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Correspondence with Will Dowson (renewable energy specialist): https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/OLPCORPS/Will+Dowson
Most recent email:
Hi Janet, we should hear more from Zain (the mobile phone company) and the Ministry of Education once we know which regions are suitable. As I said, feel free to contact them directly as you have been formally introduced by Build A School.
I would just like to point out one small issue to ensure there are no overlaps or misinformation. Having dealt with large groups before, I have had incidences where one person emails me about one thing, and another from the group emails me contradicting it. It can get difficult. For example, one member from your group has emailed me about renewable energy, and another about moving it to an urban area with mains electricity.... I am happy to respond to any team member that needs help, but just to politely forewarn you that it can perhaps be clearer if I have just one channel of communication as the project develops to avoid overlaps or communication issues.
Many thanks.
Kind regards,
Luke Dolby
Chairman
5th email (we were CC'ed):
Subject: Laptop Programme with MIT University, USA
Hi Edith, Mrs Mussa in the Ministry of Education put your name forward and I am helping facilitate a wonderful project called "One Laptop Per Child"- a huge scheme endorsed by the UN to roll out laptops with internet connectivity into Africa. The website is www.laptop.org and is making huge progress across the continent.
A team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have asked Build A School to help them send a team of 8 students to a rural area of Malawi to install up to 100 laptops in a school. Mrs Mussa is kindly assisting us with a location, but we need assistance with helping get the laptops online and your name was recommended.
This is a wonderful programme and I am sure your company would benefit with working with MIT and the One Laptop Per Child project. Build A School will assist in making their visit productive for the school chosen by the Ministry of Education, and developed further by assistance from Malawi University's IT department. We will also assist with providing renewable energy to power the server and laptops, all of which are designed to only produce low wattage.
If you can email either myself or Janet Li at MIT on janetli.mit@gmail.comwith possibilities and locations to develop this project we can hopefully work together to bring internet access to a rural school.
Kind regards,
Luke Dolby
Chairman
4th email:
Janet- unfortunately, after visiting the telecommunications people Grieve went to hospital with malaria- he should be ok with some treatment.
However, before going for medicine he managed to leave the name and contact information for Zain's main office person in Blantyre. Zain have taken over CelTel, and are the main mobile network in the country by some distance. I will speak with them today and see what the situation is, and also Mrs Mussa in the Ministry for Education is looking at things her end. I suspect getting this coordinated will just be a case of getting the right people on board to support you, and I think we are well on the way to it.
Kind regards,
Luke Dolby
Chairman
3rd email:
Hi, firstly the Chairman of Y-Gap in Australia, Elliot Costello, is happy to speak with you. He can offer you advice via elliot.costello@y-gap.org.
Secondly, my manager has met with the Ministry of Education this morning, and in particular a director overseeing I.T (a friend of mine) called Chikondano Mussa. Mrs Mussa is a great person to have in country to facilitate the details of this, and she has recommended the South Eastern Education area to work in, in particular the Machinga District- about two hours drive from the capital Lilongwe. She is looking into the right school, but as there is such as massive shortage, it will be that they put aside one age group or class for you, which will be done properly. There simply aren't schools anywhere with only 100 children, as I mentioned was what I expected. I would like to say that I am confident this project will work well with a clearly defined group or class working on the project with you, and in truth is the only solution. For your ifnformation, the classes are called standards and the age group 6-12 is standards 1-5. Mrs Mussa will get the right location for you and make sure all authorities needed both through government and locally are achieved in a single phone call- she has the right influence!!!! Beaurocracy can be an issue working in Malawi so having a senior person on side is invaluable, as Build A School has learnt. Something which may seem wonderful and simple to us can end up with 5 meetings and an exhange of goats before even meeting the right person!
Please feel free to now email Mrs Mussa at the government ministry of education on chikozacomussa@yahoo.com or call her on 00265 (0)8896067 (drop the zero and they are 7 hours ahead of you).
In the meantime, Grieve Massa, my manager, is meeting this morning with CelTel, the leading mobile phone network in Malawi, to get the infromation on internet access in the country, which as you may know is patchy. When Grieve has this info, he will meet again with Mrs Mussa to help pinpoint the best location for you. I will be speaking with Grieve after his meeting and get back to you.
Kind regards,
Luke Dolby
Chairman
2nd Most recent email:
Hi Janet, have been working through this and have a lot of feedback, but need some more from you to fully fit your requirements.
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- The benefit of point 2 is this helps promote the laptops in an environment that will receive thousands of visitors and in particular key decision makers who often don't have time to access rural areas when visiting a country such as Malawi.
- It's strength is it is available to local people and foreign visitors for free in a central location.
- With so many projects in Africa attempting to launch projects in rural or hard to reach places, this centre is already looking forward to showcasing great ideas that offer a sustainable benefit to children's lives and in particular education.
- If we can discuss your proposal further, please call either of the numbers below or email your contact information and a suitable time to call. I could have visited MIT last month as I met with the Millennium Promise as our sustainable development education centre proposal was submitted to the Earth Institute.
Questions for Luke from Build A School, Malawi
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