Well it is Saturday already and the team of 2 IT experts arrive tomorrow and will be on their way to the airport as I write this.
Today we have been to investigate the work done at Fountain of Hope and they are ready for us. The container has been welded up, floor blocked off from sabotage from beneath, electricity installed, benches installed based on the Colin Westlake model installed 18 months ago in the other container. On Monday they are going to paint the container before we go and put the PC's in later in the week. The internet café is still running along steadily and we may need to look at a plan to give it more of a profile to increase numbers coming in as it is covering its costs at the moment but we need it to make money.
I have now managed to build one laptop and one desktop ready to walk through with the team and should have the checklists ready in time for Monday.
Called in at the big shopping complex, Manda Hill, for coffee at the Mug and Bean followed by a trip to the hardware store for extension leads with surge protectors in an effort to stop the computers blowing up as the power is up and down like a yoyo here at times. Also looked at networking kit for Sport in Action to connect the desktop PC's to the internet connection they have.
Following lunch we took in a trip to the Arcades where we watched the Zambia v Sudan world cup qualifier which was a little disappointing as Zambia should have won but only managed a 1-1 draw. We did take in a nice dessert and coffee to fill in the time. We did have the kids in tow - Rebecca, Mwanye, Tuliso, Philip who spent their time in the play room.
Well a quiet night tonight followed by a trip to the local church in Chamba Valley in the morning before we head off to the airport to meet Emma and Alisdair as they arrive from their around the world trip from Heathrow to Addis Ababa to Harare to Lusaka courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines. Lucky them.
Our first job on Monday is down at the EFZ school where we have 10 PC's to set up for them (that is 5 each for the team with me overseeing Martyn Ryan style ..) followed by some training for the teachers at around 15:30. We will also pick up some more equipment for the next couple of days installations.
Just waiting to finalise the trip to MacDonalds farm and then everything should drop into place and a programme for the team prepared.
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.
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