XO Mike

I've Moved!

2010-02-25T01:50:00.001-06:00

I have moved my blogging to: http://xomike.wordpress.com/

Please feel free to follow me there. I will be covering what I am doing now, mostly covering the photos that I am taking.

Xiau

-XO Mike

Pictures

2009-08-20T23:41:00.001-05:00

If you're still reading this I've added my pictures to flickr.

You can visit the pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwing49/collections/72157617887267509/

Server Work

2009-07-30T12:31:00.003-05:00

This week I spent almost every hour of our student training in the other room working on our server. We realized that we need to setup the Moodle installation (digital classroom for testing, turning in assignments, etc.) to display Portuguese. We also came up with the idea of creating a student created school Wikipedia. Both of these tasks were above what I knew how to do but I am powering through.

The biggest problem this week has been dealing with the slow internet; at the school we have the fastest connection I’ve seen on island, but even then we average 6KB/s downloads. To put that in perspective, Comcast will get downloads around 300+KB/s; 50x faster. Whenever I wanted to Google something I would need to wait a while just to let the page load and realize it isn’t what I need/want. The second biggest problem is that the power will go out and the worst moments. Some of the download managers I was using were able to save partial downloads and continue later but others weren’t as fortunate and after a 30 minute power outage I would start over.

Moodle needed to be addressed first and all of the manuals I would read online would tell me to click on this one item in the administration panel that I didn’t see. I thought I must have a different version of Moodle and kept reading post after post about how to set the global language to Portuguese. After hours of frustration I finally gave up and decided that the “admin” account on the XS (XO Server) is a crippled account which only allows limited access. Reuben, the technical guy from OLPC, replied to my email, with directions on how to activate the true admin account. Once I set the global language I realized there was another problem…

When we first setup the XO computers we register them to the server so that they are enrolled as students in Moodle and the server begins automatically backing up their files. When they were enrolled in Moodle’s database it set their default language preference to the only available language at the time: English. I searched for a “Bulk User Language Change” command but found none. I thought, how bad could it be changing each individually, there are only 85 accounts. When I went to edit the first user I realized that the registration automatically set their language but did not select a country, city, surname and two other fields, all are necessary to be able to save a language change. The time required was starting to add up and I put this job on hold.

Getting the Wikipedia server setup on our XS was one of the most confusing processes I have ever been through. Not knowing where to begin I tried downloading the 10MB file from Mediawiki which includes the Wikipedia server. Unfortunately I found out I needed several other packages to be able to make the Wikipedia site visible to users. I told the server to download Mediawiki and all the necessary dependencies for the server and after hours and hours (maybe 15 hours of actual download time, 36 real life hours) I thought I finally had everything I needed. When it didn’t work I tried to determine the problem and found out that it didn’t install everything it needed like it should have. I installed a database server and still it didn’t work. Despite downloading and installing the database server, I needed to run an install script which installed what I just installed >:-O !!!

After four days of work I am left without the site switched entirely to Portuguese and a Wikipedia page which has no template and is in the most unusable layout. This weekend is going to be kinda lame as I work on fixing these problems.

-XO Mike

Student Training – Week 2 – Days 3 and 4

2009-07-27T11:45:00.005-05:00

The second half of our week two training involved teaching Paint, Distance and Chat; this was the most frustrating and embarrassing training yet.

Paint, led by Chika, went rather smooth and students now understand how to draw with a traditional brush and how to paint predesigned shapes in various sizes. The worst part of training students in Paint was that the program has a complex color choice system. The system allows you to graphically choose a color or to put in the color numbers. To graphically choose a color you need to select which color you want in a wheel and then the hues of the color appear in a triangle within the circle. After selecting the circle color, you need to click again to choose the hue of the color you want; finally you click OK and can start painting in a different color. If it sounds confusing, it is; far more complex than necessary given the applications limited functions. Unfortunately, this was just the start of our frustrations with the design choices on the XO for the day.

After painting pictures and having the kids become comfortable with the program, students switched to test out Distance. Distance is an activity which requires two laptops. The two connect to each other and play a “CHHHH” sound and measure the time it takes for the other laptop to hear it. By knowing the speed of sound the laptops determine the distance between the two computers. Problems arise when there is lots of noise pollution and when the XOs choose to not connect to our network and server.

As we started introducing the idea to kids, we started noticing that some computers decided not to auto-reconnect to our network. When we manually told the laptop to connect to the network it would try and then eventually stop. Because of the simplicity of the XOs interface, there was no knowing why the computer could not connect. The teachers that were helping us in the classroom were looking at us asking for answers but we really didn’t have one. There was nothing wrong with the access points or server because other computers connected fine but there was no explanation why the computer wouldn’t connect. When we moved onto Chat, we had the same problem where computers were on different networks and some kids were unable to join the same chatroom as their friends.

The days were difficult to get through and it really shows the delicate balance between open-source and product oriented development. Using open-source programmers to collectively build and patch problems leads to unfinished, unpolished projects which have yet to be fully thought through. We are waiting to hear back from other Corps teams to see if they know of a way to work around the problems.

-XO Mike

Student Training – Week 2 – Day 2

2009-07-26T17:16:00.004-05:00

In order to better teach Class 2, Chika and I chose to do a demonstration (his idea) which would get the kids playing with the commands in a real world situation.

The Scratch interface.

Scratch is setup in three columns: on the left are possible commands in natural language (move 10 steps, play sound “miau” (meow in Portuguese), wait 2 seconds, etc.). In the center is the commands window where you construct the operations you would like your sprite to perform. On the right is the viewing window to see what your animation does and below you can switch to different sprites. Chika and I drew similar screens on the chalkboard and asked the kids to give us commands.

We started with the kids giving me the, “move 10 steps” command. I wrote it down and did nothing. I then explained that they need to tell me when to do it and we added the, “when you clap your hands:” command. When they clapped their hands, I moved 10 steps. We added more commands and then added a second sprite, Chika. Chika received his own set of separate commands but we both started when they clapped their hands. We had the kids running us into walls, putting on glasses, saying “Ola!” and other movements which had them interested and constructing.

Critically thinking.

The switch to using the program was easier than the previous day but it is still difficult to get the kids to remember how to click and drag. Pretty soon the kids were able to get their animations moving and we finished what we had accomplished the previous day in just over half the time. We were able to explain how to paint and change backgrounds to the second class and, because of time, we are going to let that diffuse to the other class.

Pleased with how well day 2 went, Chika grabbed a candid of me.

There is a very fine line between being a good teacher and a bad teacher. We were lucky to have a second chance at the program but it is difficult to know what works and what doesn’t before trying it. Danielle will be using a similar demonstration lesson to teach Memorize (a flash card game and learning tool when you make your own flash cards).

-XO Mike

Student Training – Week 2 – Day 1

2009-07-26T16:39:00.002-05:00

Training continued in week two starting with a day of Scratch training. Again, I was running the training and I tried to mimic how I taught the teachers. The training did not work too well because the kids were exploring the program rather than listening to some crucial bits of information such as how natural language commands will control the object. Furthermore, many of the kids found the button which adds a random new sprite (animation object) and after they had added 30 or so different sprites the program would become exceptionally slow due to hardware limitations and they would need to create a new project.

Working with the students can be fun and rewarding.

After struggling with the kids to keep them roughly guided down a path I changed gears and tried to have them work in groups to create an animation with two sprites which both move and say something to each other. The students quickly arranged their desks into groups but did not understand the concept of group work. The students appeared to start individual projects but it became apparent that they didn’t understand, or at least want to understand, individual work.

The group I was working with couldn’t stay close to on task. I tried to let them explore the program but at a certain point, they needed to begin participating in the creation of new animations rather than being entertained by example animations and adding new, random sprites.

As my frustration grew it became increasingly difficult to be effective in helping; I was thankful when music started blasting outside our classroom 30 minutes before we dismissed. We could barely hear anything over Nelson Mandela’s birthday celebration and packed up to prepare for the following day.

One of our students with a South African flag for Mandela's Birthday.

While the day was not a failure, there were several things which should have been executed differently teaching for children. When we got home we had a meeting to discuss how we should teach the same material to class two on the following day. Check back to see how we reacted.

-XO Mike

Pico de Sao Tome – Day 2 of 2

2009-07-25T13:20:00.004-05:00

As Judy, Corey and I climbed out of our tent into the bright and chilly morning, Brice got the fire started again. We munched on some bread and bananas that we had brought for breakfast and just as we were starting to warm up Brice announced that we would go to the peak now. It was still 50 degrees and about 6:40 and he started to change into his t-shirt and told us we would want to do the same. I didn’t fully believe that I would get hot but I took his word and followed suit.

We set off for the peak and my legs finally felt refreshed. The cold air woke me up and I was excited to reach the peak. 15 minutes into the climb and I was warm as we stopped to look out across the mountains. In the distance Brice pointed toward a mountain and said it was Mt. Cavallo, the peak we had crossed the previous day. I was stunned to see how far we had walked knowing that the path was anything but straight.

After 15 more minutes of near vertical climbing we reached a clearing and a small monument marking the peak! The view was incredible and we could see most of the north half of the island. To the south vegetation was blocking our view but it gave me a sense of pride to know that I had made it to the top. We were standing at 6,640 ft when the previous morning and that night we would be at maybe 15 ft above sea level.

Although there were no artifacts left behind by previous climbers (Brice explained as few as one group a month reaches the top) we scrambled to find the first Illinois memorabilia we could find. We decided to leave Corey’s hat behind, affixed to the pole after all signing and dating the bill. We returned to our campsite after a few minutes of glory and were back within an hour to prepare the last of the remaining Shpaghet and some tea brewed from the bark of a tree we passed while climbing.

After packing up our tent and gear we left our campsite and headed down a different route headed towards Neves, a city on the northwest side of the island. Walking down was much easier than climbing up however it was still difficult trying to keep your feet from sliding out beneath you, keeping your toes from jamming too hard into the front of your shoe, and trying to keep yourself from moving too fast down the hill.

