OLPCorps Muskingum College Lesotho

Draft Project Proposal, 2010 OLPCorps Africa

Two U.S. college students, a Lesotho Peace Corps Volunteer, a former Lesotho Peace Corps Volunteer, and a Mosotho primary school teacher have teamed up to distribute 100 XO laptops to children at Ha Nohana Primary School in Ketane, Lesotho, from June through August 2010. Our goal is to provide the children of Ketane with tools to educate themselves, to expand their learning community, and to become pro-active in their community to address and resolve local problems.

The computers will be given to children in grades 1-7 (low age), the computers will be owned solely by the children, not the school (individual ownership), and all the children in the school will receive computers (saturation). Ultimately, we would like to make Ketane the core of a long-term program that expands XO laptop ownership throughout the district, and possibly the entire country.

Ketane is a very remote, rural community which is accessible by road and small plane. Ha Nohana Primary School is not on an electrical grid, but the area does have wireless access to the internet via cellphone coverage. There is a very small computer school for adults started by a Peace Corps Volunter which has a small solar power system for charging the computers. Two XO laptops, acquired via the Give One Get One program, were donated to the primary school earlier this year. Enthusiasm by staff and students over these XO computers prompted a request to find a way to get more of the XO computers.

Because students will be on break for about half of the deployment period, we will be working outside the normal classroom setting. It will also be winter time, with below freezing temperatures and snow possible, making logisitics difficult at times, so we are prepared to be flexible in our scheduling.

English and Sesotho are the official languages of Lesotho and all primary school teachers are fluent in both. The primary school students study English but most are not fluent in it. The two U.S. college students are studying Sesotho but do not expect to be fluent by deployment, so instruction will initially be done in English with the teachers translating.

Initially, we will expand the computer school's existing solar power system so it can be used to charge all the XO computers at the primary school. We also hope to raise additional funds to acquire individual solar chargers so children can use the computers on their own after school hours and on holidays. We will build storage and charging cabinets at the primary school and will set up the network server there. We will aquire the necessary hardware and establish a contract with the cellphone company to provide internet access to the children.

Background

Isolation, poverty, poor nutrition, and an extremely high HIV/AIDS infection rate make life extremely challenging for the children of Ketane.

Primary education is free in Lesotho, but there are often few, if any, learning resources available. Secondary education is not free, and many students cannot afford it.

Support

The teachers and principal of Ha Nohana are very supportive of our project. We will also be working with an existing community group that supports the computer school, the local council, parents, community leaders, and other community groups to develop a strong local support system for the project before the computers arrive, and we will continue to work with them throughout deployment of the computers to insure long-term sustainability of the project. At the national level, we will be seeking support from ministry officials, members of parliment, the president, and the king. We are already working with the Peace Corps staff in Maseru, Lesotho, on ways Peace Corps can support the project. We have an existing affiliation with the U.S.-based group, Friends of Lesotho, and hope to get support from that group. We subscribe to the mailing list for OLPC-za (OLPC South Africa Interest Group) and will be contacting recipients of previous OLPCorps Africa grants in South Africa for advice and possible support. We are in the process of setting up a nonprofit organization in the U.S. to raise additional funds to support this project now and into the future.

Plans

Class will still be in session when the two U.S. college students, along with the computers, arrive in the village. We will use this opportunity to introduce ourselves to the school staff, the students, and the community, and to refine the schedule for XO training.