Wittenberg U. Group Carries XO Laptops to Lesotho

Dr. Scott Rosenberg is a history professor at Wittenberg University in Ohio.  He teaches African studies.  Every year, he takes a group of his students to Lesotho for a month.  There, they learn about Lesotho and do volunteer service projects. 

Every year for the past three years, Scott and his students have carried XO laptops to Lesotho for us.  This year, they are taking 23 laptops in their luggage. 

This makes our work easier and saves the project considerable money on shipping. 

A special Thank You! to Scott and all his students for helping our project, and for all the service they do for the people of Lesotho.

- Janissa

Pre-Trip Preparation Meeting for U.S. Volunteers

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
about Traveling to Lesotho and Ketane ...

We held a Skype conference call Saturday with the L2L Volunteers from the U.S. who will be traveling to Lesotho for the January 2013 Ketane deployment.  Janissa led the meeting with Craig Balcomb, Sherrie Howey, Kathy Plath, and Jennifer Selden attending.  Tony Anderson hoped to join us, but he was unable to make it.  He's in Rwanda right now, and he doesn't always have internet access.

The purpose of the meeting was to explain the upcoming trip's goals & the project philosophy and then to answer all kinds of questions about the trip. 

Because all the volunteers will be traveling to Lesotho on their own, and some will be making their way to the remote villages on their own, Janissa compiled and distributed a 20-page document with all the information to serve as the volunteer's trip bible.

We covered all kinds of stuff, like pre-trip assignments & lessons, travel tips, passport control & customs, weather, clothing, what to take, what you can and cannot get in Lesotho, shopping, public transport, how to get to the village, language, what it costs, currency, meals & lodging, potable water, alcohol, cell phones & internet access, charging personal electronics, school facilities & supplies, travel schedules, work schedules, duties, project evaluation, scholarships, gift-giving, personal time, and more.

Besides the six U.S. volunteers going to Ketane, there will be two southern African volunteers and 3-4 project visitors also traveling to Ketane to see and help with the project.

Next on the agenda for the volunteers:  XO laptops lessons for the volunteers, via Skype.

- Janissa

 

Solar Power Solution for Kokobe Primary School

Happily, we've found an alternative solution to the problem of getting electricity at Kokobe Primary School that both fits our budget and meets the charging needs of the laptops.

Thanks to information and a referral from Richard Smith of OLPC, we have ordered 50 portable solar panels from GoldPeak Industries International in Hong Kong.  The panels are specifically designed to work with the older XO-1 laptops that we use in Lesotho.  Each panel charges one laptop.  They are 15V 14W with an 18V limiter, are flexible and tough, and cost just $35 each!!!

GPI has promised to manufacture and ship them to Lesotho no later than December 24th.  We'll have to pay air freight charges to get them in time for our January deployment, but given the extremely low cost of the panels themselves, we can cover the extra shipping charges.  GPI is working with DHL in Hong Kong, and I am working with DHL in Lesotho to make the shipping arrangements, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Once in Kokobe, the panels will be placed on the ground outside the classrooms and wires run into the classrooms to run and charge the laptops.  The only other country to use this system in Papua-New Guinea.  Here's a picture from their website showing the panels in use:

One huge advantage of using this system is that the solar panels are portable and can be taken home with a laptop, so children can use them on their own after school and on weekends.

PNG uses special wires called DC Shares that allow them to connect 4 panels via one wire to 4 laptops inside.  This helps control the tangle of wires.  Unfortunately, the DC Shares are not available unless ordered in very large quantities.  So, we are looking for ways to jerry-rig a similar system.  Unfortunately, the XO laptop and panels use a plug & jack that are non-standard and not available to us.  So, we will have to find a different solution.

A big BIG thank you to all of you who have helped me work through this last-minute problem, including Richard Smith, David Leeming, Bruce Baikie, Alex Kreider Chris Leonard, Tony Anderson, and George Hunt for their technical advice and knowledge of sources of equipment, Dyann Van Dusen and Richard Rowan of Friends of Lesotho and our anonymous donor for their flexibility in funding our solar power needs, Jennifer Lynden and Carrol of iLoveMyXO.com for their patience and assistance, our Project Leader Matlabe Teba for handling negotiations and arrangements in Lesotho, Richard Yu and Miu Ip of GPI International for arranging the rush production, and our Directors Sarah Gardner and Sherrie Howey for their guidance in resolving this issue. 

This was truly a team effort and yet another wonderful example of the power of the internet in empowering people all over the world to work together.

- Janissa


 

More Donations in Honor of Mary Dewar

Donations in honor of Mary Dewar keep coming in.  We've received another $300 from 5 donors, bringing the total to $1643.