We passed by new plants and trees and Brice explained them to us; my favorite was the petrol tree. The petrol tree produces a highly flammable sap that will burn for quite a while when lit on fire. He also showed us two holes in the ground with spider webs around the area; with one word he had me on my way, “tarantula.” We continued our path down and eventually met the ruins of an old abandoned plantation circa 1800s. I expected we were close to the coast because there were the remains of a path which had been cleared for a train to travel along the mountain. We started to follow the path and it was much easier than cutting through the dense jungle.

Back and forth we switched down the mountain, it was an easier slope but it slowed our progress. I can’t believe how any colonists found this high place and designed plans to lay this much track while moving huge quantities of earth to create flat land for the tracks.

After another hour or two of walking the tracks we reached an active area of cropland. We rested for a few minutes and Brice asked if we wanted to walk to a waterfall only 5 minutes away. Of course I wanted to walk to a waterfall… until I saw what we had to go through. Much of the area’s natural streams are channeled into aqueducts which carry the water to a hydroelectric plant. We walked on top of an aqueduct and reached a tunnel.

The tunnel was a narrow rounded arch only five feet across at the base. The tunnel had a concrete divider in the middle which allowed for the aqueduct to channel the water on one half while allowing access to the other side of the mountain. We took a few steps and it was sticky three inch deep mud. After twenty feet Brice stopped and said, “Agua, querem ir?” Water, you want to go? I figured water could only clean me at this point and we pressed on. The light at the end of the tunnel seemed infinitely far and it quickly became pitch black in the tunnel. Using my hands on the divider and the arch wall to my left we pressed through; I was thankful I couldn’t see my shoes, socks and jeans and expecting them to be ruined.

When we reached the end I looked left to see a 300 foot high waterfall; it was beautiful. We washed our faces off in the water and took lots of photos before we had to trek back through the tunnel. There are two ways to get to the waterfall, a 300 yard tunnel or a 200 yard tunnel; we took the 200 yard tunnel. After reaching the end I stuck my feet in the aqueduct to let the rushing water rinse my shoes, socks and jeans.

After another five minute journey we reached our rendezvous point and were told our ride would arrive in 20 minutes with some snacks. Lucio and his buddy arrived with some beers, sodas and cookies. It was good to finally be done with the trip and during the 45 minute drive back to the city I passed out, bobbing my head back and forth, intermittently waking up during a big bump. When we arrived at home I already wanted to schedule another trip the following weekend.

Brice and Lucio laughed at how much we loved the Shpaghet and invited us back to Monte Café to have dinner with them in the future. We exchanged numbers and I went into the house to fall asleep.

-XO Mike

Pico de Sao Tome – Part 1 of 2

2009-07-24T02:11:00.004-05:00

After speaking with our wonderful tour guide/taxi driver, Erneau, Corey, Judy and I were setup with a guide for the adventure of a lifetime. We all came to the island wanting to climb the mountain in Sao Tome but our expectations of the difficulty were nowhere near the requirements of the trek. Brice (Breecee) and Lucio, brothers from Monte Café, were going to take us on the trip. Brice would be our guide while Lucio would be our driver to and from the start and stop points.

We left Friday morning at 5am and headed inland to Monte Café which would be our starting point. After 30 minutes of driving we had reached our destination and met Brice before our two day trip to the top of Mount Sao Tome. After driving further up into the mountains we stopped and saw the signs toward the peak.

Brice said that he would make dinner and bring two tents and that we were responsible for lunch and breakfast. We took off on a gentle hike towards the national park passing by farmland on our way. Brice stopped a few times at different plants to explain their name and their unique properties. When we finally hit the national park the incline increased greatly and the higher altitude and climbing had me breathing hard.

After two hours or so we reached the clouds and humidity hit 100% as it somewhat rained with visibility around 20ft. Farther we climbed, not walked, on a narrow winding path with near vertical drops to our side with no ropes to protect us. The path was slippery with the high humidity and rainfall and it was evident that there had been several large landslides across our path.

As we reached above the clouds our path became even narrower as we climbed along a ridge of Mount Cavallo; we had yet to even reach Mount Sao Tome. We reached the peak of our first mountain and I was satisfied and although I still had energy, if that were the end of the trip, I would have been satisfied. We ate a quick snack and disappointingly headed down the mountain towards Mount Sao Tome. After another hour or two of climbing, we stopped and had lunch.

We stayed at the site for about 30 minutes having a bite to eat and a short nap before heading back up the mountain. This was our first real break since 6am and it was already 11. We continued up the mountain and after a particularly difficult portion Brice said to us, “Americans are very strong, this is where the Portuguese cry.” I could go for a little crying at this point.

By 1:30, after 7.5 hours of climbing we reached our campsite, 30 minutes below the peak. We were greeted by a large owl as we approached the site and I took it as a good sign; I haven’t really figured out what the sign was but it was really exciting to see such a large owl so close.

After two hours of rest we needed to refill our water supplies and headed down the mountain about 10 minutes to a natural spring. The path to the water was the most difficult section of both days and I’m glad we only needed to go once. The water was crystal clear, cool and safe as we drank it without any filtration. My fear of heights had been eliminated through the day of climbing inches from hundred foot falls and the fifty foot drop two feet from where we grabbed water no longer fazed me. Climbing back to our campsite took longer as we had to search for strong roots to grab onto and pull ourselves up. When we reached the top our guide asked if we wanted to go to the peak, we were caught a little off guard as we expected to go first thing in the morning and not knowing how far or difficult the climb would be, we declined and hung out in the sunshine and cool mountain top breeze.

As night fell, Brice prepared spaghetti and tuna (shpaghet, as he called it). The way he prepared it was unlike anything I have ever seen. He started with the sauce in one pot (homemade and canned by himself), added the tuna and let the mix come to a slight boil. He added one liter of water and let that boil (still in just one pot). He added the noodles and let it cook for about 10 minutes before the mixture was ready. He did not strain the Shpaghet but it was ready all in one pot and not soupy. It was some of the best Shpaghet I have ever had.

When the sun set, it started to get cold; I mean really cold. I was wearing jeans, wool socks and a fleece jacket and I was still cold. I expected to be alright to sleep in this outfit but I was soon regretting not insisting on Brice getting us sleeping bags. Corey, Judy and I all huddled into one tent as a way to conserver all of body heat we could.

There was a slight problem with the placement of the tent. The ground was very uneven and from how we needed to arrange our heads and feet in the tent, two of the three spaces were on a higher ground while my space was on a 30 degree angle from my right to left, away from the other two spaces. At first I started to sleep at the bottom of the ramp where it was soft but I was two feet from Corey and in much lower ground. I awoke at 2am damp and shivering and tried to climb back up the slope to reach some much needed body heat. Corey had moved to the very edge of the top of the slope and the only way I could be near him, absorbing his heat, was to try and curl up on the slope. I fell asleep near the top by Corey but woke up minutes later trying to crawl back up the slope to warm up again. This battle raged on for several hours until finally day broke and it was time to get up.

After some of the most uncomfortable sleep of my life I had a full days climbing and descending ahead of me.

-XO Mike

Student Deployment – Day 3 and 4

2009-07-21T17:18:00.003-05:00

Days 3 and 4 of our deployment were hectic, overwhelming and followed an unplanned, unexpected path. We had hoped to get the media during our initial passing out of the laptops but when they didn’t show, we cut our losses and moved on. As we started Wednesday we had plans to teach a bit of Write and Record; 10 minutes into training Paul showed up saying the prime minister’s wife, lots of ministers and the media would be there in another 10 minutes.

The Prime Minister's wife giving a speech about the project.

It was really encouraging to see the country excited about this project and it was great for us to be on the only national television station; now, everyone knows us and what we’re doing. The downside was that the day was not very productive for teaching.

We are teaching two classes of 40 students and Class 1 meets Monday Wednesday and Class 2 meets Tuesday Thursday. Early on many of the kids did not understand this rotation and we had 70 kids in one room with another 25 adults from the government, parents, and media. Again, despite the setback in training, it was encouraging and beneficial to have so many people beginning to become aware of our project.

Too many kids in one classroom.

The fourth day was, again, filled with too many students but we had more structure with fewer media and ministers in the room. We recapped what we attempted the previous day and made it clear that we would only allow students in Class 1 into the room on Monday. By the end of the day the students were able to take pictures, save pictures and insert their pictures into Write (Word). It seems like a small step but it is a major challenge when using a new interface.

-XO Mike

Student Deployment - Day 1 and 2

2009-07-20T17:10:00.002-05:00

This past week we began our deployment to the students. Monday was our official launch, confirmed by the headmaster, teachers and our translator. What none of them told us was that it is a national holiday. These people really don’t ever want to tell us no even when they mean it. When we showed up at 8am ready to go it was a ghost town. We postponed our deployment until Tuesday…

Tuesday morning it was the same drill: load the laptops into the car, head over to the school and set up shop. Today there were lots of kids at the school checking their final grades and hanging out with other children. We started checking the students in, registering their laptops to the network and the server and switching the system to Portuguese.

After we had around 50 students checked in I ran a short presentation about the handling and care of the XO: don’t touch the screen, don’t drop it, don’t bend the cord, etc. We let the kids play with the laptops for the rest of the day because we knew it would be hard to keep them focused. At the end of the day we explained that we would take the laptops back that night until their parents met with us to discuss the importance of not selling the laptop. We packed up the laptops and brought them home to charge for the next day.

-XO Mike

Teacher Training

2009-07-19T17:04:00.003-05:00

This post is quite outdated but my frustration during week prevented me from accurately describing the teacher training. Teacher training went with a few hiccups; first, people here do not like to say no even if that is the answer, second, using a translator who does not like to say no or contradict our understanding, even if it is wrong, adds a second layer of confusion, lastly, working with teachers who were not entirely sold or excited about the project led to late starts and uninterested exploration.

