We’ve all had to do it - helping gogo load her airtime on her phone. Technology is usually the one thing they want to stay away from.
In fact, they prefer having cellphones with actual buttons and even then, which they only use them for calls and to send and receive texts.
But that is now a thing of the past for Gogo Sibongile Nawa (67) and Dudu Machete (70) from Alexandra, Johannesburg, who are now more comfortable with technology after a series of lessons on using the internet and smartphones.
They battled to hide their joy when they sat down to talk to us about their first time using the internet with their smartphones and how it made things easier for them.
At first Gogo Sibongile says she preferred going to Ithlokomeleng, an old-age home in the neighborhood where, “we exercise, have a moment of prayer, we would knit and sew with sewing machine”.
She says while at the old-age home she liked knitting items of clothing, however, she has found new hobbies through her now best friend.
“Since the training, I am now spending too much time on my phone now than knitting. It seems as though it is becoming a priority,” she laughs.
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Having access to everything on the palm of her hand is the highlight for her.
“If I am not able to watch the news on television, I can simply read on News24 and catch up.
“Another thing that I love the most right now is TikTok. I have downloaded the app because it has so many fun videos,” she laughs while adding that she doesn’t post anything or comment. “They can be disrespectful sometimes, but it is so nice, I laugh so much from the jokes.”
Stress, what’s that?
“That is because of my tablet. My peers now wish that they also came to join the training but unfortunately the program came to an end, but I do share what I know with some.”
Gogo Dudu she says she did not like the idea of owning a smartphone at first because of the stories she heard about them.
“I thought it was bad especially for children, I didn’t think that it had so many other things to learn like trying out new recipes for my family from videos on YouTube.”
The lessons changed how she perceived the internet.
“Aah, I buy data now with my mdende (old-age grant) money,” she laughs.
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“It was my first time using the internet, and now that I have experience, it feels so good. I can make use of Google, and all social media platforms because of the teachings from the training. It opened my eyes because some of the Gogo’s did not know anything about using a cellphone and internet.
“Data is a problem because it runs out quickly and I enjoy being on the internet. I like it so much especially when I Google and download my favorites gospel songs.”
She says communication with her daughter who works in Kwa-Zulu Natal has become so much better and easier, and she happy that she is able to hear her voice without spending a lot of airtime.
“I use voice notes which are very important because airtime finishes very fast, it means I have to say what I want to say paying attention to my balance but with voice notes, we can talk as much as we can. I can still hear her voice too.
“Or video calls, which feels like she is just right to me when I miss her. Another thing I did not know about e-hailing taxis.”
She says if she needs to go somewhere, “I just enter the address, for as long as I know it and the e-hailing driver will then come fetch me and take me where I want to go, really that is super nice for me and so much easy.
“I encourage other gogos of my age to also learn because our parents did not have these moments but now, we have the opportunity to go to school. You can learn even if you are 80 years old. I tell some of my friends who thought it’s a waste of time to learn at this age.”
She feels light.
“I had stress last year because my late husband was sick, and I’d go to the old age for iGOGO but come back quicky to take care of him. But that stress became better, so to just sit at home without learning anything, it is not right. Sometimes we ignore things that can help us as well as our grandchildren."
Her wish right now is for the program to reach other gogos from the rural areas, so that they can also have the experience.
“Especially with our grandchildren because they usually come home with school projects that needs them to use the internet search engines for information. Now I am able to help them as well.”
All this was made possible by the founder and director of non-profit organization goGOGOgo, Jane Simmonds through the project iGOGO. She says this is after they became aware of how important the internet is for learning and communication during Covid-19.
“We did some research about the internet and [found that] grandmothers find the internet as something frightening and a dangerous place. They see it as place where you have your identity stolen, money, there’s scams, pornography, abuse, so they are very frightened by the internet.
“We thought we wanted to deal with this because grandmothers are raising about 4million children in South Africa, and you can’t always speak to the children about behavior changes; you need to speak with the caregivers and in this case, the grandmothers.”
She explains that the idea of iGOGO is to build capacity in grandmothers so that they can support change in learning, “in the children that they are raising.”
“We though if we could make grandmothers comfortable with using the internet then they would be comfortable to allow their grandchildren to use the internet.
“So, by teaching gogos that the internet was safe and that it could improve their lives and that it is useful and that there are safe ways to use it and can be a benefit, we wanted them to benefit from it and understand their grandchildren can benefit from it.”
