Quick overview of rest of deployment
We had little Internet contact, so the news
is coming out slowly -- apologies to my
followers! I am writing this Friday evening
before turning in and then up early for the
flight back.
Tuesday and Wednesday we continued to refine
some of our install scripts, particularly
related to printing. For you techies out
there, we wrote one script that would install
the Common Unix Printing System (cups) and
related things needed to drive the printers.
It also sets up a regularly run job (a "cron"
job) that builds human-readable links in a
particular place that the user can browse
with the Firefox activity. These links are
to all text and html files in the Journal.
By mid-day Wednesday we had gotten every
XO to print (they hook up over the mesh net
automatically; one machine has the printer
attached and has a small number of additional
files installed for CUPS to know about it).
This all may still not work in the long run!
More importantly, more students came by and
learned how to use the laptops, and the teachers
became more comfortable with them and the approach
when they saw how engrossed the students were.
At this point, we consider the deployment a
success (so far).
Tuesday evening we found out that a Peace Corps
volunteer had heard of the project and wanted to
come see it on Wednesday (the power of Google
web search let him find us!). He did in fact come
and may be able to offer some "eyes on the ground"
over the coming months.
We exchanged some gifts. The village had given us
fabric in an African batik design to have s shirt
made for each of the guys and a dress for Nell. We
collected the finished goods -- well done -- on
Wednesday morning and wore them to the village. I
was also presented with a style of heavy shirt that
is the sort worn by chiefs (though I also saw men
wearing them who were perhaps heads of clans).
We made an offering towards their harvest festival,
a fund raiser that will help them build a clinic.
Speaking of which, we visited the site and saw the
layout and the half built structure. They need
something like $5500 (a rough estimate) to complete
it. Then the government will outfit and staff it.
(There is also an issue of housing for the staff,
but if the village gets the structure of the clinic
done, then maybe the government can be persuaded
to do the housing.) The way in which cash resources
get directed in the village is not entirely clear
to us ...
We also presented the school with a painting of
our church done on slate by a member, Herb Lilly.
Sadly, the slate had cracked in transport; gladly,
we were able to get it repaired by a local craftsman
over the Sogakope (the town where we were staying).
He took great care, mounting the two pieces on a
board and gluing. He would take no money for the
job, not even a tip. People here take great pride
in their work.
I should add that on Tuesday afternoon, we went
over to another town, Battor, with the closest
hospital, run by the Catholic church but with some
government support. The administrator kindly met
with us and allowed us to go through the wards,
which we did. While they look primitive by what
I am used to, they are providing a lot of great
care, and can even do things like dialysis
(unless the machine breaks). Since the government
started covering maternity and prenatal care in
the health insurance, they have seen a large and
satisfying increase in the use of those services.
The use of the "baby weighing" in-village "clinic",
held once a month in Mafi Dove was perhaps not as
high as we hope it eventually will be. (We were
able to observe it Wednesday morning, though I
personally was mostly involved in computer work
then.)
After we toured the village and bid a proper
farewell to the chief and officials, we went
a short way to a place where we boarded a hired
canoe to cross the Volta to Adidome. It was a
pleasant interlude. We walked from the landing
into town. We checked out the Internet cafe to
see their technology. A $4000-5000 satellite
link at 1.2Mb down / 768Kb up for $1200/quarter.
Those prices are high for the village! We need
to see if G3 wireless technology could be a
better solution for them, or if there are
better satellite plans.
We met with Mr Segbe, retired District
Education Director, who offered us more insight
into some of the historical issues and
forces at work in the area and the village.
Thursday we drove through Accra, dropped off
Eric Havor, and continued to Cape Coast where
we toured the "slave castle". I am not sure
if this is the same one shown in "Traces of
the Trade" -- that might be the castle at Elmina.
While it had more personal impact to be in
the actual dungeons and walk through the door
of no return, I think I had done more of my
reflection and coming to terms when I watched
"Traces", so this was not deeply emotional
for me -- but still impressive.
Our hotel that night (Coconut Grove in Elmina)
was nicer than the Cisneros in Sogakope (but
cost more too!). We were able wade in the
Atlantic and have dinner and breakfast by
the beach.
Friday we returned to Accra, picked up Eric
and did a lot of things. We went to the Peace
Corps office and made good contact there --
might help with a bigger deployment in the
future and enable us to be a pilot program
for something that would get governments
involved. Who knows? We visited a man from
the village who is a high official in the
police department. We went to the arts
market, worked on our haggling skills, and
got things to bring back. We had lunch at
a good African restaurant. We then did
some more shopping, for a better phone for
Eric and a few more things for us, then
to our hotel near the airport. Eliot and
Thomas had dinner there (Chinese food!) and
Robert and Nell went to Nell's friend Anna's
house for dinner.
