Towns to work in
Decided to switch to Bababe and Kaedi since Bogue is very large and already has computer access
- Also, it's better to work in 2 regions (Kaedi is in Gorgol, Bababe and Bogue are in Brakna)
- Bababe is very small, Kaedi is big: will give our applications additional weight since we will be working in very different environments.
- this decision is pending a conversation with Ginger tomorrow morning
- we (Lily and Sumi) will be switching our proposal to Kaedi instead of Bogue
- Janet and Mary continue work on Bababe
Health
- MIT med will talk to groups > 10 about trip
- Iodine tablets for water?
- Lily, Sumi, Maddie are CPR certified. Mary and Janet planning on becomming certified April 4th at Mass CPR certification
Food: (back burner)
- we'll plan on cooking a lot ourselves and talking to nutritionist / MIT medical about our needs
Fellowship and grants
- everyone should find a faculty member to write a recommendation for them (by March 30!)
- each person will be submitting their own application for a fellowship (specify that you will be working with your OLPC group)
- Owen is going to start looking at the application
- Owen will talk to Alison Hynd about the best way for our group to apply
- Need letter of endorsement from OLPC (contact Paul)
- $4000/ person or $4000/ team
- Will try to apply for additional funding for David? (he is a crucial team member etc)
- Over past 5 years, 200 students have been fellows.
Budget
- Maddie is working on it on an itemized list from which we can ask Ginger for details/prices
- screwdrivers (multiple)
- two servers
** server= $2000 - ask Ginger about
- access points
- regulators
- routers
- hardware ~$300-$500 per team
- food
- living expenses
- travel
- airplane tickets
- taxis/buses, ground transport
- ferries? along senegal river
- malaria medication
- immunizations
- MIT med will cover immunizations, $20 copay for each
- checking baggage?
- Delta has free 2 check-ins < 50 lb and 2 carry-ons
- we should talk care not to bring too much--we will have to transport from Senegal to Mauritania
- clothes
- Long sleeves and long pants, will need to buy clothes there
- bug spray / needs to be 50% DEET (to buy locally)
- bottled water (will need A LOT of)/ iodine tablets?
- Walkies-talkies for our team and collaborators
- laptop locks?
- visas ~$150 per person
- OLPC Wiki
- Owen will start work on putting up sites for both Kaedi and Bababe/Bogue once we have finalized location and teams
Team configurations
People who expressed a preference they lean towards
- Janet - community
- Mary - whatever
- Maddie - teaching
- Owen - tech
- Andy - tech, talk to about commitment
- Sumi - teaching?
- SSimon will most likely not be able to come
- Call Jack to find out commitment
Harvard OLPC
- they have a loaner library
- could possibly collaborate on Cambridge deployment
- see how kids interact with laptops (6th graders)
- experiment with after school activities
- collaborate with teachers on curriculums
- They can send us the curriculums they are using (week by week)
- deploy April 1st
Questions for Ginger
Will talk to Ginger tomorrow on Skype and ask her all the questions we have:
- Will need to compile list for both teams and email to her before skyping in the morning
- Bababe or Bogue?
- how will she be submitting her letter of recommendation for us?
- what is the best way to travel to Bababe/Bogue and Kaide? from Kigali? via Senegal?
- Why do we need two servers?
- Status on a college collaborator
- Immunizations: what will we require? how much will it cost?
- Cell phone reception and personal laptop/internet access? i.e. how will team members communicate between each other and to supervisors?
- How much should we budget for visas? How do we get them?
- We NEED letters from Mark/Matt/Zach ASAP!!!!!! (also the supervisor letter for the PSC fellowship needs to be rather detailed, and Zach & Mark will need to update MIT every week on what we're doing....details here: http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/resources/fellowships/informed/supervisor.html. letters can be emailed to fellowships-staff@mit.edu)
- What is the power range? (Zach said that the power output is unreliable: what kind of regulators do we need?
- Language issues: will we get translators to help us teach children in the classrooms? How much of the adult population can speak French and/or English? (Our Bababe team has a few members (a.k.a. Mary and Janet) who can speak a little French and have taken French classes.) Is Pulaar (the local language) written using a modified Latin alphabet or is it still written using Arabic script?
******We will now plan on skyping regularly every day at 9 tonight**********
Goals for tomorrow's skype session:
-itemized budget with firmer estimates
-have determined which two locations we are going to
-have two rough draft proposals finalized
-EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE CONTACTED AN ADVISOR TO WRITE FOR THEIR FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION (these are due March 30th)
-OLPC wikis up(ish) and running
Reminder our contacts are:
Zach - Bababe
Matt - Kaedi
Mark - Bogue