Technologically challenged in the third world

Busy day in the office today, while I was working on Letters of Inquiry for funding to start a Community Health Based Management initiative in Padang, I also had to help my coworkers with their projects.  I am really seeing how technology impacts the work of NGOs in the developing world, not just as a vital tool but also a source of frustration and stumbling blocks.  While I was working on grant proposals, my boss Helfi and Sumi were busy compiling the data they collected from a survey on drug use in Jambi.  It really showed how having local people on the ground able to carry out projects is only half the work.  They also need to be able to compile the data they acquire on a laptop (assuming they can afford one), and then enter all the information into a program (Microsoft) that is not only challenging for many Americans, but also stumps them with all of its English commands.  These English commands stump them on everything from computer virus warnings to editing text alignment.  I ended up having to spend a surprising amount of time explaining how to enter data in Excel, create graphs from that data, and then move the finally successful graphs into the Word document they were working on to present their data results to local government offices.  Simple challenges like that are all it takes to slow down progress and inhibit efficiency but in the US we take such office capabilities for granted.  Part of my job here is capacity building so I make an effort not to just fix problems myself but show them how to do it themselves, it takes time but short of giving a comprehensive lesson on Microsoft Office its seems the most helpful.