Tea and texting - lessons for silver surfers from O2 guru

Iroro helping an elderly couple at the Lighthouse Tea Dance

O2 guru Iroro Azanuwha spends his spare time teaching the elderly how to use mobile phones and keep in contact with friends and family.

Iroro is an O2 guru working at Speke Retail Park and is passionate about all things technology. His job is to help people, not just O2 customers, get the most from their gadgets and mobile phones and make the most advanced gizmos seem super simple to use.

Iroro said: "It can be frustrating when you’ve got all excited about purchasing a new handset, XDA or broadband service only to find once you get it home that you don’t know what to do with it. This is where myself and other gurus come into our own."

Iroro has taken his passion one step further. After becoming well known for his knowledge and ability, he decided to extend his mission to help people in his community by setting up workshops to help people use their phones.

Through fund raising, he gathered enough money to buy some large buttoned phones specially made for the elderly. He then supplied them all with O2 simcards and now meets with the group on the last Thursday of every month at the local tea dance at Liverpool Lighthouse in Anfield.

Iroro added: “Outside of work, I had been asked by a number of people if I could help with their mobile phone just because I worked for O2. It just escalated from there. I started running workshops for a group of older people and it helped them get the best from their own phones, and it ended up I was helping with all kinds of gadgets.”

“I’m hoping to start classes teaching elderly residents how to use laptops and hopefully have the same effect as I have had with the mobile phone classes. Computers are such a big part of daily life now and older people can get lost with the technology, so I want to do my bit to make it easier to understand.

“The classes don’t just provide a platform for people to learn about technology, they also provide a place for people to get together and meet new people, something which I am particularly proud of.”

O2 gurus are specifically recruited and trained members of the O2 team, who help customers with queries regarding their mobile phone, home gadgets.

If you have a problem with a laptop, your games console or a MP3 player you can simply pop into any O2 store and have a chat with the resident guru, who will help find the solutions for you. But you do not need to be a novice. Gurus also provide a service to the real techies. They even help customers learn about new technology on their own YouTube, Guru TV channel, www.youtube.com/user/O2GuruTV

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