Back from the Bush

In Swahili there is: mji (town), kijiji (village), and porini (bush).

The Monduli school was definitely in the porini. I'm now in Dar es Salaam - mji mkubwa (big town). I arrived yesterday - back from the bush - and am leaving for the airport in 1/2 hour to return to New York.

I had two meetings in Dar today, one with our new-found solar expert and one at the US Embassy again.

It's been a most fruitful time here in Tanzania and I'm returning home eager to raise money and add 15 computers at Banjika. In my meeting with the Karatu District Education Officer he agreed to assign a computer teacher to the school, which is a huge step forward, and if they get more computers they can apply to the Ministry of Education to offer Computer Studies as part of their curriculum. We would like to give the headmaster his own computer, put one computer in the teachers' staff room, and have 20 computers for the students.

I spoke to Sirili today, a Banjika Form Four student, and he was SO excited because he had been using the Internet at school yesterday. We also found some fantastic educational material which includes the Khan Academy learning videos - Bill Gates uses them to teach his children - the material is stored locally on the server at the school so it will be easy for them to access.

Time to leave for the airport.....I'll be home the afternoon of Oct. 6. Thank you all for your interest in the story of Powering Potential  :)