Thank again to all of you who have given, and a special thanks to the new donors:

• Ruth Chesney Randi & Anthony Randi
• Nancy Fardelmann
• Lee Amrhein
• Lillian Laplac
• Sherrie Truesdell Howey

Your generosity will help improve the education and lives of children in rural Lesotho.

- Janissa


 

Technology: Fire-powered Electrical Charger

Here's a neat little piece of technology for the developing world and any location off the electrical grid.  It's a fire-powered electrical charger. 

Using a small wood fire, you can heat a beverage or pot of soup and,  at the same time, charge a cell phone, light, or other small USB device.  It's environmentally friendly, burning fuel more efficiently than an open fire, producing less smoke and CO2 emissions, and creating electricity.  Unlike a portable solar charger, you can charge your devices at any time of the day or night.

It's a little pricey, but it will pay for itself over time.  That time depends on the local price of electricity, but in India it is estimated to take about two years to pay for itself.

Available for $129 + shipping from - BioLite Stove (original designers) or The Roosevelts.

Larger home stoves are also available, but only in large quantities.

- Janissa

 

Thank You, Donors for Mary Dewar - Final Tally $1343

The final tally for donations made in honor of Mary Dewar's 90th birthday is $1343.  This will greatly benefit the children of Lesotho.

I would like to thank all the donors who gave in Mary's honor:

Cynthia Barton
Sheila Birkenstock
Alice Brown
Janet Castle
Sara & Maurice Fetty
Edith & Roger Gerber
Sue Hall
Barbara Haynes
Barbara Helmus
Ruth & Hugh Lacy
Hank Lambert & Barbara Joyce-Lambert
Gail Malloy
Janice Masseri
Alice Melkorian
Sue Ohngemach
Irene & Gunther Pagel
Louise Rooney
Ellen & Bob Sceles
Christine Veech
Melva Victorino
+ one anonymous donor

Your generosity is greatly appreciated,
Janissa


 

Problems Getting Solar Power Installed Before Next Deployment

I would first like to thank all the OLPC Community Support Volunteers who shared their expertise and help determining the best system for our needs, with a very special thank you to Richard Smith, Alex Kleider, and Chris Leonard. I'd also like to thank David Leeming for his assistance.

We've run into problems getting a solar-powered electrical system installed at Kokobe Primary School, the site of our next deployment in January 2013.  The problem arose just last month with the installer, Bethel BCDC, and he has put us in a bind both time-wise and financially.

Right now, we are faced with some unpleasant conditions:

• The installer may not be willing or able to install the system before deployment.
• The cost of the recommended system far exceeds our current funding.

We have a few, less than ideal options:

1. We could postpone deployment.
• This would delay deployment until we have the money to pay for the system (probably a year from now).
• This could be devastating to our organization.  We have a number of volunteers who have already bought plane tickets to Lesotho for January (average price $2100).They would suffer significant financial loss if we have to postpone.
2. We could risk taking out a loan to cover the cost. 
• This assumes the installer can and will install they system before January, which is seeming less and less likely.
• We would have to alter our Articles of Incorporation to allow for taking out a loan.
• We would have to hope donors will contribute to pay off the loan.
3. We could temporarily borrow a small gas generator and 10 portable individual-laptop solar chargers from Nohana Primary School.
• Charging with this set-up would be difficult and time-consuming, but we could charge some of the laptops during deployment and training. 
• Because getting gas to the site is extremely difficult, this option would leave the school in a very difficult situation until a permanent solution is found.
4. We could buy 20-30 portable solar chargers that the supplier, ilovemyXO, currently has in stock. 
• These are a newer version that has not been fully tested with XO-1 laptops, and there is some uncertainty whether they will work with the laptops we are deploying.
• Even if we go this route, we would have too few chargers for the full 50 laptops that will be deployed at Kokobe in January. 
• If we also borrow the 10 panels from Nohana, that would allow us to charge up to 40 laptops at a time. We could supplement this temporarily with Nohana's gas generator.
• For the long run, there is no stored power to fall back on, when it is too cloudy or raining, like there is with the system using permanent solar panels and batteries.

We are leaning toward the last option.  It is the most affordable and the most likely to be ready in time for the upcoming deployment.  It has some serious drawbacks though:

•  It is a bit of a gamble because the panels may not work well with the laptops we have.
• It will take much more effort on a daily basis on the part of the teachers and students.
• The portable panels will pose more of a temptation to steal.
• We will still have to find 20 more panels after deployment and find a way to get them to Kokobe. 
• Our funders donated their money to install the permanent system.  Hopefully, given the circumstances, they will be willing to alter our agreements to fund the potable chargers instead.

I'll keep you posted.

- Janissa