Yes, it has been a long time since posting here....but the work has never stopped! It has just had a change in management!
Pictured here is the library in use!
My student's club -- the InfoPros for Peace, at the International Community School of Abidjan -- have taken the project under their wing.
Last year, they focused on developing the library -- collecting books, videos, games -- and on developing connections with the kids at Bingerville, by hosting a "Cookies and Juice Summit" between our Lower School Student Council and their Student Parliament.
It was a great time, discovering shared interests like soccer and hamburgers, and having some good clean competition, like the hoola hoop contest!
After the initial network got installed for these first 10 computers, (shown above) and we'd received the additional 30, we closed out the school year in 2009.
In the 2009-10 year, the new team of InfoPros turned their attention to the books, starting some great programs like a reading club, sending out a sponsorship letter - a passionate plea to parents and the entire community for help, and introducing some great fundraisers.
By the end of the year, many more people were aware of the project and were taking it seriously. They asked how they could help, and wanted to help with the technology, in particular.
At the beginning of this year, the 2010-11 school year, we were approached by a parent whose company wanted to help in a big way. They ended up donating all the equipment needed to install the network for an additional room of computers -- doubling the size of the computer lab in one fell swoop! Our networking team got busy, working with a couple of our InfoPros, they installed the network over a course of a few days. (Pics to come)
Now, all that remains is the UPS Currency Stabilizer....the same big need we have had since the beginning -- a means of preventing the destruction of these computers due to a simple, preventable, but oh-so-powerfully-destructive -- electrical surge in the power supply!!
It will cost about 1,000,000 CFA - that's about $2,000.00 - to get it. So this is this years' mission.
So, I have officially passed the torch to my students. Though the project s no longer led by the Children of the Diaspora, United! the mission continues -- that is, that the "children of the disapora,"-- people of all nationalities, all races, creeds and colors -- act in unity, to contributing something of worth, to the people of the land from which we all, ultimately, have emerged - Africa - brithplace of human-kind.
To continue following events at Bingerville (and Bassam) from now on, please tune in to my students' sites:
Thanks for reading and following, and I hope I'll see you there!
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