Well that brings things up to date. We're
checked in for Delta -- now off to sleep!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
First day of deployment
While this is being posted later, I wrote it
Monday evening (the Internet going out of
Accra to the rest of the world was down, or
so we were told).
First, to fill in the blanks a little
concerning Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was
kind of leisurely, wandering down to JFK
with a rental car. No real problem; we
were on the plane, ready to go at the
appointed time. But (again!) the plane was
not ready. This time it was a broken de-icer,
definitely considered a no-go item. So they
moved us to another terminal and gate, and
after they got a different flight out of
the way, we boarded and left, with the crew
nearly reaching their legal time limit,
four hours late.
We arrived about 3 hours late, and had no
difficulty with immigration, claiming bags,
clearing customs, and linking up with our
driver. We were kind of squished in the car
with all that stuff, and we added Eric Havor,
a man who teaches in Accra but was out in Mafi
Dove and worked closely with Nell Todd when
she was here during her time with the Peace
Corps. But Eric's knowledge of the people
and ability to translate was invaluable.
(English is the official language of Ghana,
and many, perhaps most, learn it in school
now, but many in the village are not fluent
or speak only Ewe, one of the several
African languages with many Ghanaian speakers.)
The Sunday welcoming worked out moderately
well, since a longer one would have been
hard for us coming straight from the plane,
and they would have expected something like
a real sermon from me, rather than a brief
exhortation.
I was a little bit wrong about the cloth
they gave us. Monday morning on our way to
the village we went to a tailor to be
measured and have them run up shirts for
the three men on the trip. It turns out
that for that they really needed only one
of the three pieces of fabric. So Nell
will get a dress from the second piece,
and the third piece we hope to make some
vestments from for St. John's (the church
I serve), at least a priest's stole, but
perhaps a chasuble (a circular over-the-head
thing sort of like a poncho in shape).
Monday morning we gathered for breakfast
at 7:30 (eggs, toast, that sort of thing).
After stopping by the tailor shop (to
visualize it, more like the porch of a
poor person's house), we proceeded to the
village. We completed formalities with
the chief, which did not take long, and
it was easier than we thought to have
agreement for the computers to be in the
school. (We heard the chief about what
he would like on a future visit.)
We saw the room, which is pretty suitable
actually: concrete floor, louvered glass
windows, locking doors, electricity. And
they had obtained a surge protector
power strip (we suggested they hold it
in reserve). The XOs set up pretty easily
(we were mostly trying to get them all
with a "clean" setup from our memory
stick) and we got one of the printers
going, both locally connected and over
the mesh network.
Then some of the teachers and school
officials played some and we went off
to lunch. Kids got on the computers
later, and it's working great! They're
absorbed right away and getting a lot
out of it. It was all boys today, but
they will make sure the girls are there
tomorrow as well.
Concerning lunch, they kindly remembered
the sort of beer each of us had the day
before and provided that, and the food
was akple with okra stew/sauce to dip it
in. Akple is made from cassava (also
called manioc) and corn meal, and is like
a moist sticky heavy bread. You tear a
chunk off (we had personal loaves, but
it can also be communal; in either case,
right hand only!), dip it, and put it in
your mouth. It was tasty and filling.
We continued with the computers until
something like 4:30. Then we visited the
site of the partially completed clinic.
It looked designed to have something
like 10 in-patient rooms around the
outside and a good-sized out-patient
area in the center. It is right near
the electricity and water hookups. A
good part of the walls are up, but no
roof yet, etc. The development committee
told us that 8000 Cedis might be enough
money to complete it. (At present 1
$US = 1.4 Ghanaian Cedis, or so.) Also,
if the village completes the building,
supposedly the government will outfit
and supply it, and provide medical
staff. This all sounded good, and to
us a project perhaps within our grasp.
We were curious and concerned about
the fact that, while the chief directed
our attention to the clinic, most
recently he had been directing resources
towards a police station, which is
nearly complete, while the clinic
project is stalled. We do not see that
much need for a police station right
there (it's not a high crime area) and
wonder if it's a status thing of some
kind.
We came back to our hotel and this
time saw it before dark and had dinner
here as well. Having seen a new structure
down the road, we cruised through and
"experienced" the Holy Trinity Spa and
Health Farm, a truly wierd place even
by local standards.
