BPTT opens IT doors for Carenage seniors

THIRTY senior citizens from northwest Trinidad were given an exciting introduction to information technology through an intensive five-day workshop at the Carenage Homework Centre. Sponsored by BPTT, the workshop covered the fundamentals of computer literacy .

The most exciting moment came when participants were told they could keep the Samsung tablets provided by BPTT during the workshop. The oldest trainee, Leonora Smith, 83, of La Puerta, Diego Martin, was particularly delighted.

The workshop was led by Trinidad-born Sonja Shuffler, who is the principal officer for Toronto, Canada-based IT for Seniors, a non-governmental organisation aimed at empowering senior citizens to “bridge the gap” to information technology.

Carenage-born Shuffler said she was motivated to lead the workshop simply because she wanted to “give back to the community” where she was born and grew up. “I left Trinidad 40 years ago and I felt that a workshop like this for seniors would bring a lot of joy and meaning to them. Over the five days, you could see the gradual change in their attitude as they became more familiar with the technology. In one week, their lives have been changed forever. They owe it all to BPTT’s corporate social responsibility,” said Shuffler.

BPTT’s community sustainability and stakeholder relations adviser Joel Primus was also thrilled with the enthusiasm displayed by the senior citizens: “It is heartwarming to see the glow of excitement and satisfaction on the faces of these seniors.”

Primus explained that the IT for Seniors exercise complemented BPTT’s nationwide education platform which embraces initiatives from early childhood care and education, primary and secondary, to tertiary and post-tertiary levels.