OLPCorps Fordham Ghana
Project Daakye
For more detailed information, please visit our website.
The complete text of our proposal and budget is available online here.
We will be posting a pdf and doc version for download soon.
We are a team of teachers from the Bronx, NY. We recently formed Project Daakye. Daakye translates to future in Twi, the language spoken by most residents of Ghana. Our emphasis is not on trying to solve all of the problems of Ghana or the Bronx, but to put the right tools in the hands of the future community: children. By improving the educational conditions through technology in these communities we believe that genuine solutions to many other problems will arise organically. At the core of our project is the idea that technology is a force for change, helping create human connections to collaboratively solve problems. We support open source design and believe that by allowing children to see how things work and tinker with their tools richer solutions and broader understandings develop.
The problems facing impoverished communities seem innumerable and insurmountable. We recognize that technology alone is not the solution. Change comes from within communities, and by connecting with each other they can only grow stronger. Our goal is to allow children to learn from and shape their environment, create meaning through exploration, and translate their learning into change.
Our project begins with delivering 100 XOs to the Primary Practice School in Agogo, a small village outside of the city of Kumasi in Ghana with the assistance of two middle school students from Archimedes Academy in the Bronx and our team of experts. Upon our return we will purchase additional XOs with outside funding for students at Archimedes to ensure lasting cooperation between the two communities. We will expand this project in the future with a web portal and annual trips between the partner schools.
Our Team
Our team is composed of four members, each of whom brings a unique set of skills and experience to this enterprise. Mike Benedetti is a Caltech graduate and former Hewlett-Packard engineer who has used his experience with Linux and web design for causes related to social justice. Michael Abbey is a math teacher at Archimedes Academy, originally from Agogo and a native Twi speaker. Justin Duffy is also a math and technology teacher at Archimedes who has worked to integrate open source systems at the school. Claire Kalambay is an English and digital arts teacher at Bronx Expeditionary High School who has studied in Ghana.
After graduating from Wesleyan University, Claire and Justin joined the New York City Teaching Fellows and enrolled in graduate Education programs at Fordham and Pace University respectively. As teachers, Justin and Claire have experience creating projects and assessing their impact within the classroom and community and will work to collaboratively develop projects that are student-centered and dynamic. For the past two years they have worked with students from the poorest congressional district in the United States in schools where high school graduation rates remain below 50% (link). Here, as in Agogo, sustainable change is a necessity.
Future Plans
Our plan is to address the needs of both communities through a partnership with the OLPC initiative. We will deliver 100 laptops to Agogo and spend 8-10 weeks in the community leading professional developments for staff and introducing project-based curriculum involving the XO. The pedagogical and technical experience of our team will be valuable as we have experience teaching with Scratch and designing student-centered lessons.
Michael Abbey maintains contact with community leaders in Agogo who will provide free housing and support while we are there and allow us to store the laptops. These professional and personal connections will facilitate communication after our departure and serve as the foundation for future developments of Project Daakye.
Upon returning to Archimedes we will use the additional $10,000 already pledged to this project to purchase XOs for students at Archimedes. By introducing the laptops at Archimedes we also involve the school’s partners in the project, IBM and Vision Ed. The commitment of a partner school in the Bronx creates lasting links and mutual investment in sustainable development allowing us to return to Agogo next year to bring additional students and supplies. To continue learning students will create a web portal allowing collaboration among students in the Bronx, Agogo, and the world.
Our project is more than just giving laptops or inspiring students to learn about technology. The education of all children is essential to social justice. Having witnessed firsthand the poverty of the Bronx and Ghana we request the support of the OLPC foundation to help children create the change our world so desperately needs.
Our Budget
To view our complete proposal and budget click here.
In addition to the funding we are requesting from the OLPC foundation, we have already raised $10,000 in pledges towards the support of our project. The letters below attest to these commitments.
Additional funding from Archimedes Academy and an anonymous donor (signed on his behalf by Justin Duffy):
Maps and Links
Letter of support from Emmanuel Aseidu, the headmaster of the Agogo Practice School (signed on his behalf by Michael Abbey):
View a slideshow of kids in Ghana and the Bronx who will be involved in Project Daakye.
Archimedes Academy
Project Daakye
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