We had dinner (mine was shrimp and
vegetables, slightly spicy) and a good
team meeting. We had brought a couple of
XOs and one printer back to continue
zeroing in on our configurations. One
thing is that we wanted to add some more
activities given what we saw the kids
doing with the XOs. The other is that
we wanted to simplify the installation
related to printing, a matter that is
still the weakest part of the overall
deployment I think, but we'll see how
it works out.
Well, that's enough for now; off to
sleep for a good rest before another
day in the village!
Oh, one thing I forgot: even though
it's the dry season, we got an afternoon
rain shower not unlike those of the
rainy season. I think the villagers
considered it good fortune.
Monday evening (the Internet going out of
Accra to the rest of the world was down, or
so we were told).
First, to fill in the blanks a little
concerning Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was
kind of leisurely, wandering down to JFK
with a rental car. No real problem; we
were on the plane, ready to go at the
appointed time. But (again!) the plane was
not ready. This time it was a broken de-icer,
definitely considered a no-go item. So they
moved us to another terminal and gate, and
after they got a different flight out of
the way, we boarded and left, with the crew
nearly reaching their legal time limit,
four hours late.
We arrived about 3 hours late, and had no
difficulty with immigration, claiming bags,
clearing customs, and linking up with our
driver. We were kind of squished in the car
with all that stuff, and we added Eric Havor,
a man who teaches in Accra but was out in Mafi
Dove and worked closely with Nell Todd when
she was here during her time with the Peace
Corps. But Eric's knowledge of the people
and ability to translate was invaluable.
(English is the official language of Ghana,
and many, perhaps most, learn it in school
now, but many in the village are not fluent
or speak only Ewe, one of the several
African languages with many Ghanaian speakers.)
The Sunday welcoming worked out moderately
well, since a longer one would have been
hard for us coming straight from the plane,
and they would have expected something like
a real sermon from me, rather than a brief
exhortation.
I was a little bit wrong about the cloth
they gave us. Monday morning on our way to
the village we went to a tailor to be
measured and have them run up shirts for
the three men on the trip. It turns out
that for that they really needed only one
of the three pieces of fabric. So Nell
will get a dress from the second piece,
and the third piece we hope to make some
vestments from for St. John's (the church
I serve), at least a priest's stole, but
perhaps a chasuble (a circular over-the-head
thing sort of like a poncho in shape).
Monday morning we gathered for breakfast
at 7:30 (eggs, toast, that sort of thing).
After stopping by the tailor shop (to
visualize it, more like the porch of a
poor person's house), we proceeded to the
village. We completed formalities with
the chief, which did not take long, and
it was easier than we thought to have
agreement for the computers to be in the
school. (We heard the chief about what
he would like on a future visit.)
We saw the room, which is pretty suitable
actually: concrete floor, louvered glass
windows, locking doors, electricity. And
they had obtained a surge protector
power strip (we suggested they hold it
in reserve). The XOs set up pretty easily
(we were mostly trying to get them all
with a "clean" setup from our memory
stick) and we got one of the printers
going, both locally connected and over
the mesh network.
Then some of the teachers and school
officials played some and we went off
to lunch. Kids got on the computers
later, and it's working great! They're
absorbed right away and getting a lot
out of it. It was all boys today, but
they will make sure the girls are there
tomorrow as well.
Concerning lunch, they kindly remembered
the sort of beer each of us had the day
before and provided that, and the food
was akple with okra stew/sauce to dip it
in. Akple is made from cassava (also
called manioc) and corn meal, and is like
a moist sticky heavy bread. You tear a
chunk off (we had personal loaves, but
it can also be communal; in either case,
right hand only!), dip it, and put it in
your mouth. It was tasty and filling.
We continued with the computers until
something like 4:30. Then we visited the
site of the partially completed clinic.
It looked designed to have something
like 10 in-patient rooms around the
outside and a good-sized out-patient
area in the center. It is right near
the electricity and water hookups. A
good part of the walls are up, but no
roof yet, etc. The development committee
told us that 8000 Cedis might be enough
money to complete it. (At present 1
$US = 1.4 Ghanaian Cedis, or so.) Also,
if the village completes the building,
supposedly the government will outfit
and supply it, and provide medical
staff. This all sounded good, and to
us a project perhaps within our grasp.
We were curious and concerned about
the fact that, while the chief directed
our attention to the clinic, most
recently he had been directing resources
towards a police station, which is
nearly complete, while the clinic
project is stalled. We do not see that
much need for a police station right
there (it's not a high crime area) and
wonder if it's a status thing of some
kind.
