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