Sunday, October 3, 2010

Maasai Magic in Monduli

Working at the Noonkodin School 
Two and a half hours!

That's all the time it took to install four computers at the Noonkodin School for Maasai students in the Monduli district on Saturday, Oct. 2.

I had a great team of Tanzanian professionals working with me and as per my request they all arrived at the E'Manyatta Lodge in Monduli town at 9am sharp.

Do you know how rare that is in Tanzania?...where people don't "go with time." I was so happily surprised. So at 9am we started the trek up the mountain,across the plains, into the valley, along winding roads, well not roads really, more like trails and 45 minutes later arrived at a school in the middle of nowhere. Hilary, our hardware expert, remarked "You like to work in rural areas!"

Troubleshooting the computers
After we arrived, the headmaster asked me to address the boarding students who were assembled to greet us and then we went to work. The solar fundi (skilled person) wired up the computers.

Albin and the computer fundis unpacked the equipment, assembled the computers, installed the software, connected the wireless router and printer, made a few changes to the settings and we were done. We also tested a solution to give them affordable Internet access and it worked. So when they are ready they can get up online.

The headmaster, teachers and students are SO excited to have computers, especially shiny new modern ones!Tomorrow, Monday, Albin begins a one-week training course for the teachers. This has been made possible by the contributions of the generous Patrons of Powering Potential!

Stay tuned...

4 comments:

Anne Whitehouse said...

Wonderful, janice. I have so enjoyed reading your blogs and learning about your accomplishments. We got the postcard too. I was so touched. YOu are doing great work!
Anne

Janice Lathen said...

Thanks Anne! It's been a very fulfilling experience.

Kathleen said...

This is fantastic, Janice! It must be so fulfilling to see this dream being realized and appreciated on an ever greater scale. It must be hard to leave now, yet satisfying to leave with a sense of such accomplishment.

Laura said...

What a productive time you've had! Thanks for sharing the journey and the wonderful accomplishments with us.