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THE Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA),
with Microsoft Philippines as its partner, has expanded the Tulay
Community Technology Learning Centers program of helping OFWs and
their families gain access to technology and upgrade their high-tech
skills.
“With the opening of four more
Tulay Community Technology Learning Centers, we hope to bring
technology to more Filipinos and their families,” said Mae
Rivera-Moreno, PR and Community Affairs manager of Microsoft
Philippines.
She added that the new
“Tulay” centers have opened this year in Milan, Rome, Bicol and
Zamboanga.
“Tulay validates impact of
technology in real life. We are not only providing Filipinos access
to technology; it is also important for us to help keep family
values alive, by offering more ways in which families could
communicate with each other in spite of the physical distance,”
Rivera-Moreno added.
Recipients of the program grants
are public centers where people can gain IT skills and training.
They learn to use technology by being introduced to and trained in
basic computer fundamentals. The courses range from Internet basics
to Web designing.
The centers have
Internet-connected computers and web cameras. These enable the
OFW’s abroad to communicate with their families here—and
vice-versa—in virtual face-to-face conversations.
“Aside from being able to talk
through chat and e-mail, OFW’s and their families are also
learning computer skills, which would enable them to seek out higher
employment when their contracts overseas end,” said Rivera-Moreno.
She added, “Basically,
Microsoft is the one that provides the software for the program. We
also allotted $25,000 for each center. But it is the center’s
responsibility to sustain the program.”
As of May 2007, Tulay has reached
out to 7,121 OFWs and their families. These OFWs have been enabled
to find better employment opportunities.
Aside from the four new centers,
Tulay already has seven other CTLCs in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan,
Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Local centers are in the OWWA
offices in Manila and Cebu, La Union and Cagayan de Oro.
-James Konstantin Galvez
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