TAIPEI?ROY AND HEIDE VILLUNA are two unassuming Filipinos accomplishing feats in Taiwan. As the heart and soul of the 5-year-old e-PC Data Processing and Learning Center in Taipei, this couple has been quietly and steadily promoting computer literacy among Taiwan?s overseas Filipino workers.

?To Roy and I, this learning center is more than just a business; it is more of a public service to our fellow OFWs,? says Heide.

Located on Shuang Cheng Street in downtown Taipei (a stone?s throw from St. Christopher?s Church, the heart of Taipei?s ?Little Manila?), e-PC is offering group tutorial classes on computer fundamentals ideal for beginners, typing, Windows operating system, MS-Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher), networking and basic programming. The learning facility also offers two levels of training to OFWs planning on opening their own computer repair shops in the Philippines someday.

Comfort and warmth

More importantly, this modest PC-learning center has been providing much-needed comfort, warmth and respite on Sundays to OFWs still recovering from a week of grueling work?a period often nettled with frustration, extreme loneliness and boredom.

Roy, a project manager at the notebook division of one of Taiwan?s biggest computer companies, and Heide, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree on information technology, started e-PC in 2003.

?My husband and I know what it?s like to be a migrant,? says Heide. ?You are struggling with a foreign language and culture shock. You are starting to feel isolated and depressed. You need someone to talk to. Many find solace in the church. Others turn to community groups for support. Some keep themselves busy by signing up for classes or enrolling in programs like ours.

?By picking the latter, our fellow OFWs get to shoot two birds with one stone?they keep on learning new things and they get to socialize and form new friendships in the process.?

Community heroes

The Villalunas are community heroes, says Antonio Basilio, managing director and resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) in Taipei.

?The e-PC Learning Center is more than just an entrepreneurial venture for the Villalunas,? Basilio says. ?On the day that they opened this facility, they also planted seeds of friendship, compassion, openness and tolerance in the community. Every OFW who enters their learning center is treated like family.?

The Meco chief adds that the basic computing classes being offered by the Villalunas are complementary to the free PC-learning program provided by Meco in central Taiwan. At least 400 OFWs in Taiwan are expected to graduate from Meco?s free basic computing program in 2008.

More than 800 OFWs have completed Meco?s free PC course in the last couple of years, says Basilio.

Never too old

To those who know zilch about computers, signing up for e-PC?s tutorial classes is unthinkable, if not downright ?preposterous.? Many might be thinking, ?I am too old to learn,? ?It?s intimidating,? ?Am I capable of absorbing all those lessons?? ?Naku, di ko keri iyan (Wow, that?s too much for me,)? or ?What if I am the slowest student in the group??

But one is never too old to learn, according to tech specialist Roy.

?We don?t set any age limit,? he says. ?In fact, our oldest student was a 67-year-old Filipino-Chinese, and he was one of our most diligent and hardworking pupils. He studied hard because he wanted to perfect all his exams.?

Desire to learn

As long as the individual has the desire to learn, e-PC will take him or her in, he says.

?That?s our only requirement,? he explains. ?Once you?ve enrolled in our program, it means that you are going to see it through. You are committed to it. You are doing this because you want to enrich yourself and you want to grow as a person. As long as you have the desire to learn, we will be there for you. I will teach you until you?ve learned your lessons by heart,? Roy says.

And the great thing is, you need not pay an additional fee to get all those extra tutorials, he adds. ?No deadline, no limit for extra lessons,? he adds.

?We are providing free tutorials to our students. They cannot take on other programs unless they pass their exams. That?s good for our students because they will really be getting their money?s worth?and more,? Heide says.

Members for life

The husband-and-wife team looks at e-PC as more than just a regular business operation. Roy is a Bicolano and Heide is a Cebuana.

?We love what we are doing,? Heide says. ?Of course, to keep it going we need to sustain it. But at the end of the day, it?s all about serving our fellow migrants.?

Roy agrees. ?Some of our former students have left Taiwan, found jobs either in the Philippines or in other countries. They still e-mail us. In fact, whenever they have questions about their lessons, they communicate with us online, and we still teach them! As long as they are registered members of e-PC (membership costs only NT$500 or roughly P650), they will be e-PC members for life,? says Roy.

He adds, ?To me, that?s a reward in itself. They are continuously learning; they are continuously improving themselves. Some of our former students even informed us that when their employers learned that they were computer-literate, they were assigned to do office work. That?s wonderful. They are able to put what they learned here to to good use.?

Whenever students fail to show up for their classes, Heide?everyone?s ate or big sister?gives them a call.

Invitation to dine

?I ask them how they are doing. Some of them tell me they can?t join our tutorials because they are having financial difficulties. I tell them, that?s not a problem. We can come up with a financial plan for you. We tell our cash-strapped students to pay their tuition only when they are financially able. If they are really broke, they could still attend our classes for free,? says Heide.

?We tell them, ?Perhaps you have some coins for your bus fare. If you do, drop by our center. Join our classes, at dito ka na lang kumain. Saluhan mo kami. (and eat here. Join us). Usually, we prepare a simple lunch or dinner. Para kaming pamilya dito. (We?re like family here.)?

Besides offering tutorial classes in Filipino), e-PC also provides computer services from repair/ troubleshooting and PC assembly to software installation and PC-upgrading, among other things.