Moving Right Along

Thursday Sept. 16

8:30-9:30
Drive to airport

11:15-12:30
Flight from Dar to Arusha

1:00-1:30
Meeting with volunteer coordinator of Noonkodin school

1:30-2:30
Meeting with two Tanzanian network engineers who are available to help with the computer installation at the Noonkodin Secondary School in Monduli. One of them teaches Linux administration at a college here and the other was his student. Powering Potential's computers are Linux-based.

2:30-3:30
Lunch with Susan Rickert, the woman who was the driving force behind the building of the Banjika school

3:30-5:30
Hot, dusty, bumpy drive to Karatu with Susan (and her guide)

5:30-6:30
Shower and dress for dinner

7:00-9:00
Dinner with Susan at Ngorongoro Farmhouse

9:00-9:15
Asked to speak about Powering Potential to a table of 20 people

9:30-10:30
Phone calls and text messages regarding customs clearance of the computers and to arrange the installation for Oct. 2

11:00
Collapse into bed

Friday, Sept. 17

Banjika Graduation Ceremony - all day

The Administrative Officer from the District Commissioner's office and the District Education Officer were there – important local government people and both invited me to their offices to discuss the work of Powering Potential and how they might support us.

I have videos of the event (including my speech) ... am eager to share them with you online..might have to wait until I get home though...the Internet is slower here.

The solar technicians were working at the school all day expanding the solar energy system to accommodate the satellite Internet dish which takes an additional 80 watts.

Surya Ganguly arrives into Arusha tonight, he is one of Powering Potential's technical gurus. He's coming to help with the installation of the satellite Internet dish which is happening tomorrow and Sunday, and to set up the computers for safe, efficient access to the Internet.

If you've been wondering about the computers intended for the Noonkodin school in Monduli... they were finally cleared from customs on Thursday Sept. 16 (we were expecting them to be cleared on Aug. 27). Albin, our person here in Tanzania (I need to find a title for him :) any suggestions? will bring the computers by bus from Dar to Arusha on Oct. 1 and we will begin the installation the next day. Albin is in college in Dar until Sept. 30 and I had to leave Dar on Thursday to be at Banjika by Friday and the computers weren't cleared yet... thus the wait.