A delegation from Cameroon, Africa is wrapping up their visit to La Crosse this week. One of the visitors is talking about what she learned in Wisconsin to improve health care in her community.
Sister Virgilia Zamah didn’t grow up with computers in western Africa, but a few years ago, she graduated with high honors from Western Technical College in La Crosse after studying information technology networking. Now, the tertiary sister of St. Francis is teaching medical professionals in Cameroon how to use computers.
“I feel so blessed being one of those who studied computers, one of the first,” she said. “There are many, many computer illiterate back in Cameroon. It is so challenging, at the end of the day you are so tired, but you are so happy because you are able to help so many people.”
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The organization La Crosse Friends of Cameroon raised the tuition money for Sr. Virgilia and another nun to attend Western. As a class project, she and her fellow students built a computer server for a Cameroon hospital. Donations continue to fund computers and other technology for that hospital.
Western Technical College President Lee Rasch helped strengthen the partnership between the two cities. Rasch said the sisters will help modernize health care in their community, which is plagued with HIV and malaria.
“In this case, it’s not job development — it’s career development for the Tertiary Sisters,” said Rasch. “(We’re) giving them the information and the tools over hopefully the next couple of decades to make a difference in their community.”
Rasch said eventually, the sisters and La Crosse-area students and volunteers will develop a computer networking system to connect the Cameroon hospital with its many rural clinics.
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