OLPC Epic Wins, Doing Things Better and the Long Journey Ahead! January 11, 2011

     Dearest friends,

On behalf of Education Kindling (eKindling), Manigong Bagong Taon (Happy New Year)!

Woah! 2010 was a blur and it was filled with challenges, surprises, and epic wins for our first One Laptop Per Child deployment in the Philippines. Here are some of the inspirational highlights:

1. Enhancing teaching and learning talents: 4 champion educators, 4 Tech Squad Kids, parents and administrators were trained in the National Computer Center on the use of XO laptops in the classrooms, maintenance and repair, and powerful and innovative ways of digital learning! Watch our Tech Squad Kids: co-teachers in the classroom.
2. Inspirational Fundraising: In honor of the Mayor Juan Sanchez of Lubang, Mindoro, a community of National Computer Center employees, successfully raised nearly $24,000 to purchase 100 XO laptop. Through an email campaign and word of mouth, they collected donations ranging from $5-$2000 from over 100 individuals. Inspirational, grassroots fundraising, right? Are you inspired enough to start your own fundraising campaign?
3. New Awesome Partners: Both Asian Pacific College and University of the Philippines signed up as our first university partners. They will develop new learning activities and tools for the XO laptop and provide technical support when needed.  Milbank Tweed also signed up as our legal counsel and Bakitwhy.com  became our first media partner, spreading the joys of our work to the world!  
4. 100 XO Laptops launched: On November 24, 2010, 100 XO laptops were deployed in two schools on the island of Lubang, Mindoro. Children are learning fractions and entrepreneurship skills using the Finance Activity on the XO Laptop. They are accessing wikipedia to learn about biofuels and preserving Lubang’s woodlands. They are recording and taking photos of Lubang’s heritage sites to learn about their history. They are learning with the XO laptop outside the classroom and in the school garden, beach front, and town center! Truly inspirational. Check out the photos: Launch Ceremony Album
5. Philippines Sec. of Education, Bro. Armin Luistro’s great surprise: On Dec 6, 2010, we shared our work with the world with a formal launching that was attended by the Philippine’s Secretary of Education, government officials, major media outlets, donors and supporters. In reference to the OLPC pilot, Sec. Luistro said “we were struck by this. We always thought that the best ideas were in Manila, in a first-class city with lots of money. But to our great surprise, what we thought was only possible was already a reality in Lubang.”  Photos: here; Press: here
6. TED talks!  This past December, our Education Guru, Tessa Yuvienco spoke at TedxManila as a TED speaker. What an honor! We do our best to tell our story and our passion to rethink and innovate education for all children in the Philippines. Check out the picture at TED: team photo

What a year! This all became possible because of your support. However, we are humbled by the long journey ahead. After all, this is not about parachuting technologies into classrooms. It is about providing a meaningful education that will position our children for success as the next leaders, life-long learners, problem solvers and change makers of the 21st century.  With this said, this year is about doing things better!

This year, we want to include you more. Please join the conversation about educating our children. Ask questions. If you feel inspired, email us at community@ekindling.org about starting a fundraiser or volunteering as a developer or entrepreneur. If you know movers and shakers, CSR programs, or philanthropic organizations, connect us to them. The journey is long, but it’s exciting! And we invite you to join!   

There’s a lot in store for us in 2011 and with your support, extraordinary possibilities will turn into reality. Again, on behalf of Education Kindling, we hope you have a warm, fuzzy, and prosperous new year!

     Cheers,

     Ryan Letada 

     Executive Director

     Education Kindling (eKindling) 

     FB | TW | 

Congratulations, eKindling Philippines! December 24, 2010

Even though this big launch took place on Dec 6, 2010, I want to post some pictures, links and congratulate the team that was working so hard for a long time to make it happen! Thank you for dreaming big and making difference in the world!

EKindling project in Philippines is http://wiki.laptop.org/go/EKindling.

To all,

Sharing some photos from the formal launching

http://tinyurl.com/2chf3j7

I personally like this pic

http://tinyurl.com/2a7enxj

and the  media coverage

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/291253/deped-launches-laptop-every-pupil-program

“We thought the best ideas happen in Manila. We thought things like these (the Education Kindling: OLPC program) only happen in a 1st class city where there are lots of money. To our great surprise, what we thought is only possible is already a reality in Lubang. I came here to see myself that it is true.” – Dep Ed Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, FSC 7
–
Cheers,
@marife

eKindling, OLPC Philippines, and Vietnam! Part Four May 9, 2010

Ryan: What about an OLPC community? Is it even big in Vietnam?

Polyachka: It doesn’t really exist.  There are individuals, mainly foreigners, who know about OLPC. We have a website that Mario is running- OLPC Vietnam and I’m still doing my blog. But it takes so much more effort there than here for many reasons.

Ryan: There are so many challenges

Polyachka: Many cultural barriers, it is hard to explain, why it doesn’t work the way we expect it or the way it works here. A completely different mentality. People are still new to this whole volunteering idea. “Why am I doing it for free? Explain it to me again?”

