Located outside the city of Manzini, Emmanuel Wesleyan Bible College (EWBC) is home to many students aspiring to be future leaders within the Christian faith. The campus houses all of the enrolled students, most of the full-time faculty, support staff, and even has space for some other renters. As a result of its location and the economic backgrounds of the students that attend the school, there was a very limited amount of IT infrastructure and IT education at the college.
In 2019, the eSwatini Bridge Project began a partnership with EWBC. We began by installing LAN throughout the office and library, we even donated the equipment. By July of 2019, we had permission to teach a Microsoft Office course to all students. The students were given a chance to learn how to proficiently use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.
Alicia Steward continued to provide education consultation to EWBC, by teaching some other courses, and holding workshops. The workshops helped prepare students and staff to teach using 21st century pedagogy. She was able to demonstrate the value technology can bring to learning regardless of the subject matter. We also held a virtual reality outreach event on campus. Students, staff, their families, and other community members had a chance to try VR free of charge. Today, Alicia continues to teach courses, tutor students on ways to use the internet for research, and Nicholus provides IT support as needed. Our team even helped some of the college staff establish their own internet access at home.