Touched by Technology in Ngorongoro

Powering Potential is at it again. We have just completed solar and computer installations at three remote secondary schools -- Lake Natron, Soit Sambu and Nainokanoka -- in the Ngorongoro District of Tanzania. Three weeks of technology training have commenced at each school. Ngorongoro District is home to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photos below are from the installation at Lake Natron school which is so remote that people need to walk two kilometers for cell service to make a phone call (GPS coordinates: S 02 29.987' E 035 53.149'). Most of the students at these schools have never even seen a computer. Powering Potential is changing lives again.

Inspecting the equipment

We continue to install Raspberry Pi computers with RACHEL offline educational content powered by solar energy and provide training.

A computer!

Solar professional giving instructions

In the photo below from left to right are: Peter Juma, Computer Systems Analyst, Ngorongoro District Council; Mr. Sweatbart Byorushengo, District Natural Resource Officer and acting District Executive Director; Albin Mathias, Powering Potential Country Director. Peter Juma worked for Powering Potential in 2011 teaching computer classes in Karatu District.

Notice the small Raspberry Pi computer in a clear plastic case to the left of the monitor:

Coat of Arms of Tanzania is the desktop background
Uhuru na Umoja (Freedom and Unity)

Powering Potential has now reached more than 5,500 students and teachers in ten schools in three districts by providing 91 computers powered by solar energy.  Beneficiaries of our program are going to college and securing employment.

Would you like to contribute to help us touch more students with technology?

TZ Postal Bank is Torch-bearing Pioneer

The Tanzania Postal Bank led by Mr. Sabasaba Moshingi is a torch-bearing pioneer. They have funded the first Powering Potential Pi-oneer at Rigicha Secondary School in Serengeti District which was delivered on May 27.

The Pi-oneer is an innovative teaching tool consisting of a Pi computer with RACHEL educational content including math and science videos, a mobile projector and a solar recharging unit. Teachers can bring the Pi computer and projector into their classroom and display materials for their students.

By funding the first Pi-oneer and bearing the light of knowledge to a remote area, Tanzania Postal Bank is planting potent seeds in fertile ground which will produce the delicious fruit of educated citizens.

Pioneer: inventor or innovator; a person or group who is the first to do something or who leads in developing something new; one who is first among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.

Cosmas Maghashi, TZ Postal Bank, Musoma Branch Manager
and Ghisango Mwita, Rigicha Sec. School, Headmistress

Pi-oneer projector/Pi/speakers

Albin Mathias, Powering Potential Country Director
assembling the Pi-oneer

Also present were Rigicha ward chancellor Daudi Motto, ward officer Mr. Saye, acting District Education Officer Mr. Jackson Makuri, and Serengeti Member of Parliament's personal assistant, Mwalimu Mwita.

Albin Mathias briefing students, staff and others

The Powering Potential Pi-oneer was introduced at Education Week in Dodoma, Tanzania on May 3 in a briefing for H.E. Mizengo Pinda, Prime Minister. 

The theme of Education Week was "Quality education is possible for all; play your role." Tanzania Postal Bank led by Mr. Sabasaba Moshingi is playing a vital role in bringing quality education to the Serengeti District. 

Powering Potential is inspired by their example. Are you a Tanzanian? Would you like a Pi-oneer in a particular school? Powering Potential will do it with you bega kwa bega. We'll pay half and you pay half of the $2,000-$2,500 needed (depending on travel distance) to provide a Pi-oneer to a school (purchase, deliver, install, and train). Contact Albin Mathias at albinmathias@poweringpotential.org.