Goldies' Computer Camp 2009

Hi,

The Goldies' Computer Camp 2009 marked the end of the ICT month in Sabah. It was a 2-day camp for seniors aged above 55 and 40 of us were selected according to a list of criteria. There were some husband and wife couples attending too.

This weekend was spent learning about FaceBook, the most popular form of social networking.

The venue was at the Sabah Skills and Technology Center and the camp was sponsored by the state government.We were bussed to the Center each morning and in the evening,back to where we had parked our cars.

It was a great outing as we not only learned how to social-network but we also made new friends. On top of that we were fed every 2 hours!! We felt really pampered as the food was good and there was plenty too. The organisers were the Sabah Computer Society and they did a fantastic job.

The lecturers were great and the facilitators were ever so patient with the bunch of us, as we all well know, our senior brains have somewhat slowed down a bit and it takes some time to grasp new things.

The internet connection, however, was below par and our patience was sorely tested as we had to wait for what seemed like ages before we could upload or download ( which is the correct term????)a page.

Nevertheless we learned how to create an event, search for a picture on the net and upload it, invite people to be friends, how to find friends, how to find groups to join, how to create our groups, how to create a page, etc etc etc.

To be given such a learning experience, hands on, and all free to boot, is something we are very grateful for. It also makes us feel that we are not forgotten, or left aside as dinosuars in the present technology-oriented era. As one of the participants pointed out in his speech at the closing ceremony, our children who are so adept with the computer, are not patient enough to teach us and we often get scolded for being slow to grasp things. So this opportunity given to us to learn some skills with the computer is really heaven-sent.

Indeed it was a weekend well-spent, even though it was tiring. We met old friends and made new ones at this camp. Hopefully, we will be selected again to participate next year.

Oh, by the way, I emerged as the first prize winner. I received the champion's trophy, a home media center media player, a mobile hard disc and an optical mouse. There were 3 major prizes and 10 consolation prizes. Everyone left the camp, very happy and satisfied as we all had learned something new. All of us were also presented with a goody bag at registration time on the first day so everyone had something to take home. The blue T-shirt I'm wearing is also given to us so we were wearing "uniforms" so to speak. The minister of the sponsoring ministry gave away the prizes and officially closed the ICT month.