Resources for teams considering South Africa
For all those considering South Africa, I'd encourage you to reach out to Neo Masilo and Thulani, the 2 leaders of the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP), before submitting your project proposal. KYP was OLPC's first South African deployment. The project now has 200+ XOs. They've also been an invaluable resource for all subsequent deployments in the country. I've highlighted some of what KYP has done and can do for OLPCorps Teams:
- For Indiana University's deployment, KYP was paid to provide technical assistance and training, including configuring 3 servers, establishing internet, and much more.
- They can provide technical assistance for anyone lacking a technical lead and can provide guidance on various deployment related issues, like designing ownership, working alongside teachers, etc. KYP is unique in that it's a youth center, not a school. So, students come to the project to play and learn on the XOs after school. They're then allowed to take the laptops home, but must return in order to charge the laptops.
- Neo, Thulani, and several KYP members have had training in Cambridge with One Laptop per Child.
- Lastly, Neo is co-authoring the OLPCorps 100 XO deployment guide which we'll be sending out in the coming days.
I've CC'ed everyone here just as a way to connect groups. I've pulled various teams with either undecided deployment locations or are specific to South Africa.
- OLPC University of Massachusetts Boston: UNCHOSEN AFRICAN COUNTRY -- Members: Olesia Plokhii, John Keniley
- Indiana University: Limpopo, South Africa -- Joe Peoni
- Stanford University: Undecided -- marlene@faceaids.org
- MIT: Undecided -- oderby at mit.edu
- NGO: Township Baseball in Cape Town --Ian Edelstein, e-mail: ian@townshipbaseball.org
- MIT: Cape Town, South Africa -- Lily Xu
- Michigan State Univ: Zonkizizwe Primary School in Zonkizizwe, South Africa -- John Simpkins
- Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania, USA: Grahamstown, South Africa. -- Aimee S. George <georai01@gettysburg.edu>
- London School of Economics Graduate: has experience in ICTD in South Africa -- Camilo Tallez C.A.Tellez-Merchan@lse.ac.uk
- Wharton School of Business & School of Eng at Upenn: Haresh Tilani has experience in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, etc. <hareshtilani@gmail.com>