Projects/OLPC-Saigon

Ba Chieu Shelter Project

Location:

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam. It used to be the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later an independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975, but then it merged with North Vietnam. The metropolitan area of Saigon is populated by more than 9 million people.

The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,094 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Ba Chieu Shelter is located in Saigon. This shelter has about 18 girls, who do not have families.

Project Description:

Project Objectives

To introduce XO as a learning tool for children at the Phu My Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, and create a community of supporters of XO and Sugar users. Five XOs are requested for project pilot as part of the Contributors Program.

Timeline

Dec 14 - Jan 14 Project preparation, testing XO and Sugar, creating curriculum for the teachers at the orphanage with guidance from Caroline Meeks

Jan 15 - Feb 7 XO/Sugar introduction to the teachers of the orphanage and children; making contact with local techies, teachers, volunteers.

Feb 8 - Feb 19 Winter break

Feb 22 - April 12 Daily sessions with Sugar activities specific for Saigon area and appropriate for Pho My children; building OLPC community, making transition of the ownership of the project to the local OLPC team Collaboration with local community and project transition to the local OLPC team

Needs

This project is important as it will bring OLPC to children in the south of Vietnam. A similar OLPC initiative is currently ongoing in the Hanoi region. Linking the two initiatives together will create more learning opportunities and make education more accessible for children in the country.

Current initiative will start with one orphanage, and will expand beyond that as Saigon is a large metropolitan area with many children in need of learning tools to explore and embrace the world outside their school, city and country walls.

This project can't be done in emulation using non-XO machines as XO is a a magical world in itself, as it provides interactive base for the learners. There are 30 children in the main class, 5 XOs are good for piloting this project and bringing them to Vietnam.

Sharing Deliverables

Saigon OLPC is where you can find our detailed blog about this initiative and learn more about day-to-day progress and keep in touch.

We plan to create a manual with Sugar activities customized for the local area and Vietnam and make it available for the children worldwide.