Our week started by meeting two fifth grade teachers; we want to teach sixth grade students in two classes. After a few minutes of trying to explain that we wanted to work with the sixth grade teachers of our two classes we found out that the teachers are by subject and rotate to the different classes. That afternoon we met with the six teachers in charge of our classes. This uses an additional four laptops of our already small stock and we requested that the headmaster shrink our classes to accommodate four less laptops.

When we first started working with the teachers we arranged to work for six days, two hours each day. We wanted to work with the teachers longer but they looked disappointed to have to attend these meetings. As we finally got started working with the teachers and laptops I started with a quick care and maintenance session before Corey started discussing the operating system and some activities.

Over the next few days progress was slow as any communication took at least twice as long through our translator Abilio because we would say something, sometimes he would ask us to clarify what we meant, he would tell the teachers in Portuguese and then if they had a question he needed to do the process in reverse.

The teachers’ excitement gradually increased and as we started our fifth day I was in charge of teaching Scratch, an animation activity on the XO. I had taught scratch to the English club on island a week before but I was nervous to try and teach the program only using Portuguese. The training went exceptionally well and for homework I tried to assign them to figure out how to make the cat walk in a circle. There is no command for this action and it requires them to repeat the walk one step, turn a little, and repeat. Within a minute of me assigning this task one of the teachers had perfectly demonstrated what I wanted. I spent a good hour trying to get the English club to realize what to do and this guy had done it in less than one minute! After he taught the class how to do it we revamped the homework to be creating some animation between a cat and a mouse.

The following day some of the teachers had not completed the assignment but those that had included changing backgrounds, relational logic (cat moving towards the mouse while the mouse moved away from the cat) and custom sprites (controllable objects); all concepts and ideas which they greatly expanded from what I taught them in a short amount of time.

When training ended we invited the teachers to continue learning by helping us work with the kids. Despite a rough start, the teachers are warming up to the idea and starting to create ways to implement the laptops in the classroom.

-XO Mike

Roca Sao Joao

2009-07-13T17:17:00.004-05:00

Saturday we went south and visited Roca Sao Joao, a plantation owned by the televised chef, Joao Carlos Silva. Ashley and Danielle went with the intentions of teaching a short English class while Chika and I planned to fix the computers dropped off last year by Paul. Paul, Andy, Judy and Corey were along for the ride and along for the gourmet meal.

The drive to the plantation took about 90 minutes because the roads were horrible. There were times driving down the road where I thought it was going to turn into a gravel road; instead, the road had a 40 foot long pothole the width of the entire road. Winding dangerously close to 30 foot falls to the sea we made it to the plantation safe.

The bed and breakfast of Roca Sao Joao

Danielle and Ashley started their English lesson while Chika and I worked on the computers. There were two at the site and both were out of service. We switched a hard drive, memory and a video card to get one computer working and the other is completely shot. The site does not have internet but the students at the plantation and school create jewelry and other crafts to sell; the computers could be used to keep track of inventory and sales.

Part of the plantation has been converted into a bed and breakfast including an African fine dining restaurant. We were asked to dine by the owner and chef for repairing the computers and teaching English. The meal is 40 Euros for guests and tourists and the 15 course meal was the best I’ve ever had. All of the food that was served is from the island and before Carlos begins preparing the meal he arranges all of the fruits and vegetables he will use on a long table for viewing next to his ancient wood burning stove.

The display of fruits and vegetables in the restaurant.

Classic wood burning oven used to prepare our meal.

While waiting for the food there are comfortable reclined chairs and hammocks to relax in while browsing visually appealing wine and food books. The restaurant is entirely open air overlooking the coast and surrounding jungle.

Carlos Silva and myself.

On our return trip we stopped at Boca de Inferno, the mouth of hell. This naturally formed rock structure forces the waves into an increasingly smaller channel before reaching a wall when the water shoots up towards the sky. James and Paul wanted to head back after only a few minutes but Judy and I have plans to return later this week.

Corey near the boca de inferno.

Myself overlooking the ocean near the boca de inferno.

-XO Mike

Roca de Agostinho Neto

2009-07-13T16:19:00.003-05:00

Friday, Corey, Danielle, Chika, Judy and I all went to see one of the largest plantations on the island. After negotiating a cab to drive us there (30 minute drive for $2 per person) we arrived without any guide but with the determination to talk to people and discover what was there. Our driver admitted to have family which lived and worked at the plantation and he offered to walk with us and explain the different parts of the plantation.

Within a few minutes, another worker from the plantation had joined our party showing us different parts; minutes after that we had an elder join us with keys to take and show us to the drying room. While the plantation was quite at the time, the elder told us that during September and October the plantation produces 3-4 tons of cocoa per day!

The plantation used to be home to one of the best hospitals throughout Africa. The buildings now lie deserted with most of the materials being reclaimed for other uses. The hospital had many large buildings and has its own hydroelectric power plant for the plantation.

View from the water reservoir for the generators.

Children rolling down hills on their cars.

While we were exploring the hospital campus we found lots of kids playing on homemade cars which created an excellent photo opportunity. Some of the better carts included movable front wheels to allow them to steer the vehicle.

Ripe cocoa fruits in dark red.

To end the trip we took a trip through the former headmaster’s house and botanical garden. The plants in the garden were fascinating: cinnamon trees, plants which retracted when touched, kola trees, and the tree which made the plantation possible, cocoa trees. We finished by taking our driver and local guide to lunch before heading back to town. It was really interesting to get an inside view into the plantation.

The plantation is now owned by the state; however most of the families which work there are the same families which were enslaved. Since the leave of the Portuguese, the plantations output has dropped severely and there is no financial aid for the workers to increase production.

-XO Mike

Building a Server Box

2009-07-07T19:39:00.005-05:00

Today I had arranged with James to meet a carpenter and work with him to build our server box. I have a good general knowledge of carpentry and had designed what I wanted to make but I have no tools here, don’t know where a lumber mill is, and don’t know where a hardware store is for the necessary hinges. When I arrived at the carpenters (8am I might add) we walked two blocks to a lumber yard tucked away in an alley. Two (roughly) 12’ pieces of hardwood one foot wide each ran about $10 but it looked like the wood had been tortured before being stacked for sale. I saw three of what would be the only power tools here but the planer did not seem to smoothly plane the surface and the tablesaw cut crooked edges on the already warping boards.

We walked the boards back to his shop and I realized this was about to get real. All of the tools and workbench were before me and the tools that I would use to get the job done in the USA were nowhere to be found. The carpenter started marking boards and making cuts according to my specifications and quickly grabbed the wood plane to begin reshaping the boards into flat, smooth surfaces with 90 degree corners. I watched and tried to learn as much as I could.

The first challenge which I had never undertaken was to join two panels of wood to make panels wide enough for the sides. The carpenter was methodical and precise with everything he did and before long there were two panels which are at first glance, one board.

After walking to the market to purchase hinges, latches, locks and screws we continued work. The backing on the box was misunderstood and therefore the shelves were too long so we needed to fix their lengths to fit the box. I thought I had seen a fair amount of how to use the plane and set to work.

Now, I’m from the technology age and I’ve really only used power tools for my projects. I started by cutting the board with a handsaw (which was dull and further complicated the matter) and it did not end straight when the carpenter had showed countless perfect cuts. I grabbed the plane and set about squaring the corners and shaping a straight edge. The planer took more skill and practice than any tool I have ever tried to work with; however, I got the edges straight enough for my purposes with this box (the carpenter brought them up to his standards).

After nine total hours of work we finished the box for just under $35 and we paid nearly double what he quoted for the project because of the outstanding workmanship. This box is incredibly sturdy and I realized how few tools that I actually need but want to get a small chisel set with my next project. I have learned a lot today and can’t wait to apply it to another project at home.

Fish Eyes and African Dogs

2009-07-07T19:00:00.002-05:00

Today three more Americans arrived on island from Illinois: Judy Tolliver, my informatics advisor, as well as two Illinois faculty also working for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications doing research about malaria modeling. To somewhat celebrate their arrival we went to a restaurant near the airport which is situated beneath the wings and tail of an old plane.

We ordered fish and although I had heard that the eyeball is considered the best part of a fish in Sao Tome, I had yet to try it. There was one redfish with the eyes still in their sockets on the fish on the table. Chika and I took the challenge and each scooped out an eyeball.

Now I expected an eyeball to be soft and mushy but television has never deceived me this much. I put the eyeball in my mouth and felt the chewy fleshy part but I also encountered something very hard. I played with it for a second between my teeth and with my tongue before I asked James, our local contact, if it should be this hard and what to do with it; he said you just need to chew hard. I bit down into the consistency of a rock solid Skittle. The ball did not crunch, but slowly smashed between my teeth compressing into the crevices on my molars and finally sticking to my teeth. After a minute I had worked out all of the bits from my teeth and we went on with dinner but it left a taste in my mouth that, although not bad, was not good. Water could do little to wash away the new taste.

At the end of dinner we all had bones scattered with small scraps of fish meat on our plates and two stray dogs and a small cat had been wandering around our outdoor table. James grabbed a fish carcass and was about to throw it to the dogs when many of us Americans stopped him because we worried the dog would choke on the bones. Looking back this city could do with a few hundred less stray dogs but we tried to save these two. James’ response was, “African dogs are very strong,” and he threw down the carcass to waiting mouths. Sure enough the dogs ate it up and looked back at us waiting for more. African dogs are very strong indeed.

Music (Re-updated with songs working)

2009-07-06T06:47:00.009-05:00

I really like the music here and I’d like to share two items with you.

This is some Cape Verde music that Dany, STeP UP’s director’s driver and employee, shared with us. The artist is Bana and the album is Livro Infinito. The songs are pretty slow but talented and beautiful.