Ryan: Its definitely difficult to cultivate a culture of volunteering, especially when most potential volunteers have mouths to feed. This is definitely a challenge for us, but thankfully, our community of volunteers is beginning to grow inside and outside of the Philippines.

Polyachka: It is a different tradition, culture; you need to understand a lot of things before you start actually changing peoples’ mentality. I realized that in Vietnam you do need some funding in order to attract volunteers; you have to pay them a little bit or create some incentives.

Ryan: Incentive program, yes, at least a dinner for the group…

Polyachka: or a trip or some other recognition, but I wasn’t able to do it, as I was doing so much besides that – teaching children, learning new programs myself. Do you remember, first time I tried an XO was when you showed it to me (back in Jan). And then I had to write about it and think about what is good for the children, not necessarily for OLPC….

Ryan: I agree, because a lot of people forget that, some OLPC enthusiasts believe that it’s the magical tool to solve educational problems in the developing countries. The XO laptop is only part of the solution.  At the end of the day, we have to figure out how children can benefit from the XO Laptop. Not how the XO Laptop will benefit from the Children.

Polyachka: I heard a complaint about small deployments, especially unsustainable ones. Rich tourists go to the developing countries and bring back nice pictures and no real results.  I thought about it. Yeah, maybe some deployments are not sustainable, but that is not their main priority. They do their part testing the product, and try to get the most out of it to benefit the children. Their goal is to make those children happy and take advantage of new technology. Sometimes it is not about achieving great sustainable results like turning pilots into a huge nation-wide deployment with some super results.

Ryan: you mean some metrics: literacy rates have gone up and this saved children from poverty

Polyachka: exactly, there are drastic examples, but even if it is a small change, I’m really happy with that…

Ryan: That is good. The XO Laptop is a tool that can benefit children in various ways.  At the end of the day, we may find that providing access to an XO laptop brought joy and laughter in their lives.  This is not “increasing literacy rates”, but this is just as powerful.

Polyachka: I agree, that is why it is grassroots – you try to do what you can… Any kind of result good for children and their education works…

Ryan: what are your next steps?

Polyachka: I want to start a volunteering company that will help small and big projects around the world…

Ryan: Would you be interested in coming to the OLPC Meeting in New York and tell about your Vietnam OLPC experience…

Polyachka: Sure!  I’d love to do it…

eKindling, OLPC Philippines, and Vietnam! Part Three May 6, 2010

Ryan: You never got to that point? How was it structured? What was the daily activity for students participating?

Polyachka: I was teaching in a shelter, where children are orphans. It was not a school, where teachers are available to learn and then transfer their knowledge to the kids. I was a shelter, where there is a director and children living there. Children go to school every day, but school is in a different location. I would come for 2 hours in the evening Mon-Fri and we would learn something new. I don’t speak Vietnamese, so there was always a translator. A local volunteering company provided translation and transportation. We had 20 classes in total and the exam. All the girls passed it and they got the Teacher certificates, so that they can teach software Sugar to other children in the shelter.

Ryan: So you were training educators to educate the rest of the students. That is great. They were all girls. That is the kind of stuff that OLPC wants to hear.

Polyachka: Probably, but our communication kind of stopped because we used the Google translator in the beginning but it gets messy. And sometimes it translates into total nonsense. The other problem is that we never figured out Vietnamese keyboard, as some symbols don’t work on the XO, which makes it impossible to use the Write activity. That was the point of my whole deployment – to figure out what works, what needs to be improved and what are the next steps. Unfortunately, the keyboard localization isn’t working well as several characters don’t work. That is why it is hard for children to write to me, and then I can’t translate and understand what they write. It is Latin alphabet, but with several extra symbols, you apply accents on top of every letter. One letter can be used in many different ways and produces different meaning.

Polyachka: So even though the girls achieved a lot and now they have the Internet after we installed a router, not all is perfect. We have an arrangement with the director, so that the children can use the Internet several days a week. But it is hard for me to tell what are they doing right now, whether they use computers at all, never mind teaching other kids, as I don’t have communication with them. So that is my problem. And there is no one in Vietnam who could do it on regular basis.

Ryan: It is hard to find enthusiastic people who are there all the time. What about the Vietnamese community?

Polyachka: There were a lot of people who volunteered to be my translator, they were interested in the project but no one could commit to be that liaison between the group and me because they all want paid jobs and some benefits that I can’t not give them because I have no funding.

eKindling, OLPC Philippines, and Vietnam! Part Two May 5, 2010

Polyachka: So when are you scheduled to start?

Ryan: We were supposed to start in June but that had to be pushed back, so August is now the start date…

Polyachka: What other things do you take into consideration?

Ryan: Shipping, currently one cargo carrier is DHL. Customs checks every single DHL box, and they will charge up to 40% of the value of the laptops, which is additional $9,000. It is more than we expected and we thought of trying other carriers based in Shanghai that are cheaper but that is not an option.

Ryan: How did you deal with these problems in Vietnam?

