OLPCorps Clark Kenya

Introduction

We are a team of three graduate students, two from Clark University’s International Development and Social Change program and one [add here – Rosemary, where will you be studying?] We will be working in partnership with the Greater Newburyport/ Bura Alliance(GNBA) to provide 100 XO laptops to Bura Primary School in Bura Location, Taita-Taveta District, Kenya. These computers will serve a dual purpose: first, to revolutionize the way that children learn, both in and out of school; and second, to serve as tools for cultural and linguistic preservation. By using the laptops to document oral histories among their elders and creating an accompanying dictionary, children will serve as agents of change, constructing valuable knowledge for their community.

The Community

The people of Bura in the Taita Hills are part of an ethnic and linguistic minority numbering approximately 250,000 in total. The primary language is Kidawida, but Kiswahili is widely spoken and English is the medium of learning in school. There are no Kidawida dictionaries which are current and accessible to the community. The language is intermixed with Kiswahili and, without active attempts at preservation, is in danger of dying out.

The culture is also changing rapidly. Twenty years ago, Bura had little running water or electricity and few telephones; now these items are commonplace. Family and social structures have been changing due to migration to Mombasa and other urban areas for employment. The people of Taita are proud of their culture and have mixed feelings about these changes.

The Project

The first goal of our project is to change the way that children learn. Currently, most Kenyan schooling relies primarily on rote memorization, or what Paulo Freire calls the “banking approach” to education. Students are considered objects of knowledge, “receptacles” to be filled. Providing each child with a computer has the potential to completely change the system – children can learn by doing, teach one another and their families/community, and become active co-collaborators in the construction of knowledge.

The second goal is to use the laptops as a tool for linguistic and cultural preservation through recording oral histories and creating a picture dictionary, thereby involving children in providing a valued resource for their community while simultaneously teaching them how to use the equipment. Involving teachers is vital to this process, so that they too will see the potential of the computers and feel empowered to continue using them in the classroom after we leave.

To this end, we propose the following tentative plan:

Week 1: Develop relationships with local leaders, hold meetings with the school administration, county council, district education officer, chief, etc. Elicit local feedback and modify/enhance the plan to meet the community’s desires and needs.

Week 2: Set up the server. Meet with parents, teachers, and interested community members and continue to refine the project’s design. Hold workshops to familiarize teachers with the laptops.

Weeks 3 – 6: Do basic activities with students (ages 6 – 12) and teachers in the classroom to teach basic computer skills. Recruit students and families who wish to participate in the oral history project. Working after school, the children will interview their elders using pictures, audio, and/or video equipment on the way their culture has changed. With the help of older siblings or students, and using phonetic transcriptions, the children will use the computers to write up their stories in Kidawida (using phonetic transcriptions) and share them with one another. Using a projector, they can also present their projects to the community.

Weeks 7 – 9: During this time, students will be on break. We will run a short school holiday program for those who wish to continue using the laptops. Students will prepare a basic Kidawida-English dictionary, with pictures and/or spoken words along with writing; we will choose the format based on what the community feels would be most useful. We will also work with teachers during this time to plan how to integrate the computers into the curriculum for the upcoming year.

In addition to teaching computer literacy, this project intends to encourage intergenrational dialogue among and facilitates children making their own media for themselves and their community. It expands learning beyond the classroom walls and develops students’ reading and writing skills.

Our Qualifications

Our Taita team has a diverse set of strengths. Collectively, we have several years of experience in elementary education, filmmaking, and IT. Two of us are studying International Development and Social Change and have been trained in project management and monitoring and evaluation, and each of us has worked in the developing world.

We will be supported by GNBA, which has a seventeen-year relationship with Bura based on mutual exchange and friendship-based development. One GNBA member has over ten years of experience developing and delivering training to IT staff and users in Africa and around the world and will be available to provide technical assistance.

Communication

English is spoken by teachers and most young people. We plan to involve older students, siblings, and students at the nearby teacher training college to help translate between Kidavida and English when needed. Involving these people will also help to saturate the technology into the community.

Financial Needs (to be added later)

Sustainability

We will provide continued support in a number of ways. First, we will be training local teachers and other interested people to maintain the network and integrate the laptops into classroom activities. As part of this initiative, we may use the computers or other video equipment to create training videos to leave with the community.

We also plan to actively nurture the collaboration between GNBA, Bura, and Clark University. Clark hosts a well-respected program in International Development and Social Change, and this partnership provides an opportunity for interns and recent graduates to continue the work that we begin in the initial phase. GNBA and its partners in Bura will continue to provide financial and volunteer support as needed, raising funds and linking project participants with Kenyan and international resources as it has for a variety of projects for seventeen years.

GNBA has a wide network in Taita and Kenya, and several key resources, including local administration and officials in the Ministry of Education, are eager to provide their support.

Finally, we will combine our project deployment with research that can inform the sustainability of this and future projects. We plan to develop monitoring and evaluation methods with local community members and teachers-in-training, looking in particular at the ways in which the laptops empower children and support a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Ideally, the project can then be used as a pilot for other areas in Taita and Kenya.