This song is more of a club song but it get’s everyone moving. There is a part where he says something to the effect of, “guys make noise” and then tells the girls to clap three times. It’s really fun to hear this in more of a party environment. The artist is Afroman and I can’t recommend anything else by him. It’s probably best that I don’t know what he’s saying.

Fourth of July Weekend

2009-07-06T06:24:00.004-05:00

Corey and our cake

Yesterday we celebrated the 4th of July in Sao Tome City. We planned a party and invited somewhere around 80 guests plus their friends. We expected the Prime Minister to come to the party; however he missed his flight and could not make it.

Two feet of Barracuda

Without the Prime Minister we still had a lot of fun. We had the back half of a four foot barracuda, tons of rice, calalou (the Sao Tomean national dish) and a few improvised hot dogs. There was plenty of beer (Paul planned most of the party and this was top priority), as well as wine and sodas. I would guess we had around 60 guests throughout the day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, including ourselves, the hosts.

Our group with some local friends.

That night we were invited to a big party at the Beach Club, a very upscale discotheque. We got to the party around 11 and by 11:45 the dance floor started to heat up. Sao Tomean dancing is much more fun than American dancing because people actually dance! Danielle and I hit the floor throughout the night and it was a great time. The one complaint I have about their dancing is that their slow dances turn everyone into napping zombies on the floor. People don’t move and they rest their heads on each other while tens of couples stand nearly motionless for two or three songs in a row.

A view of the full beach from our almost private beach.

We left the club very late and during our party we had agreed to go snorkeling with the Taiwanese doctors on island at 9am. That hour came far too soon but we drove to a beach on the north end of the island near the blue lagoon. We drove to a beach that could only be reached by a 4x4 and it felt like we arrived at our own personal beach. The sand was soft and had about 40 feet of ocean between two high rocky outcrops. Chika, Ashley and I went with Dr. Wang and another physician although only Dr. Wang had a snorkel even though he failed to find any fish. The water was cool and I spent a while out swimming while Chika practiced using my camera and Ashley looked at the water from the safety of the sand because she fears sharks. There are only hammerhead sharks (won’t attack humans) near the island and there have been no shark attacks according to locals. We headed back after a while and later went to Ned’s to spend the afternoon reading, blogging, or like me: listening to music while drifting in a hammock at the end of his pier.

Myself playing with Ashley's underwater camera.

It was a bit cold that early in the morning.

-XO Mike

School Setup

2009-07-02T18:46:00.000-05:00

Tuesday morning we had our meeting with the teachers scheduled however it didn’t go as planned. Our understanding was that we would be working with two classrooms and therefore two teachers. At this school the teachers are specialized to a subject and rotate between the classrooms. We went from working with two teachers to working with 6 which also required us to decrease our class sizes by two each to free up four extra laptops.

In the afternoon we had sorted out the problem and arranged to meet the teachers. It became very difficult because the teachers will now need lesson plans which will work for the 3 non-XO classrooms and a separate plan to incorporate the XOs in the two XO classrooms. The teachers did not seem motivated to learn the new system but after we showed a few ways of how it can be incorporated into classroom environments some started to warm up to the idea.

Corey, Danielle, Ashley and Chika worked through the operating system and some basic concepts after I gave a quick lesson on handling and care of the laptop and an introduction to the hardware. While the rest of the group began training I started testing how the wireless would work around the school, which should be fine. I have designed a box which we will have made to hold and secure the server, switches, access points and their associated power bricks.

Tomorrow we will continue working with the teachers and Dany will bring the plans to a carpenter to get the un-white-American-taxed price. The plan is that he will provide the boards that we need as well as the screws (if only there were a Home Depot) and I can assemble it this weekend. Hopefully nothing is lost in translation.

-XO Mike

More Pictures

2009-06-29T16:03:00.003-05:00

Next door to James' Aunt's house where we had lunch some kids had an impromptu dance performance.

More impromptu dance pictures.

Walking on water... that's how I roll.

Training the computer repair class from STeP UP. They wanted to learn about the project.

At our deployment school. We brought a soccer ball as a gift for the headmaster.

Dinner at our house. This is our screened in porch.

Exciting Weekend

2009-06-28T13:11:00.005-05:00

We had a very exciting weekend filled with trips to the Blue Lagoon, Neves (Nevish), the beach, and STeP UP’s 5th birthday party. Friday night we went to Pestana, a luxury resort with nightclub and it cost way to much money. I wasn’t excited about going when I heard it was $10 to get in the door. Anyway, we went and it was empty because no locals can afford the entry fee while still having a good time. We want to go again as an end of the trip celebration but it’s just too expensive.

STeP UP's Birthday Cake

Saturday we started nice and easy at the beach before heading to STeP UP’s 5th anniversary party. The Minister of Education was in attendance and there was great food as well as cake. After we headed to a soccer game where security was tighter than the airport; army personnel with guns, police with riot gear and a barbed wire fence surrounding the entire field. The game was calm, thankfully, but it had a lot of energy and I found myself yelling at the officials with the rest of the crowd during a few bad calls.

Fun in the sand. OLPC.

Riot Gear: These Police appeared to be the officials personal guards

Sunday we started bright and early with a trip to Neves to eat crab. Neves is located at the north west end of the island, about an hours drive. We stopped at the Lagoa Azul for a quick photo opportunity. Driving through the country shows a completely different side of Sao Tome. Despite having a much lower quality of life, fish and fruit are abundant year round on the island so no one is going hungry. We ate fantastic fresh crab and took the trip with two other Americans from Seattle who are with the Mobility Project, an international NGO setup to provide wheelchairs to third world countries. Tuesday they will deploy 60 wheelchairs as a trial run for the 200-400 they would like to bring in the future. After eating we left to go to James’ (our local contact) aunt. We had another meal (again, fantastic) and met lots of his cousins and uncle. We were witness to an impromptu dance performance at the house next door and eventually returned home.

Old Tree near the Lagoa Azul

Crab in Neves

This week we will start working with the teachers to get the ready to teach lessons using the XO.

Lots of pictures! YAY!
-XO Mike

Paul 2, Corey 2, Ashley 1

2009-06-25T05:39:00.004-05:00

We’ve had several accidents while here in Sao Tome. It all started with Paul at the grocery store trying to buy a few beers. Here, they stock their fridges with individual bottles well above the max capacity of the refrigerator. As Paul went to grab one, another started to fall which created a domino effect sending a few bottles to the floor; one of which broke. Paul 1.

We went shopping for a pitcher to make our water purification process easier. The best we could find was a carafe which has a glass core container surrounded by a plastic protective casing. As Ashley went to pick it up it fell to the floor shattering the glass core. Ashley 1.

Danielle is working on a mapping project and received about 20 large maps with together make up the entire island. To lay them out Corey, Danielle, Ashley and Chika cleared out our living room. As Corey went to pickup my XO he dropped it on the floor and broke the screen (these aren’t indestructible). I replaced the screen with one of the spare XOs as this is the administrator computer. Corey 1. Mike -1.

Paul owns a motorcycle on island and the other day he asked me if I wanted to take it for a spin. I went around the neighborhood and before long, Corey wanted to try his luck. I asked him if he knew how to drive and he said yes. I told him which lever was the clutch and he responded, ok that’s what changes the gear… I knew we were in for trouble. I showed him the pedal which actually changes the gear and after a few more minutes of training he wanted to go. We told him to give it a little gas as he slowly releases the clutch. Corey hit the gas and dropped that clutch, popped a small wheelie and rocketed away for about 10 feet before the bike tipped over and he hit the ground. Corey got up OK but the bike’s clutch lever snapped off. Within about 1 minute James had someone coming to repair the bike and it was fixed within the hour for a very small fee. Corey 2.

Corey with the broken parts from the moto. He'll try again this weekend.

Last night we wanted to make spaghetti for dinner. In Sao Tome you can’t buy pasta sauce so we got a small can of tomato paste as a base for our sauce. We forgot that we don’t have a traditional can opener so we had to use the triangular end of a bottle opener. As Paul dug into the can, the tightly packed paste shot out all over Paul’s white shirt, Chika’s white shirt and half the kitchen. Paul 2.

Hopefully the rest of our trip will be incident free although we have a long way to go.

-XO Mike

The Minister of Education

2009-06-25T05:07:00.003-05:00

We just had our meeting with the Minister of Education and it went very well. We found out, during the meeting embarrassingly enough, our school our contact at STeP UP recommended was a politically charged move and we have since moved to a different school. One main drawback from the meeting is that the minister didn’t want the students to take them home for fear that their families would sell the laptops. This will be a focus of ours to convince the community that it is in their best interests not to sell the laptops and to convince the community that by buying the laptops they are hurting students.

Left to Right: Chika, Corey, Danielle, Ashley, The Minister of Education, Paul, Myself

After our meeting we visited our school and determined that the fifth grade class has 45 students and the sixth grade class has 40 students. The school has power and we have word from the ISP on island that they will provide internet at the school. We are looking to saturate the two classes and recycle the laptops to the next fifth grade class after the year. This afternoon we will work with the teachers to develop a laptop learning schedule.

-XO Mike

TiA

2009-06-25T04:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was sort of a bust. We had plans to go visit our potential school and meet the headmaster and several classrooms. Our contact at STeP UP told us to meet her at 11am. Paul suggested we arrive around 11:30 because she would be late. At 11:30 we arrived and started waiting for our contact, Roberta, to arrive. At 12:30 we left and went to lunch. It’s 8am the following day and still no word from her.

The plus side is that we’re about to go meet the Minister of Education and let him know what we’re up to. Even more exciting than that is we confirmed a rumor that the Prime Minister received a gift of 500 XOs from Portugal and because he doesn’t know how to deploy them, they are sitting in storage. We are going to push to get to help deploy these laptops. In order to get more time with the Prime Minister we are going to have a meeting as well as invite him to our 4th of July party. This party should be HUGE. Several ambassadors from various countries, several ministers, and many friends Illinois has met over the past three years.

