Boghé Profile
Contact name: Mark McMurray
Site: Boghé
Sector: SED/ICT
Do you have sitemates/regionmates interested in collaborating?
Teresa at the GMC. A new SED Volunteer to arrive in September, as well
as a new Education Volunteer to arrive then, too.
Zach in Bababe is interested in collaborating with me in terms of
computers there, too.
What kind of setting (school? maison de jeune? activities club? etc)?
The collège currently has 100 plus 11 and 12 year olds. In addition, the college and lycee have, as Amber - education estimates, over 2000 students. Over half of students are bused in from the surrounding 50 plus villages around Boghé. Peace Corps Volunteers have strong contacts at both the collège and lycée and I have already spoken with members of the community center (la maison des associations de jeunesse de boghe) who are also willing to help with the program.
Tell me about your site... so I can promote it well! (somewhere around 500 words or so... simple paragraph).
Boghé and the South Brakna region would serve as a good location for the OLPC program. The collège and lycée in Boghé is composed of students from the fifty plus surrounding villages who come into Boghé
to attend school as well as the students who reside in Boghé proper. As an ICT Volunteer, my role in Boghé is to work with key community members to improve the IT knowledge throughout the city. That being
the case, I have already established relationships with key members in the community including the head of the community center, the heads of the collège and the lycée, the head of an important women's
cooperative, and the mayor. Through these contacts, I have already received positive feedback about the prospect of having the OLPC program brought to Boghé.
I am more than willing to act as the contact here in Boghé and for the South Brakna region (and the North Brakna region, if needed). With the SED Volunteer, Stephanie, we are currently teaching computer
classes to the administrators and teachers at the collège and lycée. With a knowledge base currently being established through these lessons, I feel that the OLPC program offers an invaluable vector for
further increasing the IT knowledge for all members of the Boghé community. In terms of long term sustainability, after the initial OLPC program I will continue to create and offer IT classes to the
faculty, and with the addition of the OLPC computers would then be able to reach out to students. Internet access is also readily available in Boghé, and could be used to offer internet courses to
students.
In summary, based on the initial positive reactions from key community members, along with the ability to adapt already tested IT teaching techniques and facilitators, and finally the willingness to make this program sustainable and meaningful, Boghé and the South Brakna region would benefit from the OLPC program.