Total Uganda, one of the leading integrated oil and gas company, has donated computers and Job Access with Speech (JAWS) software to the Uganda National Association of the Blind (UNAB).
The JAWS Software which allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by an electro-mechanical device will help the organisation take advantage of the information technology age.
Speaking at the handover ceremony on Tuesday, Susan Nampala, the Human Resource and Administration Manager at Total Uganda noted that the company offered to support the organisation which takes care of people with vision impairments as part of her organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
“This is one of the ways through which Total Uganda delivers social value to the communities in which it operates. We therefore believe that Technology is a great equalizer and powerful tool for everyone in this highly competitive and global economy. These tools will enable our brothers and sisters here to learn new skills and achieve their goals, and I’m so glad that we were able to make this donation happen,” said Nampala.
When receiving the donation on behalf of UNAB, Charles Byekwaso, the Project Officer in Charge of Information Technology at UNAB said they have had to limit the numbers of people with vision impairments who want to train in IT literacy at their school because of the limited resources.
“The last donation we received was in 2002, so we have been using outdated technology. We thank Total Uganda for this donation because we have had only three computers. We are very sure this will go a long way in helping us train more people. So far we have 15 students. In the coming intake, we shall even accept more students,” said Byekwaso.