Off to our meeting.
-XO Mike

Daily Life in Sao Tome

2009-06-23T12:32:00.000-05:00

So far our day to day life has been much different than expected. The sun rises around 5 and sets at 6. We can accomplish actual work from around 9 until noon and 2 until 3:30 or 4. The rest of the time people are at home.

A lot of our day is spent figuring out what to eat and when to make it. Nearly everything here is imported so to save costs we go to the open markets to get the best prices. There is a general goods market where we can get any produce which is locally grown and there is a fish market to get anything from the sea (we had barracuda last night). Once we go to all the markets and find what we want (we do this everyday because our refrigerator is too small) we need to bring it home and prepare everything: gut the fish, season the fish, chop the vegetables, cook the vegetables, etc. Eating has become a full time job.

To help with the extra time life takes in Sao Tome and to give back to the economy we have hired several people around our house. We have hired a housekeeper who comes on MWF to do laundry, clean around the house and cook (if we’re home). When we moved in our house had been vacant and neglected for a year so we hired someone to clean up the yard, when he was done he asked if he could stay on as our gardener so we agreed. We also hired a night watchman and he is about the scariest person ever. It gets dark around here and with his dark skin it is impossible to see him at night. One of the first nights the power went out and Corey and I were near the front gate and I said, shouldn’t the watchman be here by now? At that time we took another step towards the gate and from inside our walls a man appeared and opened the gate thinking we wanted to leave. He had been there for a while without us knowing and I nearly wet my pants.

At night we have been relaxing playing cards (last night it was hearts and Danielle is going to teach us rummy later) or watching TV episodes and movies we have on our computers. If we want to get online we can walk 3 blocks to the national library and sit out front but the mosquitoes prohibit prolonged usage.

Another bit about African mosquitoes; while they may carry deadly diseases, their bites are way less annoying and I only get a small dot of a bump that goes away by the next night. In the US I get obnoxious bites which itch for days.

-XO Mike

Hospitality

2009-06-22T15:37:00.000-05:00

My first full day in Sao Tome started with me going with James and Chika to get some power strips for our house. We went to a Nigerian merchant and James introduced him to Chika who is also Nigerian. They found out that they were from very close towns and they spoke the same language. The man invited us to a party that night.

When we arrived at the party we realized that it was an entire block party, at least a few thousand people spread out over a few blocks including live music, DJs, dancing and lots of vendors. We went to Mr. Cato’s house with about 10 in our group and we quickly outnumbered his seating arrangement. He left and after a minute or two came back and told us to follow him. We walked into a little (two table) restaurant and found the management kicking everyone out to make way for us.

It was a great night and Mr. Cato took care of food (cooked sea snails) and beverages. The way that everyone moved out of the way for visitors and took every step to make sure that we were comfortable was incredible and has really challenged me to better welcome people in the US, particularly foreign exchange students.

-XO Mike

Another Safari Picture

2009-06-21T09:45:00.004-05:00

I'm kind of in love with this picture so I'm posting another from the Safari.

Great Success!

2009-06-21T09:02:00.001-05:00

When we landed in Lisbon I forgot to post that Chancellor Herman awarded us a grant to pay for our on island expenses. Thank you for this donation!

Jealous Yet?

2009-06-21T08:40:00.005-05:00

Today we're spending our time at Ned's house. Ned is the director of STeP UP and is from San Francisco. He has worked with numerous NGOs throughout Africa.

The water is about 6' deep during high tide at the end of the dock.

Safe in Sao Tome

2009-06-20T08:33:00.000-05:00

After our amazing adventure in Nairobi and safe flights to London and Lisbon, we met Paul at the airport in Lisbon and headed into town for a while. We drove to St. George’s Castle which was the main castle for Portugal and walked around with the rest of our group before we headed over to one of two elevators in the city.

The city is very much like San Francisco and has huge hills in different parts. To help people traverse the hills they built elevators which are part of the city’s mass transit system but because of their construction they offer great views of the city. We walked back to the hotel where the rest of the group stayed before going to the airport to catch our flight to Sao Tome.

We approached the runway only to see people and stray dogs on either side of the runway watching us land. The airport is not entirely fenced in and we would come to find that there are stray dogs everywhere. Our day was filled with running errands: buying groceries, getting cell phones and SIM cards (my number is +239 933 182), picking up 94 laptops at the airport (6 have walked off) and meeting our contacts at STeP UP. We ended the night making dinner back at home and relaxing. This weekend we are going to continue settling in and will start work on Monday.

-XO Mike

Fly All Day, Safari All Night… I’m in Nairobi!

2009-06-20T08:28:00.003-05:00

After a half day of learning, Corey and I headed to the airport to catch our flight to Nairobi. We had a 7.5 hour layover and expected to wait in the Nairobi airport for the duration of the trip. As we were landing we saw one of the OLPC staff and he asked us if we wanted to go on a safari. Wait What?!?! Corey and I had read that visas were $125 and we didn’t want to spend that much but one day visas are only $20. Another $30 for the park entrance fee and whatever the cab cost for 2 hours and I was sold. We grabbed a cab and negotiated for $50 for two hours (split three ways).

On the drive to Nairobi national park we hit lots of traffic; I mean turn your engine off traffic. Lots of locals had figured this out and walked up and down the street selling everything from 5’x10’ world maps to knives to fruit to jumper cables. By the time we made it to the park we had about 1 hour until sundown. We headed into the MASSIVE park and started asking everyone, “where are the animals?” We saw two giraffes from afar and I was happy but we pressed on into the park. We finally found a lady that told us two adolescent lions were on the path straight ahead. We found the lions and I could have touched them with how close we were. Farther up the path we saw antelope and zebras. Our drive ended as we found a lion and her two cubs on a ridge as the sun was setting. I have some great shots of the three. It was black by the time we left the park and I think we were the last ones out and it was amazing. What I expected to be the worst layover turned out to be the best that I’ll ever have.

We were only 30 feet from this lion as the sun started to set.

Put another stamp in my passport!
-XO Mike

Final Thoughts - Kigali

2009-06-20T08:27:00.000-05:00

Kigali is definitely a place I would like to visit again. The city is clean and the people are nice although I would like to know some French to better communicate. The only beggars in the city that I saw were children and none appeared to need to beg, all looked well nourished and were playful until they saw us Mzungus and put on their “please sir, I’m hungry” act.

Getting around was very easy although the Motos only know a select few destinations. Bartering for a decent price was a different story. Upon seeing Mzungus (white people) they would start over quoting despite us knowing what the correct rate would be. This got to be annoying if you really wanted to get somewhere and didn’t want to barter for 5 minutes.

Without valuable natural resources the country is moving to become a technical hub for the East African region. The city has a long way to go but is taking the correct steps to achieve their 2020 vision. I’m excited to take William Watkins to see Rwanda sometime in the future.

-XO Mike

Free Day!

2009-06-16T06:13:00.000-05:00

Today there was nothing required and it was so nice to sleep until 9. I went to an impromptu church service led by some OLPC people for OLPC people and it was fun. One of the guys gave a short sermon and we sang several different songs, most of which I had never heard but played along.

I and many others really wanted to see the Genocide Museum here in Kigali and we arranged transportation to the location. The museum was really heavy. There were 3 different indoor sections: a history of Rwanda and the Genocide, a memorial/remembrance of the children of the Genocide and a genocide awareness exhibit to shed light on other genocides in recent history. Outdoors were gardens and several mass grave sites.

The history of the genocide was really interesting and sad at the same time. It was sick to see how systematic this was; there were plans in place to setup roadblocks in Kigali and begin killing 300 people every 20 minutes. We met some locals at the hotel the other night and they were saying that they fled to Uganda before things started happening and they were near the river that runs from Rwanda to Uganda. They told us how they saw countless bodies floating by, dogs eating the rotting flesh and people going down to take watches and jewelry off of the bodies. Some of the larger mass killings took place at churches with one church accounting for 20,000 deaths. Another church congregation thought they would be safe with their Hutu pastor however the pastor locked everyone inside and ordered the building to be bulldozed killing 2,000 people.

Upstairs at the museum was an exhibit about the children. There were lots of pictures and plaques giving a few facts about the children. The worst was seeing their last words, their last memories or how they died. It really is amazing how well the city has recovered despite having their infrastructure destroyed and having 1,000,000 people wiped out.

At night we went out to an Italian joint which was really good, despite them not understanding what we meant by sausage. Rwandan food isn’t bad, but it is the same thing at every meal. EVERY MEAL. I’m getting excited to head to Sao Tome soon.

-XO Mike

Police Checkpoint

2009-06-14T02:58:00.000-05:00

First of all, I have read that police here are the least corrupt in all of Africa and they are everywhere. It really is comforting because you usually aren’t more than a block from an officer.

Now last night around 2:30am I start heading back from KBC (local club) with Carolyn and Savannah (Indiana University). We all get Motos and barter down the price to the one we want and start riding. After a few minutes on the bike we see a police checkpoint: two officers and spike strips. As we roll up and stop Carolyn and my drivers start moving around and grabbing stuff but Savannah’s driver is just sitting there. The officers spoke in French but by their pointing it looks like they want Carolyn and me to keep going but Savannah needs to stay there because the police are going to take the bike. Before anyone can drive off Carolyn and I hop off and are trying to tell our two drivers we need to wait for another Moto for Savannah.

We’re on a main road and figure it can’t be long but we see other motos coming towards the checkpoint turning around to avoid the stop. We are waiting and the two legit driver start getting ancy and annoyed that we don’t want to go. Finally a moto rolls up from the opposite direction and we start the process of negotiating a price again: back and forth between us and the driver, the driver and other drivers and the driver and other locals…

Another adventure in Africa
-XO Mike

Saturday in Kigali

2009-06-14T02:36:00.000-05:00

Today we started early despite it being Saturday. Today was less of a technical day and more of a Rwandese culture day. We drove two hours south of Kigali and visited the King’s House and the national museum.