We came back to our hotel and this
time saw it before dark and had dinner
here as well. Having seen a new structure
down the road, we cruised through and
"experienced" the Holy Trinity Spa and
Health Farm, a truly wierd place even
by local standards.
We had dinner (mine was shrimp and
vegetables, slightly spicy) and a good
team meeting. We had brought a couple of
XOs and one printer back to continue
zeroing in on our configurations. One
thing is that we wanted to add some more
activities given what we saw the kids
doing with the XOs. The other is that
we wanted to simplify the installation
related to printing, a matter that is
still the weakest part of the overall
deployment I think, but we'll see how
it works out.
Well, that's enough for now; off to
sleep for a good rest before another
day in the village!
Oh, one thing I forgot: even though
it's the dry season, we got an afternoon
rain shower not unlike those of the
rainy season. I think the villagers
considered it good fortune.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Arrived!
We arrived, one day plus some hours late! Given that
timing, we went directly to the village, and had a kind
of combined short church service / welcoming ceremony.
We brought in the computers and printers (they seemed
to insist) and they presented us with some cloth, from
which they will fashion each of us a shirt once they
measure us.
They offered us a gracious dinner (rice and noodles
with a spicy sauce, some chicked stewed in the sauce,
and a hard boild egg each) and simple drinks. (We
each had a beer.) The chief had been away, but by the
time we were ready to go, he was back, so we were
briefly welcomed by him and then came back to the hotel.
We're pretty tired and over-whelmed, so I'll need to
fill in the blanks later. But so far, it's good!
Peace -- Eliot
timing, we went directly to the village, and had a kind
of combined short church service / welcoming ceremony.
We brought in the computers and printers (they seemed
to insist) and they presented us with some cloth, from
which they will fashion each of us a shirt once they
measure us.
They offered us a gracious dinner (rice and noodles
with a spicy sauce, some chicked stewed in the sauce,
and a hard boild egg each) and simple drinks. (We
each had a beer.) The chief had been away, but by the
time we were ready to go, he was back, so we were
briefly welcomed by him and then came back to the hotel.
We're pretty tired and over-whelmed, so I'll need to
fill in the blanks later. But so far, it's good!
Peace -- Eliot
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Ready to go
Our team of 4 heading to Ghana was supposed to leave
yesterday (January 1), but because of a mechanical problem
with our plane from Hartford to JFK, we ended up spending
the night near the Hartford airport and driving down to JFK
with a rental car. We're going on this afternoon's flight to
Accra, arriving a day late (Sunday morning in Ghana).
For those of you not aware, our goal is to set up a modest
computer lab for a rural middle school in a village called
Mafi Dove. (You won't find it on maps, but it's essentially
across the Volta river from Adidome, which you can find,
if you care to.
We're bringing 8 XO laptops, the kind developed by the One
Laptop Per Child people (see laptop.org).
We're also bringing a couple of printers (even more of an
experiment than the XOs -- not sure how sustainable they are
in Ghana). Also clothes, books, gifts, dental hygiene gear,
etc. But mostly, we're bringing ourselves and a desire to
develop a relationship with the people of Mafi Dove.
We plan to be there for a week, staying at a relatively
local hotel and going over to the village during the day. We
hope to see a couple of other places around the country, but
will focus on Mafi Dove.
Perhaps this is enough for my first post!
Greetings to you! Eliot
yesterday (January 1), but because of a mechanical problem
with our plane from Hartford to JFK, we ended up spending
the night near the Hartford airport and driving down to JFK
with a rental car. We're going on this afternoon's flight to
Accra, arriving a day late (Sunday morning in Ghana).
For those of you not aware, our goal is to set up a modest
computer lab for a rural middle school in a village called
Mafi Dove. (You won't find it on maps, but it's essentially
across the Volta river from Adidome, which you can find,
if you care to.
We're bringing 8 XO laptops, the kind developed by the One
Laptop Per Child people (see laptop.org).
We're also bringing a couple of printers (even more of an
experiment than the XOs -- not sure how sustainable they are
in Ghana). Also clothes, books, gifts, dental hygiene gear,
etc. But mostly, we're bringing ourselves and a desire to
develop a relationship with the people of Mafi Dove.
We plan to be there for a week, staying at a relatively
local hotel and going over to the village during the day. We
hope to see a couple of other places around the country, but
will focus on Mafi Dove.
Perhaps this is enough for my first post!
Greetings to you! Eliot
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