Overview of rest of the week

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!