While Rwanda is under a ruling democratic government, there is a royal bloodline extending from the 15th and 16th centuries. The last king died in 1959 and I didn’t quite get the scoop on the current ruling king (something about a step brother or half brother). The King’s house was not worth the trip in my opinion but it was still interesting to see the traditional huts and tour the former King’s modern house.

The next stop was the national museum which is quite small. There was a gift shop at the entrance but I decided the goods were overpriced, that and I need to get some more Francs. I’ve only spent about $38 since we landed which may sound like a lot for a week but to be honest, most of it was last night and I won 6 bucks at the casino!

-XO Mike

TiA

2009-06-14T02:28:00.000-05:00

Today we were scheduled to visit several schools throughout Rwanda and teach teachers how to use Scratch (an animation/math/programming application). The day did not go as planned; This is Africa (TiA) as we have learned to call it.

At 4:45am we awoke from our night at the Casino and headed down to the bus which was expected to arrive at 5:35 for our breakfast at the Hilltop Hotel. Our busses were expected to leave for our school sites at 6:30. 5:35 came and went… 5:45… 6:00… 6:15… 6:30… 6:40 the bus comes to take us to Hilltop and we are almost expecting our busses to have left by now. We sat down and ate while we waited for the busses to get ready to leave, they still weren’t ready to go to the sites. Our sheet said we would leave for the site at 6:30 and arrive at 8. We left at 6:50 and arrived at 7. WHAT???

Children begin bringing in desks to prepare our room and about 8am teachers start arriving. The morning was incredibly slow as the teachers had not touched an XO before (or even a computer) and Scratch is a very advanced program. We spent three full hours grinding away before we started to make any progress and broke for lunch at noon. We had two hours for lunch as everyone goes home and we walked to our contact’s house nearby to wait for the food which was late and was expected to arrive at noon. 12:15… 12:30… 12:45… 1:00… 1:15… 1:30… This entire time the company is telling us 5 more minutes every five minutes we call. Our OLPC contacts finally give up and go out and buy us lunch which arrives at 1:45. We eat and head back to school to see our food arriving at 2; TiA.

All of the teachers are arriving at this point and the food at the same time just creates confusion. The delivery company won’t leave until we drink all the sodas because they need to return the glass bottles so we give what’s left away to the teachers. At about 2:40 we can finally start on the second half of the day and the teachers ask to review other applications. We introduced Record (the camera program), Write, Paint and a few others and this part went really well. Teachers were trying new things and teaching each other as they learned.

Throughout the day as we saw kids I was snapping pictures of them and they LOVE to see their pictures. Justin, a kid from the University of Minnesota deploying in Senegal, took a picture of about 30 kids and knelt down to show them and he got swarmed. I have a picture of him in the center of a million heads. On Monday we will be working with 5th grade kids handing out laptops and it should make for a lot more good pictures.

TiA
-XO Mike

Casino

2009-06-14T02:27:00.000-05:00

Two nights ago we went to a club, despite our 5:15am departure on the following day. We headed to KBC which is one of the best bars I’ve ever been to. The bar has several rooms: a techno dance floor, a club dance floor, a pool room, a posh bar area, a chill bar area and another room with couches and tables. At about midnight we decided to walk to Kigali’s only Casino.

I lent Gordon $20 in startup and took out $20 myself; at the casino you bet in US money instead of the Rwandan Franc. Around 1:30 Gordon had fought back from down to $3 to even at $20 and cashed out, around the same time I was up about $6.50. The $0.50 chips in Kigali are useless as they don’t payout in coins so you need to get two so that you can re-bet it, I kept my chip as a souvenir.

We got back to the hotel and prepared to sleep only three hours… this will be a fun morning.

-XO Mike

Comments

2009-06-14T02:26:00.001-05:00

I've been trying to reply for about 15 minutes now. It's just not going to happen. Sorry, I am reading the comments and I enjoy them, so keep em coming!

-XO Mike

Motos

2009-06-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

In Kigali and most of Africa taxi cars are hard to find but Motos are everywhere. Motos are motorcycles and scooters which are single seat taxis and are incredibly cheap, usually less than a dollar. The bikes are EVERYWHERE!!!! If you try to hail a moto and try and negotiate where you are going and how much for more than about 30 seconds you will have 2-3 more motos circling you and trying to give you a better deal.

The bikes are government regulated and drivers are required to wear a helmet and have a helmet for the rider as well. My only complaint is that they are sooooooo cold at night! We want to just go on moto rides at night for fun even if we have no destination but we figured it would be too hard to relay to a driver, “just drive me around and bring me back.”

That’s all, short post. I wish I had some pictures for you and will try to get them uploaded ASAP in London or Lisbon.

-XO Mike

Quick Thoughts

2009-06-10T11:58:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the posting schedule. We hardly have any free time. I've been writing on my computer and I copy paste whenever I have a chance.

Pictures won't happen while I'm here because the internet is too slow. Sorry that the post's aren't as interesting.

-XO Mike

The time I met two of Time’s 100 Most Influential People

2009-06-10T11:49:00.001-05:00

Starting a day at 4:30am and ending with cocktails and playing drums for a traditional Rwandan dance group were two things I never expected to do in one day.

Today we were scheduled to go to a meeting for OLPC for the launch of OLPCorps and The Center for Laptops and Learning in Kigali. We knew going into the day that there would be high security (read: guys with AKs everywhere) and airport like security screening so we were told that we would be on a bus by 6:30 which meant breakfast would be at 5:30 and we would leave our hotel at 5:15. At 5:15 we were all ready but no busses arrived until 6am. It was fine and we arrived at the Prime Holdings Conference Hall at 7am; one full hour before our scheduled arrival time on the itinerary we received at the conference hall. Our itinerary included the arrival of ministers, arrival of the Prime Minister, arrival of the Supreme Court President, arrival of the Senate President and arrival of the guest of honor which was later announced to be the President of Rwanda.

The President arrived to a receiving room of approximately 200-300 people and after hearing the national anthem, addressed both the OLPCorps participants (me) and the other dignitaries in the room. After his and several others speeches we went out to have brunch. To my surprise the President met us in the gardens and chatted it up with other big wigs. Many of the OLPCorps members joked about going up and saying hi to him but after a while he came and approached us with Nicholas Negroponte, the chairman of OLPC and another of Time’s 100 most influential people.

After brunch and meeting the President and Chairman there were speakers from both Uruguay, where they have deployed over 200,000 laptops and are at 1:1 for the entire country grades 1 through 9, and Haiti where they are deploying three large test schools with XO laptops. After lunch the day became quite long as we had been up since 4:30 and it was a bit of a blur until about 4:30 when another member of OLPC started a speech talking to various diplomats from Kenya, Djibouti, Mali, and Tanzania who were all interested in starting nationwide XO deployments.

After the conference and several commitments from diplomats to begin establishing XO rollouts we went back to the gardens for cocktails and a traditional Rwandese dance performance. While drinking a $150 box of wine (OLPC provided but ordered on accident and imported from South Africa – it should be around $8) I started to hear singing and drums with the approaching sound of many bells in rhythm. Before I knew it I was standing in front of 10 dancers dressed in traditional Rwandese outfits doing choreographed dancing. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. After a song the boys switched for girl dancers and back and forth a few times. When they were done all of the OLPCorps and big wigs mingled for an hour or two before the dancers started up again. This time the crowd was even more into it and before long many OLPCorps members were in the group trying to dance along as best as possible. Although I didn’t dance with the group I did play drums for a while which was really fun as the whole group wasn’t necessarily precise although they were in time and together, mostly.

After the events Corey and I went to Hilltop (one of the other OLPCorps hotels where we get our dinner) grabed a bite with two UCal Berkeley girls deploying in Uganda before walking back to our hotel (about a 20 minute walk). This city is a wonderful place and is very calm, safe and clean.

And now to wake up at 6:45am! Woooooohoooo!

-XO Mike

P.S. Sorry the posts are becoming long but there is so much we experience in a day it is hard to even make it this short.

Kigali Day 1

2009-06-10T01:37:00.000-05:00

We departed for another hotel where we would eat breakfast at 7:15 and breakfast was quite good; lots of bread, fruit and eggs (omelet or hard boiled). We met a few more teams at breakfast and eventually headed to the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Kist has a beautiful campus and large, modern buildings. On the drive over I, and almost everyone else, recognized how clean Kigali is, much cleaner than any American city. There were lots of workers tending to beautiful flowers along the road and sweeping dust off of the sidewalks. Many cars had I <3 Rwanda stickers across the back and in just a somewhat short drive it was obvious that the people of Rwanda take a lot of pride in their country and community. We also heard that the last Saturday of every month is a national cleaning holiday. All streets are closed and businesses and taxis are not allowed to operate until noon. Everyone just goes out and cleans. There is no trash in this city.
We had meetings all day and left for happy hour and dinner at a local bar around 5. Everyone was exhausted but it was great getting to meet people from all over the world with different plans throughout Africa. Tomorrow we are meeting a lot of dignitaries from across Africa but no one will say exactly who, my guess is that it is someone big if they aren’t saying because of security reasons. We are waking up at 4:30 (I’m writing this at 8:30) to leave our hotel at 5:15 for breakfast. Sooooo tired still but I’m not yet sick! :-)

-XO Mike

The Best Flights of my Life

2009-06-10T01:32:00.002-05:00

Our flights got off to a rocky start but ended quite well. We woke up on time at 3:30am after only three hours of sleep and went to the lobby to grab the airport shuttle at 4:20. Keep in mind that our flight takes off at 6:30am. The shuttles only operate to terminals 1,2,3 and 5. We are flying out of terminal 4 but the concierge and the driver assure us that we can go to 1,2,3 or 5 and take a short tram to terminal 4. We arrive at terminal 2 around 4:40 and head down to the train.

