OLPCorps Kibwezi Educational Centre, VA Tech, James Madison U., Radford U., Bucknell U.,and Northern VA Community College, Kenya
Kibwezi is a small rural town located in the arid region of Kenya, about half-way between the capital of Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombassa. Many of the students come from the surrounding farms. Their families survive on subsistence agriculture and many do not have electricity nor running water in their homes. The access to laptops computers is pure joy. Last year many took the computers home and took videos of their families with the record program. We were lucky enough to listen to wonderful songs that they recorded in their churches as well.
Pure joy, a child at the Imani Primary School in Kibwezi, Kenya learns with OLPC.
One pitch black night, my partner teacher, Bob Braxton and I were "chatting" via OLPCs to Kenyan teachers from accross the Educational Centre Compound. When we decided to walk over to visit the teachers, we gained the attention of dozen of children in the study hall. Because they saw two mysterious colored lights crossing the soccer field and coming towards their classroom. The brok form and were shouting at the classroom entrance when we arrived. THAT IS WHY I TEACH OLPC! AND THAT IS WHY I AM GOING BACK TO AFRICA :)
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 group has already made personal commitments to pay for ourselves to return to Kenya in July 2009. We are scheduled to arrive on July 3rd and leave July 27th. During that time, we break into small teams and learn from our Kenyan teachers how they faired over the past year with the OLPCs. We are taking fresh faces theis year, 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. There are approximately 400 hundred students in the primary school. If awarded 100 OLPC, we can devided the computers either into certain grade levels or a computer lab. We will consult with Grace Chege, the Imani Primary School Director. Based on past experience she takes our advice seriously and advices her staff to work with us as equals.
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. Burke Presbyterian covers these costs. Therefore, we have a history of assisting the needs of the school. The OLPCs we be our latest and most modern contribution.
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. In 2008, a group of 8 adults from Burke traveled to Kibwezi to plan for larger group of 22 to visit in July 2009.
2) As for the budget, we are self sufficient. We have all paid for our own air plane tickets and we will be staying in tents for one month. OLPC will "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. If awarded any part of the grant other than laptops, we will apply it towards purchacing a wifi to celluar bridge, such as the digi wi-point 3G. This need is a result of a "lesson learned". The only internet service available in Kibwezi is provided by Sarfaricom, a cellular phone provider that sells a GSM card that plugs into standard laptops, but not OLPCs. So our group will need to purchase the bridge in either the United States or Nairobi and the Laptop GSM/sim card locally in Kibwezi and pay for service through Safaricom.
Cell tower in Kibwezi, used for access to internet service. We will also have access to an internet cafe in town. This will make updates to the OLPC wiki page possible during the visit this summer.
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). It is planned that Greg Gates, the Sophomore from Virginia Tech will lead the University students in our group. They will teach Kenyan curriculum using OLPCs based on the OLPCorps Learning Guide.
Eric Fisher practicing on an OLPC computer. Eric is a high school senior going to Kenya in July 2009.
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.
Points of Contact(POCs) in the United States, David Norman(proposal writer), analyst, US Department of Defense, (703) 489-0334, parkranger1998-alaska at yahoo.com.
Group leaders
Rev. Beth Braxton, (703) 250-1156, pastor, revbeth at burkepreschurch.org
Mark Reimers, (703) 830-8677, retired forester, kibwezi at aol.com
American Student Participants:
Greg Gates, Student Leader, Sophmore at Virginia Tech, greg.gates at cox.net
Brooke Postlewaite, Junior at James Madison U., postlebd at jmu.edu
Krista Yancey, Sophmore at Bucknel U., krista.yancey at bucknell.edu
Eric Fisher, Senior in Highschool, Robinson Highschool, enfxc525 at aim.com
Kate Tidaback, Sophmore, James Madison U., katidaback at gmail.com
Lindsay Kipp, Junior, Radford U., likipp at radford.edu
Bill Lesser, Sophmore, Northern Virginia Community College, WHLesser4 at yahoo.com
POCs in Kenya, Samuel Mote is the current director of the Educational Centre. He can be reached by cellular telephone at 011-254-722-239264 or by mail at PO BOX 76, Kibwezi, Kenya, East Africa.
Grace Chege, Imani Primary school teacher, imanikibwezi at gmail.com