Summer-Fall 2001

Since 1984, CCTV has work to promote democracy, alternatives to mainstream media, and economic opportunity in Burlington, VT. CCTV operates Channel 17/Town Meeting TV, Northern Image Production digital production and duplication services, and Cyberskills/Vermont and computer awareness, access and training in Burlington's Old North End.

In February, CCTV announced the launch of its newest project “Streaming Democracy.” In an effort to increase the public's access to state government, video coverage of Vermont Governor Howard Dean's weekly press conference became available on line, along with the Governor's Inaugural and 2001 Budget Addresses and complete coverage of “Point Counterpoint,” a legislative debate series. The Governor's press conferences may also be seen on public access channels across Vermont. Cyberskills Covered

When “ethnic cleansing” swept through Kenya in 1991, it spelled the end of Duncan Nganga’s prosperity. As a Kikuyu raising cows and chickens in a Rift Valley collective, he was among 900 farmers forced to flee with their families from a rampaging rival tribe, the Kelenjin.

"We used to live a good life,” recalls Nganga, an evangelical Christian who compares his difficulties to the biblical story of Job. “They burned my house. We had to move to the city. I sold my pickup truck. Sometimes my kids went to sleep hungry. But I am a believer, and I know God is going to provide.”

If so, one of His initial provisions was to put Nganga—pronounced “Nyanya"—on the path to computer literacy in Burlington, where he has friends to help him get settled...

Nganga’s link to a new life is CyberSkills Vermont, a technology center in the Old North End. It’s an educational resource for people in need of workforce training and public access to computers.

"When I came here last year, my first problem was communication,” Nganga explains in a thick accent. “I know the British version of the English language, so maybe I cannot figure out some words you say.”

To help overcome that barrier, Nganga is pursuing a high-school equivalency degree at Community College of Vermont. But in the United States, computer know-how is essential for a career in auto mechanics, which is how the short, solidly built East African supplemented his dairy and poultry earnings until social upheaval sent him scrambling.

At CyberSkills, Nganga qualified for the community scholarship program available to Chittenden County residents—the courses would otherwise cost $165. He is enrolled in courses on computer basics, the Internet and Web page design. Nganga is one of 300 people who benefit each year from such classes held in the upstairs lab; one floor down, the public-access center charges $1 per day for computer use and $2 an hour to go online.

"Duncan understands you have to practice,” observes Hez Obermark, an Americorps/VISTA volunteer at CyberSkills. “He really puts in the time.”