OLPCorps UCBerkeley Zambia

Umoja OLPC

Project Name:"Umoja Ya Wa Toto Kwa Dunia Ya Computer", or "Unity of Children in the World of Computers" in Swahili
Participating Schools: University of California, Berkeley & Cavendish University of Zambia
Deployment Location: Lusaka, Zambia

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(A) -1.950106, 30.058769, Kigali - OLPC HQs Kigali, Rwanda (B) -15.496032, 28.168945, Cal OLPC Deployment Site Lusaka, Zambia -12.248402, 25.869873 (C) -12.554564, 25.72998, UNHCR Meheba Refugee Camp Meheba, Zambia http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/GNA?page=zmb&newsid=47b2f4422 5#B2FF7108 </googlemap>

About Us

The Cal OLPCorps team has partnered with FORGE to deploy XO laptops in Zambia. Originally, we intended to run the project in the Meheba Refugee Settlement in rural Zambia. However, we soon discovered that the project and investment of power infrastructure would be unsustainable in the long-run with the prospect of repatriation for the current refugees. As a result, we have shifted the focus of our project towards working directly with refugee university students as part of our team to deploy laptops to a primary school in Lusaka, Zambia. Many of the refugee students are pursuing degrees in non-profit management, so this is also a great opportunity for them to gain experience for similar roles in the future and for OLPC to invest in the next generation of local leaders.

Mission

Connect

people to learn

Share

stories that inspire

Empower

societies to create

OLPCorps Proposal

In Progress.

Cal OLPC Team

• 

  International Team

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  Berkeley Team

Umoja is a true partnership among Berkeley team, Zambian team and grassroot educators. In order to engage the local community in a sustainable manner and provide knowledge-sharing at every part of this process, half of our team will consist of local university students in Lusaka. As the International Team works to find resources and partners for the deployment, our counterparts in Zambia will begin working with local primary schools. Over the summer, the two sides will come together for mentorship and a knowledge-transfer of technology, resources, and local community practices.

Berkeley Coordinators

Role	Name	University	Major	Driving Force
The Architect	Jessica Yueh	UC Berkeley	Business Administration & Development Studies	Effecting change starts with connecting individuals. Collaborative action and equal access to resources, technology, and education can break down barriers to growth.
The Geek	Jack Chi	Rice University UC Berkeley	Computer Science, Managerial Studies, & Psychology	I believe every child is a miraculous marvel of the world, and the impact on future generations is our shared legacy.
The Pedagogue	Laura Keys	Washington University in St. Louis UC Berkeley	Computer Science, Linguistics, Mathematics	Access to information should be universal; education and forces from within communities can make a change for the better.
The Adviser	FORGE	Staff advisers: Abby Speight, Kjerstin Erickson	www.FORGEnow.org	FORGE builds upon the capacity of African refugees to cultivate empowered communities and to create the conditions for peace and prosperity in their countries.

Zambia Coordinators

FORGE Education Fund (FEF) sponsored refugee university students

Role	Name	University	Major	Contact
The Architects	Boas Fernando Kwase Mohammed Abdallah	Cavendish University Zambia Cavendish University Zambia	BA NGO Management BA Economics
The Geeks	Antoine Ngeleka Paul	Cavendish University Zambia Cavendish University Zambia	BS in Computing N/A
The Pedagogues	Kikassa Peter	Cavendish University Zambia Cavendish University Zambia	BA NGO Management N/A

More information soon

Partnerships

FORGE

FORGE is a US-based nonprofit organization that works with displaced communities in Africa. We build upon the capacity of African refugees to cultivate empowered communities and lay the foundation for peace and prosperity.

Since its founding in 2003, FORGE has implemented over 60 community development projects that have served more than 70,000 refugees in the four refugee camps in Zambia & Botwana. An official Operating Partner of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), FORGE works in Zambia, hand-in-hand with refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan.

Among FORGE's many projects are three solar-powered computer training centers, a network of libraries serving 50,000 individuals, a rights advocacy program, health education services, women's empowerment projects, multiple preschools, arts, music & writing programs, and repatriation resource centers. FORGE also operates a Microfinance Institute serving refugees in Zambia, and an Education Fund that provides school sponsorships for refugee youth who would otherwise be unable to afford school.

Project Ideas

The OLPCorp designate 100 laptops for our project. You are right, a typical primary school in Lusaka ranging from 400 ~ 600 students, we will not achieve our original goal- "one laptop per child". However, I believe this mission is moving towards the right direction. You had said you wanted to "...change my community and the world at large". I am with you on that goal 100%. How? It is done with one act of random kindness at a time. So you might ask..."how do we allocate 100 laptops for 500 students?". I have a couple of ideas:

• Sugar Cubes:

  Umoja holds workshop on outdoors math, digital art, web design, language, etc. Fully utilizing XO's outdoor and measurement capability

• Sugar Hours:

  Umoja works with Arthur Winner school to allocate lap hours for kids to explore the connected world!

• Mobile Sugar:

  Umoja students will partner one-on-one with existing class for research - we would go into different classrooms in a mobile XO center

The idea here is to accomadate and expand upon the original curriculum. Let's say if a history class is doing a lesson on the Egyptian pharohs- here the kids would get access to updated ruin discoveries, join the chat with real historians. We can run office hours to help kids learn to do simple word processing. The afterschool workshop will focus on getting the kids passionate about their interest. It will involve hands-on activities where they will interact with other kids through exploration.

conversations with Kwase
What nearby school might be interested in participating? Can you meet with an administrator there and make sure they would want some computer access added to their school?

Among other schools we went to, we have picked a school called Arthur Winner Basic School, located in Chilenji South, Lusaka. Kikassa and I talked to the Head Teacher Mrs. Veronica Mwila Sinpila and she was more than ready welcoming the Project and said, she was all along looking for such chance to come to her school. She said, she was ready to work with us and provide any necessary support that makes the Project a success at the end of the day in her school. According to the Head Teacher, her school’s students ages, range from 5years to 19 years.