Polyachka: We are a different caliber; you are much bigger than we are. So that is why you suffer from certain things we avoided. All I had to work with was 5 XOs, which is not much. I brought them in my own suitcase, and no one checked how many computers I had. The same with Nancie, who came to the other part of Vietnam and brought 12 XOs, and didn’t pay any taxes, only for extra weight, so that part was easy. Our small deployments are more about testing the software applicability and its customization for Vietnam. For example, we were trying to find and read ebooks in Vietnamese. We were not focusing on making it a part of the standard curriculum. It was more an extra curricular activity that children would do after school. It was hard for us to convert to bigger scale because we didn’t have strong connections to the local officials, or we didn’t have the funding so that some people could get paid to go through the training. It was interesting to work and to see what the opportunities are. There is one guy who is still there and he is officially the head of the project and the website OLPC Vietnam.

Polyachka: Also it is very segregated. I started my deployment in the south and Nancie did in the north.

Ryan: So you were not working together?

Polyachka: No, our deployments don’t even talk to each other because Nancie’s deployment doesn’t have the Internet. They are very small deployments and that is not good for OLPC, because they are looking for deployments like yours.

Ryan:  I don’t think so, we are too small. Or maybe yes, but not big enough to get the capabilities to be supported. Maybe if we were a bigger deployment of 1000 laptops, things would be different. We are small too, compared to other players that are out there.

Polyachka: Could be… but at least you are buying laptops; and we got our laptops for free… Of course, their perfect deployment is Afghanistan. Where there are thousands of laptops. But again, what I was told that OLPC is interested in all kinds of grassroots activity promoting OLPC and trying it to “plant the seeds” into different countries and concentrating on those that have the most potential.  So 100 laptops is a good start… especially if there is infrastructure to support them and training for the local people who are interested in making it a live project. In my case children are using computers but not systematically. What is expected? More publicity or better results, reports, like improved literacy rates or something similar, that we are not giving …

eKindling, OLPC Philippines, and Vietnam! Part One May 4, 2010

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)

Bridging Gaps: Part 2 January 10, 2010

How I got introduced to the secret society:”OLPC Masons”

On Thursday, Dec 17 I met with Ryan Letada from Philippines deployment, and it was my first close encounter with XO. I was amazed how small and cute it was! Ryan demonstrated some activities for me and told me about his project. They have a big team and starting eKindling project in Mindoro, waiting for XO1.5 to be released later this year. There is a possibility for me to visit their deployment while I’m in Saigon. We were sitting at Starbucks in Brookline, and I had my suitcase with me because I just arrived from Cleveland, OH, where I worked for four days… I didn’t go home first as I rushed from the Airport to meet with Ryan before his departure for NYC an hour later.  Ryan’s suggestions for me: to meet with Caroline Meeks, visit deployments, and follow OLPC on tweeter among other useful steps.

Next day on Friday, Dec 18, I received the following email from Adam about an upcoming on-line chat meeting:

NOW: Contributors Program Mtg! (Fri 2PM Boston time, #olpc-meeting)

Please join us NOW reviewing the latest OLPC/Sugar community projects over IRC Live Chat:  (4:15PM EST Boston Time Today/Friday)
http://forum.laptop.org/chat

AGENDA:

* New projects & libraries — teaching them Community Outreach:
  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Laptop_Lending_Libraries

* Which projects might you enjoy Mentoring below?!
  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects
  http://rt.laptop.org/Search/Results.html?Query=Queue=%27contributors%27

* Fast Review of the 5 latest (greatest!) HW/Project Proposals — please
  join us advocating for, and/or reviewing shortcomings of these proposals:

1. Decipherable Matrix – Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

2. Got Game? Web version – Ghana & Coppell, Texas, USA

3. Budalangi Child Computer Connection Program – Kenya

4. XO-1.5 B2 for Scratch Developer – United Kingdom

5. Phu My Orphanage, Vietnam / Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Was I scared? Yeah! Did I “dial in” meaning type in? Yes…

I had no sponsors or advocates, or detailed plan of what I’ll be doing, but I believed in my idea and was ready to defend it, even if I had to swim with sharks… Deep inside I was hoping that “judges” will get tired by the time we review my project and will not ask too many questions, as my project was the last one in line. 

After patiently following IRC chat script about four projects before me, I had to answer questions from four “OLPC Masons”.

I didn’t see their faces, I didn’t hear their voices, but I knew they were there as they typed in their questions and verdicts…

As non-techie I was afraid of being judged by techies… I was afraid of being judged for having no team and doing this project by myself… I was afraid of being the only woman in the chat room … I was afraid that if “OLPC Masons” didn’t believe me they would not approve of my request and would expel me as incompetent or disqualified, and announce I didn’t belong there…

It was the most intense and speechless meeting of my life!  I haven’t made a sound, and in the room of silence there I was trying to explain myself… I gathered all my courage and managed to survive (like Sonya Golden Hand) and get their approval…

Here is the log from IRC chat room
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Contributors_program/December_18%2C_2009