Flat out

It's Thursday night, and I have spent the whole week so far studying the ceiling. Not that the ceiling is so interesting, but I managed to pull a muscle in my back - probably while practicing for the Olympic gymnastic team. Or something.

This means, of course, that I have not seen much action at Blue Dragon over the past few days. But I do hear bits and pieces from the kids who walk in to my office to look sympathetic and give me advice on what I'm doing wrong. Thanks guys.

There is something pretty exciting going on, though. Late last year, the Irish Embassy gave us a grant to open a computer lab, staffed with a full time IT guru. And then, early this year, a British company called Springboard4Asia gave us accreditation to train our kids in ICDL - the International Computer Driving Licence.

Normally, street kids are given a very simple choice of training options: motorcycle repair (if you're a boy), and sewing (if you're a girl). There's nothing wrong with either of those vocations, but there IS something wrong with the assumption that, somehow, all people from disadvantaged backgrounds are only capable of them.

In coming days, 8 of our kids - 4 girls and 4 boys - will go to a testing center and sit the exam. If they do well, they will have an internationally recognised certificate attesting to their computer literacy.

I'm really looking forward to the results... Now if only I can get up to go congratulate them...