The Idea behind the SCDC
The Sutherland Community Development Centre is an initiative from the South African Astronomical Observatory the local community and various partners, in particular the Department of Science and Technology as the main sponsor, with the purpose of;
1. Providing a platform where the intellectual property from the SAAO (South African Astronomical Observatory) on site in Sutherland could be use to contribute meaningful to the community,
2. Providing a platform where any stakeholder could promote programs that is aimed at addressing the Socio Economic challenges within the community,
3. Provide educational resources and tools that will enhance the learning, specifically in maths and science
4. Through technology enable local community members to access opportunities either for further studies, bursaries, employment, skills development and accessing funding for small business development.
5. Creating a culture of continuous learning and development.
What’s On Offer At SCDC
Computers + Internet
The Computers at the SCDC is thin clients. It features a Intel atom Processor with 1GB DDR3 RAM and runs the Ubuntu OS.
WiFi
At the SCDC the public as well as the community can buy Wifi voucher for internet. How does it work? U buy a Wifi voucher for R20 and then u will receive at one time password valid for 1 hour. The internet speed at the SCDC is about 100MB/s, that means u will get download and surf speed of 10MB/s.
Kids Corners
The kids corners at the SCDC is a small corner in the SCDC where kids can learn fun and new stuff. Every week there will be events for the kids like learning chess, learning to read and also other fun activities that might take place that week.
Library
At the SCDC there is a small library where the kids can learn new and fun stuff. There is also information for the students do do research for their school projects as well as information to do their home work.
Study Corners
The study corners at the SCDC is small work places where kids and also students can come and study or do home work every day from Monday to Friday.