The doors to the station were locked and there were no signs about when the trains would start so we started to get a little nervous. We decided it would be best to grab a cab over to terminal 4. We hop in and the driver doesn’t move. He tells us that the trip is 4.5 miles (not kilometers oddly enough) and that it will cost 22 pounds. We only have 22 pounds and the smallest US bill we have is a $20 but at this point we don’t really have another option. We take the ride over for 22 pounds, tip roughly 12 pounds ($20) and get dropped off at what looks like an abandoned construction site. The driver tells us where the elevator is and says he has no idea what’s beyond the doors.

We take the elevator down and head into a deserted airport terminal. Eventually we find a line of people over 200 deep for the bag check and jump in line. We make it to our terminal with only a few minutes to spare and we were off to Amsterdam.

The flight to Amsterdam is 45 minutes by air. KLM is the best airline to fly. We were served sandwiches (bread and smoked gouda and another cinnamon raisin roll) and beverages. When we got on our 747 for Nairobi there was service like you wouldn’t believe. During the usual safety video they advertise that we can go to the galley whenever we like for a beverage or a snack but within minutes of the seatbelt sign coming on they were serving our hot meal. On European flights all beverages, including alcoholic, are free of charge. I toasted a glass of wine with the gentleman next to me. I eventually fell asleep and apparently missed ice cream (and another round of drinks). I woke up to them serving another fantastic meal and another round of drinks; the man two seats to my left ordered a beer and brandy (separate). I was seated in the exit row (ahhhhh legroom) and we faced the flight attendant during takeoff and landing and as we were on our approach I was telling her how wonderful the service was and that it’s nothing like this on US flights and she looked baffled and asked me, “what do the flight attendants do?” I have no idea Elona.

Our final flight from Nairobi started with a 2.5 hour layover in Nairobi. Nairobi inside the terminal was pleasant enough and we found two other OLPC teams waiting for our flight. We got to know them and when our flight arrived we headed out. There was no jetway, we walked straight onto the tarmac and started at two Kenya Air jets with no signage to differentiate which plane to get on. We eventually found a man to ask and he directed us to a third plane. When our 1 hour flight to Kigali took off we were again served a meal and had wonderful service from the flight attendants. Landing in Kigali was quiet at this time (midnight) and customs was quick and painless. Our luggage arrived safe and we were off to Chez Rose, our hotel for the trip.

-XO Mike

London

2009-06-06T17:49:00.003-05:00

After napping in the lobby we checked into the room and agreed to sleep until 2. 2 became 5 and we finally showered and left here around 6. We took a bus back to the airport to catch the underground into the city (which took almost an hour). Corey hasn't been to London before so we had to hit the major landmarks: Big Ben, Westminster Abby, London Eye, Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The inside tours were all closed when we arrived but it was still fun to be out on the town. London is so much fun to navigate with the tube.

We grabbed a bite to eat and toasted a glass of wine before we started heading back. We left at 9:30 from the London Bridge Underground stop and are just now arriving back at the hotel (it's 12). Public transportation has it's disadvantages. Although on our ride back we saw lots of other kids about our age: some huffing glue on the bus in neon colored pants and others just out to have a good time. We started chatting with one group (not the glue kids) and got off the train half way home to head to a bar with them only to realize that the last train towards Heathrow left in only 45 more minutes. We jumped back on the train and grabbed the last bus to our hotel.

We'll be up and off to the airport in only 3.5 more hours so I'm going to repack and get some sleep.

Lots of new pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwing49/sets/72157619236389199/

-XO Mike

OLPCorps - Why I joined OLPCorps

2009-06-06T11:49:00.002-05:00

OLPC has asked us to make weekly postings on topics provided. I will title all of these posts OLPCorps - XXXXX. Some of the topics might not be as interesting and you may want to skip these posts.

Starting in the Spring of 2008 I began volunteering at PrairieNET a local non profit who's mission was to provide technology access to low income families and areas including providing computer labs throughout East St. Louis. PrairieNET has worked with STeP UP, our local partner, for several years setting up technology access throughout Sao Tome and Paul, my boss at PrairieNET asked if I would like to go to Sao Tome in the Summer of 2009. I wholeheartedly agreed to go and began making plans. When the OLPCorps internship was discovered I met with Paul to see if it would be alright if I participated in the OLPCorps program instead of the PrairieNET program. Paul thought that it was a wonderful idea and began assisting our planning for the trip.

I wanted to join OLPCorps because I enjoy serving others and I love working with technology and I'm good with it. This opportunity fits perfectly with my skill set and my desires so it was natural that I became involved. Before even hearing about the program I wanted to go to Sao Tome and setup computer labs, repair existing computer labs and teach how to use and repair computers. When we were initially not accepted I began planning my trip with PrairieNET. One way or another, I was going to get to Sao Tome this summer.

-XO Mike

Half way to Kigali

2009-06-06T04:21:00.005-05:00

We've arrived safe in London with all of our baggage.

The trip started back in Chicago and everything went smooth. I loaded up my cargo pants to lighten the load in my carry on but they didn't even weigh it; let's hope TAP does the same. Our wait at the gate was rather long but at least we were not stressed about getting there in time.

On Time.

We got the munchies before we boarded so Corey left security to grab McDonalds for us; what he forgot is that you can't bring liquids back through security and was forced to chug a 20oz Coke :-). Whoopsie!

Our Plane.

The plane ride was smooth and there were a few extra open seats next to Corey (we were seated one row apart) so I sat with him most of the night. It was difficult to get any sleep because I'm not used to falling asleep at 8 or 9pm. After only two hours of rest it was already daylight and we were receiving breakfast.

Customs was quite slow and took at least 30 minutes to complete and then, thankfully, our baggage awaited us at the carousel. At this point we realized we had no hotel reservations, no addresses of hotels, no phone number, etc. I had looked up rates online before I left and found them for around 50 pounds per night. We found a desk which made hotel reservations and asked what the rate would be, she said 150 pounds to 300 pounds. No. Thank. You.

Corey and I broke out our laptop, paid 5 pounds to get internet access (which is working here at the hotel as well!) and jumped on hotwire.com. We are staying at the Holiday Inn, just 5 minutes from the airport for $50 (taxes and everything). We're pretty excited with the deal. Actually, I'm ecstatic about this deal.

We're now at the hotel waiting to check in (the earliest will be about noon and we arrived at 10). Corey and I are eating and napping in the lounge before we will shower, change and head downtown to see some sights. The weather is crummy (chilly and rainy) but we're going to power through.

Our hotel for the night.

Corey eating a wonderful cajun chicken sub in the hotel lobby.

I updated with three (this is the third) posts just now so keep reading!

-XO Mike

Last Call

2009-06-06T04:15:00.002-05:00

I’m sitting at the airport waiting for Corey to arrive so that we can start the trip. I’ve packed everything that I could think of and can only hope I have everything that I need. I never knew how little amounts to 41lbs. My suitcase has some room to breathe but I’m at the weight limit. I would have liked to have brought some other items such as a second, child sized baseball mitt but I won’t be able to.

I had a great last two days in the US. Wednesday night Brian Meeker, a friend from school, through me a going away party and I really enjoyed seeing the sunrise with the whole group . After packing up my apartment and driving home I went to Na’s for a going away/Pat’s Birthday party. I am exhausted enough to sleep through any babies crying on this plane.

Tomorrow Corey and I will spend the day around London before we head off to Kigali starting at 6am Sunday.

I believe our team is very prepared. Chika, Danielle and Ashley will be bringing the rest of our supplies (routers and flash drives) when they leave in a week and a half. We will meet them in Lisbon and spend some time around town before departing for Sao Tome.

Sorry if this post is abrupt. Chika met us at the airport to send us off (and take any excess weight off our hands) and I put down the blog to chat with him.

-XO Mike

Should I pulverize your house?

2009-06-06T04:13:00.001-05:00

One quick joke:

In Sao Tome there is an initiative to reduce the spread of malaria and one of the ways they do this is to spray your house for bugs. Our contact in Sao Tome told us about the program and then asked, “should I pulverize your house?”

Sure, kill the bugs but leave the house in tact please :-).

-XO Mike

Now I'm starting to get a little nervous...

2009-05-28T19:10:00.006-05:00

Some of my worries have ended as our Visas and Passports have finally arrived back from New York. I just registered with the State Department to let them know that I will be in Rwanda and everything seems to be in order for our trip.

Except for packing...

I've cut down on what I had planned to bring mostly because of what Martin said about how he will probably bring less than one weeks worth of clothing. I think I'll have at least about a weeks worth of T-shirts and about a weeks worth of boxers but pants will probably be one pair of cargo shorts, one pair of athletic shorts, one pair of jeans and one pair of nice khakis to meet any big wigs. I will be bringing some equipment for our deployments (wifi routers, flash drives, etc.) as well as two baseball gloves and a frisbee.

I got some new equipment for the trip including a watch (because I won't have a working cell phone) and an external hard drive to backup data and my pictures. I think I have everything covered and I just need to see how much I can stretch my weight limits of one 13 pound carry on and one 44 pound checked bag. The checked bag should be no problem but I will want to take as much as possible in my carry on.

I've posted up pictures from Meredith's pinning ceremony on my flickr account here. All of the pictures from the event are hosted here.

Black sand beach in Sao Tome

Ate lago!
-XO Mike

T-minus two weeks! (This time it's for real)

2009-05-22T23:32:00.005-05:00

Two weeks from the time of the post I will be sitting on a plane headed for London.

Possibly my transportation across the pond.

Our team is still on track and my Portuguese is coming along quite well. The class is 1/3 over but I am learning enough to give me a strong foundation to build upon when we land.

Tuesday I will be training our team on how to care for, handle, and operate the XOs so that we are capable teachers. I have been playing around with my XO since receiving it and have learned most of what I know through play and experimenting.

