The fourth Girls’ Night Out aimed to pair younger and older women to make sure ladies of all ages are able to fully utilize their mobiles.

One-on-one training works well with phones as they are all slightly different

The group was small and we also ended up discussing the reasons – do the young women in Dar es Salaam not have older women in their lives? Are the Bibis still back home elsewhere while the daughters and granddaughters are in Dar studying or working?

“Hello dear! I am practising… your number is in my contacts now”

We worked on the basics: how to use a recharge voucher, how to read, reply, delete and send messages, as well as how to use the contact list and how to set up reminders to the calendar and use the alarm clock in the phone.

“Ooh, there are games as well!”

We still think it is worth it to try and make sure the older generations are included in the information society, and are able to use well whatever tools and channels they have available. If you know of any organisations working with “watu wazima” who might be interested in collaboration, please pass their contacts to us.

Thomson Lutta Maguru commented on our Facebook page: “Saw the smiles on the Ladies who came…. U made me miss my grandma, to bad she isnt close…..”. Perhaps participating in this might give something to the younger participants as well?