JEDDAH — The Overseas Filipino Workers Cooperative Council (OFWCC), an umbrella group of Filipino cooperatives in the Western Province, opened its 31st computer literacy seminar last week. The seminar will be run every Friday until Oct. 19 at the Laparilla Restaurant from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. OFWCC's Acting Chairman Robert Perez said: “These short courses are intended for OFWs, office staff or others who want to equip themselves with knowledge of the current software applications.” At least 28 Filipinos attended the opening day. Perez said this was already a good start and expected numbers to grow. Those who attend the seminars can learn about Microsoft Word (Sept. 7), Microsoft Excel (Sept. 14), Microsoft PowerPoint (Sept. 21), Adobe Photoshop (Sept. 28 and Oct. 5) and Adobe Illustrator (Oct. 12 and 19). The training will be delivered by volunteer lecturers, including Ernie Geslani and Paul Arenas. Formed in June 1996, the OFWCC, a federation of cooperatives operating in western Saudi Arabia, started by organizing entrepreneurship seminars. Computer literacy quickly became its flagship project. It has already produced thousands of graduates. The OFWCC has also proved to be one of the most stable Filipino community organizations in the Kingdom.
