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#REDIRECT [[OLPCorps Kibwezi]]

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'''[[OLPCorps Kibwezi Educational Centre, VA Tech, James Madison U., Radford U., Bucknell U.,and Northern VA Community College, Kenya]]'''<br />
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'''Personal Experiences:'''<br />
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"One pitch black night, my partner teacher, Bob Braxton and I were "chatting" via OLPCs to Kenyan teachers from accross the Educational Centre Compound. When we decided to walk over to visit the teachers, we gained the attention of dozens of children in the study hall. ''Because they saw two mysterious colored lights crossing the soccer field and coming towards their classroom. They broke away from their desks and greeted us with shouting and excitement at the classroom entrance''. '''''That is why I teach OLPC!''''' - David Norman, 2008 Leadership Team Member <br />
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'''Our Budget'''<br />
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Every group member/work camp participant from Burke has all paid for our own air plane tickets to Kenya in July. We will be staying in tents for one month to help keep of costs down and to avoid mosquitoes. <br />
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'''Our plan for distributing the Laptops'''<br />
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If awarded 100 OLPC, we can divide the computers either into certain grade levels or a computer lab. We will consult with Grace Chege, the Imani Primary School Director. Based on past experience she takes our advice seriously and advices her staff to work with us as equals.<br />
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'''Lessons Learned'''<br />
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We will also have access to an internet cafe in town. One "lesson learned" is that we need to purchase a wifi to celluar bridge, such as the digi wi-point 3G. The only internet service available in Kibwezi is provided by Sarfaricom, a cellular phone provider that sells a GSM card that plugs into standard laptops, but not OLPCs. So our group will need to purchase the bridge in either the United States or Nairobi and the Laptop GSM/sim card locally in Kibwezi and pay for service through Safaricom.This will make updates to the OLPC wiki page possible during the visit this summer.<br />
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'''Points of  Contact:'''<br />
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'''Group leaders'''<br /> 
Rev. Beth Braxton, (703) 250-1156, pastor, revbeth at burkepreschurch.org<br /> Mark Reimers, (703) 830-8677, retired forester, kibwezi at aol.com<br /> 
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''' American Student Participants:'''<br /> 
Greg Gates, '''Student Leader''', Sophmore at Virginia Tech, ggates at vt.edu, greg.gates at cox.net<br /> Brooke Postlewaite, Junior at James Madison U., postlebd at jmu.edu<br /> Krista Yancey, Sophmore at Bucknel U., krista.yancey at bucknell.edu<br /> Eric Fisher, Senior in Highschool, Robinson Highschool, enfxc525 at aim.com<br /> Kate Tidaback, Sophmore, James Madison U., katidaback at gmail.com<br /> Lindsay Kipp, Junior, Radford U., likipp at radford.edu<br /> Bill Lesser, Sophmore, Northern Virginia Community College, WHLesser4 at yahoo.com<br />
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'''POCs in Kenya:'''<br />
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'''Samuel Mote''' is the current director of the Educational Centre. He can be reached by cellular telephone at 011-254-722-239264 or by mail at PO BOX 76, Kibwezi, Kenya, East Africa. 
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'''Grace Chege''', Imani Primary school teacher, imanikibwezi at gmail.com<br />
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'''Who We Are'''<br />
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The other 17 team members come from all walks of life, including an elementary teacher and a math teacher from Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology.
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'''References:'''<br />
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibwezi_Educational_Centre Kibwezi Educational Centre on Wikipedia]<br /> [http://www.burkepreschurch.org/twig.php?f=27&b=6m Burke Presbyterian Church] <br /> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zT1WIMpRF4 Youtube Video]
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