Eight XO laptops being carried to Maseru

Maureen Powell, of the American International School in Maseru, and her husband have agreed to carry eight of our XO laptops over to Maseru in their carry-on luggage when they fly to Lesotho in early August. We'll have to pay for the domestic postage to Atlanta, but it will save us a bundle on the international shipping. Thanks Maureen!!!

I'll get the laptops charged up today and put them in the mail the next time I go to town, hopefully tomorrow.

And if you know of anyone else flying to Lesotho who might be willing to carry a laptop or two, please ask them to get in touch with me.

- Janissa

Contact with XO laptop programs in South Africa

I sent an email via the OLPC-ZA list serve asking for help with the XO laptops, and I got an immediate response from Stacey Kertsman. She gave me information about eduWeavers.org, a group from Marin County, California USA, partnered with a school in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, that is using the XO laptops. She also told me about Thulani Madondo of the Kliptown Youth Project in Johannesburg, which has deployed nearly 300 of the XO laptops.

I will follow up on this and make contact with these two groups to see if they can give us advice and help. I think it would be great if we could have some of our team visit one or both of these sites to observe how they are using the XOs.

Stacey also suggested having their students connect with our Ketane students via eamil. I think that's a fantastic idea.

I'll keep you posted

- Janissa

Stacey Kertsman's reply read:

Janissa,


Perfect timing. eduWeavers has a group coming to South Africa a day from now. They will go up to KZN to a rural school (eSibonisweni) just near Tembe Elephant Park (Kwangwanase is a close town). The school has a deployment of 70+ XOs. We are going to be doing some training on the XOs there. Perhaps some of our team can answer questions for you. No one can make it to you in Lestho this time, but we should connect because it would be great to get the two XO communities in touch with eachother too! Beyond that, I suggest contacting Thulani Madondo in Kliptown, Johannesburg. He works directly with the XOs through his Kliptown Youth Program and can, perhaps, offer you support for a very fair fee. He's fantastic. I've copied him here.


I have also copied Jennifer Getz and Trevor Getz on this email. They are running the trip to KZN. Jennifer's SA cell number is: 082 858 2365. As I said, this trip is a packed one for our group, but perhaps we can support you in some way, even if it is through a phone conversation with the XO team we've brought with us.


Good Luck,


Stacey Kertsman
Director
eduWeavers.org

Andrew is Back in the States

Andrew Dernovsek, our Treasurer and Co-founder, is back in Colorado after his trip to Uganda as Executive Director of UCE.

Difficulties Communicating with Africa Continue

We're still experiencing problems with email and internet connections at Ketane. Apparently, the GSM modem (USB stick/dongle) Janissa sent isn't working. We're not sure what the problem is yet, so Mapesh, Matlabe, and Aaron can only communicate by email when they travel away from Ketane. We may have to wait until we get an I.T. person on the ground in Ketane to fix the problem.

We also haven't heard from Shaun, in Durban, for several months. He hasn't responded to emails. We're trying to track down the problem there too.

This is very frustrating and slows our progress somewhat, but it's not unexpected in the early stages of a project like this, and it's not insurmountable.


- Janissa

L2L Partners with BLOOM Africa

BLOOM Africa has agreed to raise $3500 (about M25,000) for Laptops to Lesotho!!!

This is great news! The money will pay for 10 XO laptops, one solar panel and storage battery, and shipping to get the laptops to Ketane. There is no guarantee when they will raise the money, but they've got several fundraising events planned for in the next few months, so hopefully we'll see some of the money soon.

You can see more about BLOOM Africa on their website, BLOOMAfrica.org. Their mission is to help Orphans and Vulnerable Children, so one stipulation of their support is that we must work on HIV/AIDS prevention using the laptops. I've officially added several tasks to our work in Ketane so that we can meet that objective, though most of these goals were already on the drawing board.

Things are really starting to come together for us. We have now received or been promised:

• $3500 for laptops, power, and shipping from BLOOM Africa,
  
• $1436 from Friends of Lesotho for network hardware, internet service for 1 year, construction materials, and office supplies,
  
• $1500 from FIPE for laptops, plus all expenses for a Mosotho team member to travel to Colorado, USA, for a professional exchange,
  
• $2550 from public donations,
  
• donated labor and services from the Ketane community,
  
• donated software from TechSoup.org, and
  
• donated grant research subscription from Grant Station.

There is a lot of work still to be done to make this dream come true. I will be writing more on that soon. But for now, LET'S CELEBRATE!

- Janissa

'Ntate Matlabe is Online!

I received my very first email today from 'Ntate Matlabe Teba, our Project Treasurer and Community Organizer in Ketane. He is the principal at Nohana Primary School and also teaches classes there.

Matlabe had learned basic computer skills from Andrew last year, but he hadn't yet learned how to use email or the internet when Andrew left. He promised, though, that he would learn it, and today I got the evidence that he has indeed fulfilled that promise.

Congratulations, Matlabe. I look forward to many more email exchanges.

- Janissa

Letter of Inquiry Submitted to The Global Fund for Children

I just submitted a Letter of Inquiry to The Global Fund for Children. They look like a good prospect as a funding source as their priorities and criteria match our project very, very closely.

They award grants of $5,000-$20,000 in June and December every year. I probably didn't get our Letter of Inquiry submitted far enough in advance for the June awards, so it may be some months before we hear anything.

As always, keep your fingers crossed.

-Janissa