这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
East Africa is a growing technology center. The area creates award-winning applications for various of mobile devices at a fast rate. The newly established companies there are full of imagination, what they lack are females.
东非是一个不断发展的科技中心。该地区为各类移动设备飞速创建获奖的应用程序。这里新成立的公司也非常富有想象力，它们所缺的是女性员工。
One group in Uganda is working to guarantee that women are not left behind in the technology industry.
乌干达的一个组织致力于确保女性不会在科技行业中落伍。
Christine Ampaire is a 23-year-old computer program engineer in Uganda. She says girls in Uganda are pressured from an early age to study what many consider to be easy subjects. She says that parents and teachers often think math and science are too difficult for girls.
Christine Ampaire是一位23岁的乌干达电脑程序工程师。她说乌干达女孩从小被迫学习大家认为较容易的科目。家长和老师通常认为数学和科学对女孩来说太难了。
"I won't say they think girls are stupid, they just think that the hard stuff is for boys because they are stronger. They generally assume because she's weaker physically, maybe mentally she will not cope with the hard stuff," said Ampaire.
她说：“我不是说他们认为女孩太蠢，他们只是认为难学的科目该留给男孩，因为他们更强大。他们普遍认为女孩身体较弱，也许生理上女孩就应付不了难学的科目。”
But Ms. Ampaire knows better. Two years ago, she co-founded Girl Geek Kampala, the group teaches women the skills they need to make profitable applications and websites. They also bring in female technology leaders to speak to the students and serve as models of success in business. Ms. Ampaire says one thing Uganda women lack is the belief that they are able to do things.
但Ampaire女士有更深见解。两年前，她与人创办了坎帕拉市女极客组织，该组织教给女性制作可盈利应用程序和网站所需的技能。她们还请来女性科技领袖给学生们演讲，并将她们作为商业成功的典范。Ampaire女士说，乌干达女性缺乏自信。
"In our class, most of the girls just kept quiet and took the back seat when it came to doing coursework and all these other things. I thought maybe if we had an environment where it's no judgment, it's safe for everyone to say, ‘I want to start from the beginning,' it would be really cool," said Ampaire.
她说：“在我们班上，多数女孩在做课堂作业和其它事情时都安静地坐到后排。我想也许如果我们有一种不评判的环境，大家都能安心地说，‘我要从零开始，’那就太好了。”
But Ms. Ampaire also says Uganda women need more than just trust in themselves.
但Ampaire女士还表示，乌干达妇女需要的不仅仅是自信。
"I feel the skills are part of that whole process of building confidence. If I can write my whole app by myself, then I'll be more confident to say I'm a girl in tech," said Ampaire.
她说：“我认为能力是建立自信这整个过程的一部分。如果我可以自己写出整个应用程序，那么我就能更自信地说，我是一位科技女性。”
Girl Geek's courses are free, they are held in facilities donated by a technology company. Christine Ampaire estimates that they have trained around 150 women so far. Similar programs have been created in Kenya and South Africa. Ms. Ampaire says in years past, she would know everyone of the women at technology events she attended across Africa. Now the computer programmer says she sees more and more new faces.
女极客课程全部免费，它利用一家科技公司捐助的设备来举办。Ampaire估计，至今为止她们已经培训了150名左右的女性。肯尼亚和南非也创建了类似的项目。Ampaire女士说，过去几年在参加非洲各地的科技活动时她几乎认识所有与会的女性，但现在新面孔越来越多。
"That kind of excites me. I'm like, 'Wow, we are growing.' The gender imbalance is still high, but you can see the difference. The change is happening," said Ampaire.
Ampaire女士说，“这让我非常兴奋。我想，‘哇，我们在成长。’性别失衡仍然很严重，但你可以看到一些不同，一切正在改变。”
Joldeen Mirembe joined Girl Geek as a beginner two years ago. She was not sure that she had the ability to write code. Now, she helps lead the group and teaches classes herself. Ms. Mirembe says Africans are eager for technology.
Joldeen Mirembe两年前作为初学者加入了女极客。她当时不确定自己能写代码。现在，她帮助领导该组织，并自己带课。Ampaire女士说，非洲人渴望科技。
"Everyone here is so hungry to get these things and understand them. They just need to be given the opportunity, especially the girls. They can be as good as anyone out there, given the opportunity," she said.
她说，“这里的所有人都非常渴望学会这些。他们只是需要得到机会，特别是女孩子。只要有机会他们就能和其它地方的人一样优秀。”
Ms. Ampaire believes that for Ugandan women to truly succeed in technologies, they need to create openings for themselves. She says no one else is going to do that.
Ampaire女士认为，乌干达女性若要在科技行业真正成功，就必须为自己创造机会。她说，没人会为你做这些。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯。
(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)