OLPCorps Georgetown Kenya

The Team

Sarah Ancas: Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, 2009.

Leslie Gordon: Georgetown University, College of Arts and Sciences, 2009 and University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, MSc Candidate, 2010.

As two African studies students at Georgetown who studied abroad in Tanzania in 2007, we already have experience working with local people and initiatives. We both speak intermediate-level Kiswahili and have closely studied the social and political culture of East Africa in classes at Georgetown and abroad.

Our Project

We will deploy the laptops in partnership with the Children of Kibera Foundation (CofK), directed by Kenneth Okoth, Assistant Professor of African Studies at Georgetown University and native of Kibera. We plan to distribute 75 laptops to the Red Rose School in Kibera and 25 to the Salve Regina School, located 15 kilometers outside of Nairobi in the Kiambu district.

About Red Rose:

The Red Rose School is administered and funded by CoKF. Red Rose is located in Nairobi's largest slum and its students are among the most vulnerable youth in Kenya. It serves 75 children between the ages of 6-12 who will be in school throughout July, with summer programs through mid-August. Red Rose already has a few PC laptops with wireless capabilities which have shown amazing results that we hope to amplify.

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="-1.311411" lon="36.784512" zoom="17"> -1.313305, 36.784644, www.childrenofkibera.org Children of Kibera Foundation Red Rose School </googlemap>

About Salve Regina:

Salve Regina is a small, underfunded school serving extremely disadvantaged students, and has previously received books and supplies from CoKF. It has approximately 25 students between the ages of 6-12, none of whom have any computer access. We have been in contact with Greg Karungo, Salve Regina's Director, who assured us that the school has one teacher who is computer-literate that will serve as the project point-person.

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="-1.226942" lon="36.788406" type="map" zoom="11" controls="small"> -1.16695, 36.82201, Kiambu Kiambu Kiambu, Central </googlemap>

Benefits:

Red Rose's limited access to computers has produced marked and tangible benefits for its students. School retention and attendance have increased as a result of computer access, providing students with a creative and interactive outlet that also yields marketable life skills. The students and teachers at Red Rose use technology to share their stories through blogs, photo albums, penpal programs, and online books, and to access free online educational materials which would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. The XO laptops would scale-up access within the existing projects and allow the students to more easily connect with each other and forge relationships with students outside their community. Using the successful blueprint from Red Rose, we can transplant a similar program to Salve Regina, where the lack of computers has prohibited this type of venture.

Work Plan:

The 75 laptops at the Red Rose School can remain in the school's secure computer lab when not at home for the students' project work. Many teachers at Red Rose are already trained on PC and Apple computers, and we are confident that we can train them on the XO laptops upon receiving the OLPC training. We will also hire and train a computer teacher who could continue classes after our departure, and we allocated a year's salary for this in our budget, as well as the necessary funds to pay for the extra electricity the computers would require. We see this aspect of the project as a critical part of continuity and creating local ownership of this effort.

We will work systematically to integrate the XO laptops into the existing technology-related programs at Red Rose. Our experience with internet-based social networking and research will help us work with Red Rose's teachers and administrators to incorporate projects into the curriculum and after-school activities. Project themes of their own choosing will allow students to engage their community, both locally and outside their borders, to learn more about themselves and others and research areas of their own interest.

Our second program site is the Salve Regina School. At Salve Regina we will work simultaneously with teachers and students, who will be in school through the end of July; the teachers will be available for additional training in August. We will help the teachers develop a curriculum that uses the laptops and allows the students to pursue their own interests while expanding their academic horizons. The students can take the laptops home to use among their local community as part of their academic exploration.

We believe fully in CoKF's mission to empower vulnerable students through education and we hope that these laptops, as well as our work plan to help students use the internet for educational and cultural exchange, will add to the positive affect that CoKF is having in Kenya.

Budget:

Item	Total
Airfare for Leslie, DC-Kigali-Nairobi-DC	$2,000
Airfare for Sarah, DC-Kigali-Nairobi-DC	$2,000
Sublet of a 2 bedroom flat in Nairobi	$600/month= $1,200
Food and Transportation in Nairobi for both team members	$1,500
Salary for the New Computer Teacher	$200/month= $2,400 for a year's salary
Extra Electricity for the Computer Lab	$900
Full Total	$10,000

Letter of Support from our partner organization, Children of Kibera: