they need. You don't go into it thinking you might get something out of it, but it was the start of me doing something for myself. I don't know if I'd be where I am today if it wasn't for that course.
She says the learning started and the kids flourished with a computer at home. Waitutu is studying Te Ara Reo Level 4 at Te Wananga o Aotearoa and is employed as Kaiarahi i te reo at Castlecliff. "My vision for myself is to be the best I can be," she says. "The computer course opened the world to me."
Computers in Homes graduates receive a reconditioned PC loaded with MS Office 2010 and Windows 7, subsidised internet and computer servicing for 12 months as well as free ongoing training if needed.
Some courses for this year have already started, others are due to start. All enquiries, phone Tania on 021 547 407.