Doing this in their capacities through what started as aa pledge on Twitter to assist students with software installations in their laptops, the three young IT professionals were flooded with pleas from other students.
Martin Nangolo, Heskiel Edwards and Sakeus Wilbard (all 27-years) have so far assisted about 40 students while the plea has been received from more than 60 students of the University of Namibia (Unam), International University of Management (IUM) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
“We currently do not have a scope but rather tailored our solutions to the students’ needs provided that they are software related. We aren’t attending to any hardware solutions as our options are limited and most software solutions can be done remotely while practising social distancing,” said the trio.
The main aim of the project right now is targeted towards students, who are doing online classes with installing the operating systems and client software such as document editing/typing software, additionally with housekeeping of their laptops.
“We know and realised some if not most students we spoke to don’t have access to these tools which are important during their tertiary years and later on in life, plus some may not be able to afford these installations, that’s why we decided to do it for free,” Nangolo informed Youth Corner.
He said other students are welcome too, provided that they provide proof that indeed they are students at a particular institution. “I remember assisting a student who is currently studying in South Africa but he is home for the lockdown,” mentioned Nangolo.
He explained it is not cheap to have these installations done. “It is quite tricky to measure since all experiences are individually based, but it’s roughly about N$500 per head,” stated Nangolo on how much it would cost if an individual was to pay such type of service.
“Devices should be updated frequently because these updates guard against security risks and fix bugs and other small problems that would cost you unnecessarily to have the machine fixed. Use authentic software, leave torrents alone,” stated Nangolo.
He cautioned especially students to disinfect their devices from time to time. “Also, avoid plugging in strange memory sticks and always scan your external strong devices,” he mentioned.
Something important he also mentioned was for students to avoid financial transactions over public networks and to learn to fact-check everything they read online. “The internet is littered with misinformation and there is a need to have the ability to easily pick up whether the information at their disposal is accurate or not.”
The trio is filled with joy and thanked those who have been motivating them on social media to keep up with the great work and philanthropic deed, further receiving praise from those they have buoyed.
Auguste Timoteus (22), a third-year Unam student said the assistance she got was helpful and it has made her work easier now.
“I had major issues with Microsoft activation, and my laptop was super slow. Word would fail to activate and my work would sometimes fail to save on the laptop but because of the help from the guys, I can now work efficiently, it’s easy to type and submit my work online on our Moodle platform that we have been using,” confirmed Timoteus.
First-year law student, Jesaya Amunyela (19) says he is relieved that Nangolo and fellows could assist him during this tough time in academics. “I had a problem with Microsoft Word- it was not installed and whenever I had to type my assignments, I had to use the online version,” said Amunyela. -psiririka@nepc.com.na