Polyachka: Hello! 🙂
Ryan: Welcome Back
Polyachka: thanks
Ryan: How are you?
Polyachka: I’m great. How are you?
Ryan: I have my coffee and it is a great sunny day here in NY
Polyachka: same here in Boston
Ryan: that is right, I forgot you are in Boston. I’m not sure where you are in the world these days
Polyachka: I can give you an update: I came back from Vietnam 3 weeks ago and I realized I need to make some changes in my life so I left my job and I’m working on starting a non-profit organization to help volunteers around the world to find good projects
Ryan: Like a social entrepreneur? Congratulations, but first let me ask you: How do you feel?
Polyachka: I feel great! 🙂 I know, other people would be concerned. “Are you insane leaving your job in this economy?” But I’d rather be insane and happy than sane and unhappy.
Ryan: So great to hear. I definitely understand where you are coming from, as I came from banking…
Polyachka: If you saw me today, you would see a big difference. Remember, when we met in Jan, I came straight from the Airport from my business trip to our meeting…
Ryan: I’m glad you made your choice, as many people don’t get to make it…
Polyachka: So now is your turn. What are you doing in NY, not in the Philippines?
Ryan: I’m still working in the Philippines doing eKindling stuff, but I’m here fundraising for our deployment. http://www.ekindling.org/news
Polyachka: Well, last time I heard that you booked an order for 100 XOs (1.5) for the Philippines.
Ryan: It is in the process of happening. We are purchasing 100 laptops, sponsored by 100 different donors, who donated from $10 to $1,000 each. But now we are trying to raise $3,000 more to pay for the XO certification in the Philippines.
Polyachka: what is this fee for?
Ryan: To certify that the XO 1.5 is safe to be used in the Philippines.
Polyachka: Did you do it for the XO 1.0?
Ryan: No, but we need to do it for 1.5 as it is a world wide requirement not just for the Philippines.
Ryan: Our sponsor from the national computer center of the Philippines is the umbrella
group that does the certification in the Philippines, so our idea is to do it for free. OLPC
said that they had had bad experiences with countries taking on the certification process. Because of this, they want to do it themselves.
Polyachka: So they want to do it for you?
Ryan: yes, so we can fundraise $3,000, but there is also a time constraint, as it takes 3.5 months to get XOs to the Philippines from border to border
Polyachka: why so long?
Ryan: because it is 1.5 and it comes from Shanghai…
Polyachka: So are they being built as we speak? I would think it is really close from Shanghai to the Philippines…
Ryan: You would think…
Polyachka: How many people have you trained on the XO already?
Ryan: About 20 people. We trained 4 educators, also students helping teachers, which are additional 4 students, and local technical team of about 5 and parents who want to understand the XO – all the stakeholders… It’s really exciting. Have you seen the pics?
Polyachka: Yes, you sent me the link and I checked them out. They are great. (http://picasaweb.google.com/cherry.withers)
SaigonOLPC 