As the sun starts to fall for the last time on this trip we can reflect on an absolutely amazing trip. We have achieved our objectives and managed to complete another school too and still got Friday afternoon to relax and have a walk round Kaunda Square, the local compound next to our cottages.
Yesterday we installed three computers at Kiine so they now have 8 in the classroom which makes it a lot easier for the children to have access. While Alisdair and Emma worked at Kiine I went back across town to BIGOCA to return the 2 laptops we had to take away to get the windows licences activated. On the way back we stopped at Kumbayah to pick the in country team up and had a chance to catch up again with Amos.
After lunch we all went out to visit MacDonalds Farm project and give them 5 laptops for the boys to use for extra schoolwork and revision of some subjects as well as giving them the opportunity to learn about computers. As always they went out of their way to make us feel very welcome and they are very grateful for the laptops.
Today was our final visit and having 6 pc's left we decided to visit the Mary Aitken Head School and place these in there empty computer lab. This visit was very special and the cheer that went up when we showed them what we had brought was phenomenal. The girls sang for us and made us so welcome it brought a tear to my eye. This project was on our September list but we managed to get it done early.
Reflecting on the week I think we have been overwhelmed by the appreciation of the children and schools and all we brought were a few old computers from the UK (well 50 installed by 3 of us (+ Chika once he was trained) in 4 and a half days) We have overcome a few technical issues and only ended up with one failed PC and one failed laptop which we are bringing back for repair. But most of all we have been kept motivated by the enthusiasm of the local people.
The children of Zambia are desperate for an education and by providing computers we can help them get a skill to hopefully help them find work when they leave school.
We leave Lusaka in the morning flying down to Harare before going on to Addis Ababa and then back to the UK and hopefully arriving early on Sunday morning.
This blog aims to keep people up to date with the Re-Wired Projects activities in Zambia. Re-wired has the vision to enable African children to share in the Information Technology revolution. IT is important for Africa, because the West is moving so quickly technologically.
No comments:
Post a Comment