| Connecting rural Sri Lanka is considered a major hurdle in developing the country. We hear the whirling technical jargon like IT, ICT, ICT4D etc. etc. but it’s worth considering how far we have grasped the meaning of all this. If we place Sri Lanka in the real map of the present world, we are lagging far behind. This small battered country cannot be compared to Japan, UK, Germany and Australia. Though the world has opened its doors to ICT for a few decades now, we, as a country, have been hitting the snooze button on our alarm clocks for too long and have at last woken up though a little late. Whilst the Information Revolution had been changing the world, we persisted and believed in exports and traditional farming methods. Addressing the issues involved with making rural Sri Lanka an ICT literate country is complicated because the answers lie far beyond simple ICT education. In order to achieve this goal, as well as education, we have to make ICT a high profile commodity by raising its awareness and benefits to the rural villager.
The village of Mahavilachchiya is a promising ground for any kind of ICT initiative because of Horizon Lanka Foundation’s activities over the last seven years. Horizon Lanka Foundation has been actively working at a grassroots level, laying the groundwork for making this village a model e-village. They began closing the information gap for this community by introducing the computer and giving basic computer lessons. Over the years, this one computer grew to a few and more and more students took interest in this new technology. By helping local families purchase computers through one of its most successful projects, , more of the community began to familiarize itself with the concept of ICT, especially the children. The content of the computer training provided by Horizon Lanka began to become more expert and the children have been quick to grasp web designing and graphic design and now design and produce all Horizon Lanka Foundation related web sites. The Foundation in 2004 brought an Internet connection and a computer lab to the village. It is believed that internet access for these rural villages will help to reduce isolation, provide education and economic opportunities and ultimately improve the quality of life.
With all these things in place, how much more is there to do? So far most of the emphasis of Horizon Lanka’s work has been aimed at children. It is time to bring ICT to the community.
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