OLPCorps Kibwezi Educational Centre, VA Tech, James Madison U., Radford U., Bucknell U.,and Northern VA Community College, Kenya
Our team is composed of 22 Americans from Burke Presbyterian Church partnered with the Imani Primary School at the Kibwezi Educational Centre, in Kibwezi Kenya. Our team is already financially committed to returning in July 2009. Five members of the team are enrolled in University level classes at the following schools: VA Tech, James Madison University, Radford University, Bucknell University, and Northern Virginia Community College. The other 17 team members come from all walks of life, including a elelementary teacher and a math teacher from Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology. This will be our second deployment of OLPC computers to the primary school. Last year we purchased six OLPCs through the Give-One-Get-One (G1G1) program. This year we have already purchased four OLPC computers, two new OLPCs through G1G1 and two used OLPCs through Ebay; in addition we have adapted "Sugar on a Stick" to train team members who do not have the ororiginal hardware. Our focus this year is developing a curriculum which fits into Kenya's focus on standardized testing. We have two former teachers training with the Laptops via a tutoring program located in Burke Presbyterian Church. This practical experience paired with guidance via email cocommunication with the director of the Imani Primary school will prepare us for our second deployment.
About the Partner School
The campus of the Kibwezi Educational Centre contains a polytechnic offing two-year vocational programs in carpentry, masonry, welding, and tailoring. There is also a secretarial department which requires students to have graduated from secondary school. Finally, a primary school and preschool exist for grades one though eight. Scholarships are available for need based students. Such is the case for orphans. There are currently around thirty children in the greater Kibwezi area supported and sometimes under scholarship for educational costs.
Three Kenyan teachers from the Imani primary school in Kibwezi, Kenya teach OLPC to their students
Several strengths of the OLPC deployment to the Kibwezi educational Centre include:
1) A twenty-one year history between Burke Presbyterian Church and the Local Presbyterian Church of East Africa, to include the Educational Centre and the Inmani Primary school, which we help fund.
2) OLPC "bonusing" off of costs already covered by Burke Presbyterian Church, to included thousands in travel expenses, OLPC shipping, and the salaries of the local Kenyan teachers. And if awarded 100 OLPC laptops by OLPC Africa Corps, church members can carry 5 OLPCs each, thus providing a guarantee that the computers arrive safely at their intended destination.
3) A demonstrated comitment to learning at the local level in the United States. Both by attending meetings of the DC Area OLPC Users Club (the largest such club in the world) and by tutoring American students year-round with OLPC computers (started in November 2008).
References:
Kibwezi Educational Centre on Wikipedia
Background on the partnership between Burke Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church of East Africa
Background on Burke Presbyterian Church's Global Intern position located at the Educational Centre. This Global Intern will help teach with OLPC computers and act a liaison between the Kenyan school and the technical support in the United States.
Youtube Video from 2008 Deployment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zT1WIMpRF4
Photograph from 2008 Deployment:
In this photo is Diane Reimers, a kindergarten teacher and member of Burke Presbyterian Church, along with two teachers from the Imani Primary School.
Bob Braxton teaching with an OLPC to a student at the Imani Primary School.
Eva Thorp, a professor at George Mason University teaching with an OLPC.
Pure joy, a child at the Imani Primary School in Kibwezi, Kenya learns with OLPC.
P.O.C. David Norman, (703) 489-0334, parkranger1998-alaska at yahoo.com.