OFWs in Milan take up basic computer course

Thirty overseas Filipino workers have begun basic computer lessons at the Philippine Consulate General in Milan, Italy. The computer training course seeks to bridge, through information technology, the communication gap between Filipino migrant workers and their families in the Philippines. It provides the OFWs access to less expensive communication line. It is a joint undertaking with Microsoft's Tulay Project in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. The sessions for the first batch of trainees are done in two shifts at the Consulate's Community Technology Learning Center for Filipinos. The three-hour training sessions are conducted every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Balikatan, an organization of Filipino workers in Italy, is the Consulate’s community partner in implementing the DOLE-OWWA-Microsoft Tulay Project. Consulate officials said that additional batches of trainees have been slated for the September, October and November training. Aside from the basic computer courses, the Consulate plans to give trainers’ training courses to graduates from the program to enable them to train future enrollees. The project is reportedly being replicated in other Philippine embassies and consulates in countries with large concentrations of OFWs such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Rome, as well as in various OWWA regional centers in the Philippines. The Consulate in Milan also reported that its Caregiver Course is already training a second batch of enrollees while the Manipulative Massage Therapy Training will begin training its fourth batch on September 13, 2007. Over 30 Filipinos have graduated from the first training batch in the Caregivers Course while about 80 have finished the Massage Therapy Course. Many graduates of the courses are now practicing and earning from their new skills, the report said. - GMANews.TV