The Zulu Tech Inclusive {ZTI} was established in April, 2014, for the sole purpose of integrating, educating visually impaired students in the Republic of Liberia, who are high school graduates and above, specifically in to computer science and technology. Motto: Preparing the visually impaired for the job market. Changing the dark corner of blindness in to a brighter world. Since our existence under the period of nine years, we’ve graduated up to eighty-two students ( fifty-eight males and twenty-four females). 50% of our graduates are currently employed in to government and private sectors, 5% absorbed in to our staffs while 3% are self employed.
The word without technological barriers for persons living with Disabilities
Selecting Persons with Disabilities, [THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED/BLIND, DEAF/HARD OF HEARING AND THE MOBILITY IMPAIRED,] for the technological skills based training program in Liberia:
And connecting them to the main strea of the technology sector through intensive awareness and advocacies, thereby, giving them an opportunity to create for themselves a technological space that is barrier free, in other to work and school with non-disabled persons in the same space, hereby breaking the chain of discrimination and dehumanization.
The Zulu Tech Inclusive {ZTI} was founded by Rev. Z. Wilfred Gewon who is the vision-bearer and the current Administrative Manager. This computer institute was established under a project titled bringing computer science and technology to post conflict visually impaired Liberians, after he has noticed and realized that visually impaired Liberians were lacking adequate education, job employment and full integration in to higher education due to lack of modern technology.
Upon his return from a brief study at the Obtimun College in South Africa, sponsored by the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB), and the Institutional Development Program (IDP) young leaders camp, Rev. Gewon decided to use his lubbistic power to establish a computer program especially to accommodate all visually impaired Liberians who are high school graduates and above. On April 13, 2014, the computer school was launched and sponsored by the Greater Monrovia Lions Club beginning with one desktop computer and thirteen blind students. Not been satisfied, Rev. Gewon was able to engage the administration of the AME University and the Greater Monrovia Lions Club to form a partnership which led to a memorandum of understanding that led to the relocation of the Lions Club Computer Institute for the Blind from the LAW Library on Ashmun street to a modern state of the art computer lab on the main campus of the AME University on Camp Johnson Road which was funded by the National Social Security Corporation NASSCORP, the AME University and the Greater Monrovia Lions Club GMLC.
Today, we can boast of ten desktop setups to accommodate at least twenty blind students for both sections (morning and afternoon). ZTI runs three times per week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and nine months leading to graduation where graduates are certificated, from October to June the next year. Our graduates are also encouraged to enroll at the AME University for easy access to the computer lab.
Rev. Z. Wilfred Gewon
Ms. Chrismuriah Torbor
Mr. Isaac E.T. Kolleh
Jeff E. Tarnue
Taught by the Administrative Manager himself Rev. Z. Wilfred Gewon, theory instructor. Listening and comprehension of JAWS the screen reader for the blind, booting of the computer, navigating through programs, opening and closing of programs etc. taught by Ms. Chrismuriah Torbor, practical instructor, all Microsoft Office programs taught by Mr. Isaac E.T. Kolleh practical instructor and internet browsing, formatting and programming of smart-phones and tablets, taught by Jeff E. Tarnue, Software Engineer and deputy manager.
LICCIB also has an extended certificate program at the Public Affairs Department of the United States Embassy called the advanced braille technology training where all our graduates are admitted for three months at the US Public Affairs Library to be trained to modern digital braille equipment to include the usage of the braille embosser, which enables the blind user to transcribe a soft copy braille from the computer to the embosser in to hard copy braille through the software called Duxbury Braille Translator. They also learn to use the OCR pearl camera which also enables the blind user to scan a hard copy printed document or book in to soft copy through the software called openbook. Because of this partnership, the US Embassy through a material grand, donated the latest Everest DV5 braille embosser,
Job Access With Speech (JAWS) 2018 screen reader for the blind, along with the pearl camera at ZTI computer lab in 2018 which is currently serving the visually impaired community free of charge, since then, we’ve rendered free braille transcriptions to more than 500 blind students.
The ZTI in partnership with the AME University is the first and only Institution in Liberia to offer such service to blind students.
