Classrooms « Hackers For Charity

I met the folks at Jinja Connection a few years ago and I really admired the work they were doing because they were working with “Street Kids” and that’s no easy job. Living in one of the poorest places on the planet is one thing. Living on the streets in one of the poorest places on the planet is quite another. The mission of Jinja Connection is to, “reach the street children in Jinja, Uganda who are eager to learn, whether they are in an existing organizations or are living on the streets and villages in Jinja.” The key phrase that strikes me is, “eager to learn”. When the organizers of Jinja Connection sought my advice about a small computer lab to help teach their kids computer skills, I found it hard to give them advice because what I really wanted to do was give them their own computers loaded with training software to help give their kids a head start. And that’s exactly what we did.

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Gulu  a pretty amazing place. Twenty years of war and insurgence have had a pretty profound impact on this area. A generation has been lost, there’s no mistaking this.

Because of the violence and war, tens of thousands of people in this area have spent nearly a decade in IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps. Life in the camps was unimaginable. Alcoholism was rampant. This (as always) directly affected the male population, but the trickle effect was pronounced. Women and children were raped and this caused a massive spike in HIV/AIDS cases. As a result, northern Uganda was (and still is) the AIDS capital of the world.

Although schools were started in the camps, the quality of this education was far below the already abysmal national standard. Teachers “either showed up drunk or not at all,” according to residents. It was clear that there is a desperate need for solid, world-class education.

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Children of Grace is an organization that provides, ”Education, healthcare and empowerment programs, and most importantly, the love of Jesus” to Ugandan children. I had come to know the American staff and founders and admired their dedication to the kids they’re serving. I also marveled at the “first-world” space they had created for their central office, which also served as a training and resource center for the children they served. We created a computer training center for them on a trail basis to see if they could properly care for the machines. We were not disappointed.  (Read More…)

We just installed one of our first micro-centers. This is a small training cluster and it’s a departure from our large school installations.

These four stations are driven by a single PC, which is loaded with RACHEL content.

Gerald and Sparks were on hand to assist with the installation, and I think the final product looks great. As always, I fussed over the cables and tried to keep the installation super tight. (More photos after the break .. ) (Read More…)

We installed a massive ncomputing system in Iganga, Uganda, East Africa this month. At 24 stations, it’s our largest installation to date. We cut their costs in half with our solution and after this install, we will concentrate on repairing their old machines, improving their Internet connection and training their staff and students.

This was also our largest RACHEL installation to date.

Much more info and photo gallery after the break.

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I love the concept of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). However, the implementation really falls short. Case in point: Rehaboth Integrated School in Bugembe near Jinja, Uganda. A generous donor gave 100 OLPC’s to the school, and they’ve sat in a closet for almost two years. The primary reason is that the staff had no real idea what to do with them. They needed training. (They were also waiting on the donor to release them to the school. They wanted the laptops to go home with the students… a HORRIBLE idea in a developing country.)

That’s where we were happy to step in. Together with Monte Hoover, a recent graduate of West Point and the faculty and staff of West Point, we broke those machines out of the closet and began putting them to use. Many more photos and info after the break ..

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St John’s Wakitaka was one of our earliest and largest Classroom endeavors. It was funded primarily by Paraben and an anonymous individual donor. The fundraising began in 2008, the room was set aside in 2009 and work on the installation continued through 2009 and 2010. The St John’s classroom is still an active HFC project.

Follow this link to see “before” photos and to explore the area surrounding the Wakitaka site. You’ll get to see what the neighborhood looks like, and the center before we moved the machines and tables in.

This center contained both new and used equipment. Much of what we know about computer systems and classrooms in underdeveloped countries we learned while working on this project. Follow this link and you’ll read about the first phase of the Wakitaka project. You’ll also be able to read the history of how this center came about. You’ll discover the unexpected work that goes into a seemingly simple project. As you’ll learn, the complications are varied and unexpected.

This third link shares photos from the second phase of the St. John’s project. In this phase we installed brand-new desktop systems, thanks to Paraben! You’ll also read about our staff members on the ground in Uganda and learn about the work they’re doing.

Nestled in the hills of Njeru near Jinja in Uganda in East Africa, the AOET Rehaboth Secondary School is a sight to behold. Overlooking beautiful Lake Victoria, it’s easy to be swept away by the beauty and the majesty of the area. But there’s something even more majestic about what AOET has accomplished through the years, and the Rehaboth High School was a good example of AOET’s forward-thinking plans for the marginalized people of East Africa.

That’s why, when AOET approached us with their plans for the school in 2006, we jumped at the opportunity to assist them with the computer lab in Njeru. After four years and tens of thousands of dollars invested by HFC, we made good on our promise to provide a state-of-the-art computer lab to match AOET’s vision. Sadly, it was more than AOET could handle. More after the break.

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Our first computer classroom project began as a simple cash donation to AOET Kenya for the purchase of desktop training computers. The staff at AOET coordinated the purchase of the machines, installed them, located a facility and began the training program. That training program is still running today and has served hundreds of students in Western Kenya.