An unexpected surprise this week came when Corey distributed a revised budget. In the budget our food and lodging expenses are covered and we ordered 180 256MB flash drives along with 10 administrator 1GB flash drives. This will be crucial for having effective deployments where the saturation of the laptops will not reach 1:1. Students will be able to store their personal documents on the (hopefully) 1:1 saturated flash drives which can be used on any computer.

This weekend I am practicing my photography skills with my dad at Meredith's nursing school pinning ceremony! Congratulations Meredith! The pictures will be uploaded to a separate flickr account but I will post some of the best on my own account (links will follow in other posts). Graduation party tomorrow at NaNa's and then off to Chicago to spend a night with the Four Brothers to celebrate Chris' and Mark's belated birthdays as well as Pete's pre-birthday.

Prepare for a flood of photos on my flickr account!

-XO Mike

I can't read a calendar correctly

2009-05-18T11:19:00.002-05:00

Oi!

In my first Portuguese class I learned something I did not expect. I can't read a calendar and I have just under three weeks until I leave. This comes as both a blessing and a curse as I now have more time to prepare but also more time on campus (it's reallllly quiet).

The class went really well and I expect to learn a lot over the next three weeks. We have started with the basics and I can say, "Meu nome e Michael" (my name is Michael) along with a few other things including the alphabet and numbers through 100. What I think will be most confusing is trying to distinguish Brazilian Portuguese (Professor's language) and European Portuguese (STP language). The differences are much more than I thought and European Portuguese is much more difficult to understand than Brazilian Portuguese.

-XO Mike

Less than two weeks!

2009-05-17T19:24:00.006-05:00

Corey and I leave for Kigali two weeks from last Friday. Tomorrow several members of the team and I start a non-credited course at the University to jump start language learning. We will be in class two hours per day M-F with homework (wait, didn't I just finish the semester?!?!). I hope this will help prepare me to be able to better communicate with the locals. I don't expect to be fluent but I think they will be impressed and feel like we are trying to do more than drop off some computers if we can introduce ourselves and communicate a few basic phrases.

Tomorrow we should come close to our final budget and the money from OLPC should be in our account and we will begin purchasing equipment. Our equipment is dependent on the number of sites that we visit which will also be decided tomorrow. We are required to provide additional equipment we will need on site which will include Buffalo router/access points for each site. We chose this type because it features an internal amplifier and powerful antenna to hopefully broadcast beyond the schoolyard.

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 - The wireless access point which we will use at each site.

Tomorrow should be a big decision day for our group as we select the sites, or at least how we will select the sites once we see the actual conditions. OLPC wants the saturation to be one laptop per child, whereas with our current plan it could be as many as one laptop per 5 children. We are thinking about giving each child a flash drive to allow them to save their work and share the computer to create it but the costs of the flash drive ($6.25 per drive) will likely prohibit this plan.

I'll update with any new details tomorrow.

-XO Mike

Extra Equipment

2009-05-15T10:01:00.007-05:00

We are still planning away and have narrowed down our deployment to cover no more than 5 sites. We looked into adding printers for our deployment but have rejected the idea because the XO operating system does not offer print options such as "File>Print".

I was excited to hear about the new equipment we will be receiving in Kigali. We will be receiving an XS which is a server for the XO laptops.

The XS server. It is quite small, about the size of a piece of paper and two inches thick. It weighs only five pounds and uses the case as a heatsink to eliminate fans which can wear out and get dust in the system.

Another tool which we will be using during the trip is a Flip HD camera which OLPC will be providing on loan for the summer. The Flip HD camera is a micro camcorder which records 720p HD video onto digital memory and can be imported to the computer using the onboard USB plug.

The camera is really small but records good quality video. To get a perspective of scall, look at the USB plug in relation to the entire camera. It's a standard USB plug!

That's all for today. We had a meeting with our "boss" at OLPC yesterday and he also thinks we are on a path to success.

-XO Mike

My very own XO

2009-05-10T17:01:00.009-05:00

OLPC has sent each team member one XO laptop to use before we deploy. These are the exact laptops we will be distributing throughout Sao Tome.

This is the laptop in the closed, off position.

This is the laptop in the normal on position. The two antennas are for the wireless, to protect the ports from dust, and to lock the screen when closed.

They are made for children and therefore their keyboards are quite small for my hands. I'm trying to be on asdf.

This is the home screen of the operating system. The monitor can flip around like a tablet notebook to feel more like a book.

-XO Mike

Planning

2009-05-10T15:02:00.010-05:00

All members going to Sao Tome have been planning since mid February. There are several groups and initiatives going including my OLPC group, a GIS group, and a community networking group.

The GIS group is led by a professor at the University of Illinois and their objective, as I understand it, is to start the framework of a map database for the government to use as they see fit. This could include mapping school routes, mapping distances to hospitals, mapping pot holes, etc. One member will be with the OLPC deployment and two others will arrive in late July and stay until mid August.

The final group, the community networking group, is led by a second professor at the University, Martin Wolske. This group is comprised of 1 student and the professor and this is a class offered at the University. The class will do projects in East St. Louis and all class members are offered the trip to Sao Tome, however funding is on their own. Their objectives on island will be to setup computer labs, train teachers how to use computers at the teachers college on island, and repair existing labs.

All groups meet every Wednesday to discuss issues that pertain to all: culture, geography, emergency procedures, etc. The scariest conversation was the one where we went over what do we do if STP (Sao Tome e Principe) is attacked by another country or if there is a military coup. To clarify, we DO NOT expect to ever use these procedures but better safe than sorry. Below is a picture of us listening to Paul tell us about the various locations of different things.

Left to Right: Corey (OLPC), Sarah (GIS), Danielle (OLPC, GIS), Daemon (CN), Paul (CN/Advisor)

On Mondays the OLPC group meets with Paul and Martin to plan different parts of the deployment: equipment, lesson plans, etc. I have been researching the various infrastructure needs and concerns over the past few weeks. We are trying to bring printers and flash drives with us to deploy and we will need routers to distribute wireless internet access.

We are putting a lot of thought into everything we do and it has been very stressful for me as I am detail oriented and I like to know every last bit of information. I'm working hard not to worry.

-XO Mike

Background

2009-05-10T13:23:00.000-05:00

As most of you have heard by now, I am a part of a team of 4 other students who applied for an internship with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). OLPC is an international organization with the idea that by giving kids laptops and the tools to educate themselves, they will be able to bring themselves out of poverty (similar to give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life).

This is the first year that OLPC has offered this program and it involves giving selected teams $10,000, 100 XO laptops and 1 server (to be installed at a school). They want teams to pick a country where they will deploy with the equipment and work with an existing non-profit on location who can maintain the program after teams leave. All teams are required to have a deployment of 8-10 weeks, two members of each team must attend a 10 day kick-off and training session in Kigali, Rwanda and one member of each team must attend a convention in October at MIT to present a report about the project.

Our team applied to deploy in Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa. Sao Tome is about the size of Champaign County with a population of 157,000. The country was colonized by the Portuguese and gained their independence in the mid 1970's. The primary language is Portuguese with a secondary language of French and a tertiary language of English. The country is dominantly Roman Catholic. Sao Tome has rich agricultural resources and lots of oil surrounding the country in the ocean, however the country lacks the technical skills and the financial backing to grow. The University of Illinois has been sending teams to the country for the past 5 years installing computer labs, training teachers and students to use the computers, and maintaining existing computer labs. I had planned to go on one of the U of I projects for approximately 4 weeks, but when the OLPC opportunity came about, I switched with the full support of the group organizing the shorter trip.

Our team is:

Corey Brian Jackson - Project Lead

Michael Stein - Infrastructure Lead

Chika Charles Umeadi - Technical Lead

Ashley Adams - Cultural Lead/ Portuguese Speaker

Danielle Ross - GIS Mapping Project

Last Tuesday night we found out that our team has been selected for the trip. Wednesday we had a meeting to finalize our commitment and we have started to book our flights. Please see the attached image to visualize the trip. My itinerary is:

My flight path. Green is part 1, yellow is part 2 and red is part 3. See the note for a listing of exactly where, when and on which airlines.

Chicago to London

London to Amsterdam

Amsterdam to Nairobi

Nairobi to Kigali

Kigali to Nairobi

Nairobi to London

London to Lisbon

Lisbon to Sao Tome

Sao Tome to Lisbon

Lisbon to London

London to Chicago

Yes, I am nervous that our luggage will be lost . We are using London as our hub because the only reliable way to enter Sao Tome is through Lisbon, a short trip from London and the only reliable way to get to Rwanda is through London.

When we arrive on island we will spend the first week meeting the government officials (Prime Minister, Minister of Education, possibly the President, etc.), meeting our local partner, STeP UP, and taking inventory of the laptop shipment. Corey and I will update the rest of the team with any additional information we received in Rwanda. We will stay at a house we will rent for the duration of our trip. The country's library is located within walking distance of the house and has internet access where I will be able to send emails but it is unlikely the connection will be strong enough to Skype.

Over the next 6 weeks, we will be traveling throughout the island to each of the 6 districts where we will choose a school to deploy a set of laptops. Some of the schools we go to might not have power which would in turn mean they do not have internet. We are looking for affordable ways to charge the laptops using solar power. Even though the island is relatively small, because of the road conditions it will take approximately 2-3 hours to reach some parts of the island. We will be staying overnight on different parts of the island to reduce travel times and fuel costs.

The final week will be the hand off from our organization to the local partner. Once I return, I will have a few days to readjust to the timezone before I head to school on the 16th for section leader training and band camp.

I am getting very excited for the excursion but I am nervous of the security risks which I will face. I will be taking a two week course to jump start my Portuguese knowledge before we deploy. I hope this has answered many of your questions and feel free to forward it to anyone you think might be interested in the trip. I will be keeping a blog during the trip and will let you know how to find it before I leave. Feel free to ask me any questions.

11 Flights
7 Countries
5 Airlines
3 Continents
1 Team

Our proposal can be found here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPCorps_UIUC_SaoTome

-XO Mike