Where: Bababe, Mauritania Brakna Region
When: June 20th-August 22nd for some of us, June 20th-August 29th for others

Children

The children will be out of school during the period that we are there. The rainy season comes at the beginning of August, so we will not need to worry about the children needing to care for the fields during that time. Often, children will travel during the summer (the communities are sometimes nomadic, traveling to visit relatives during the summer). To help keep the children in town for our program, we will have our ground contact Zach Swank notify his community of the fact that we will be bringing the laptops and making the program available. We will make sure that we provide learning opportunities to all ethnicities and both genders.
We will work with Peace Corp volunteers to establish this project. With their input and the input of the community, we will determine how long a school day should be.

Local Partner

We will be working with the Peace Corps and our community contact will be Zach Swank, an environmental educator in Bababe.
In order to provide sustained support after deployment, our team is in the process of receiving recognition from MIT as an official student organization. This status will provide seed money through which we can further fundraise to maintain internet connectivity of the laptops. In addition, this will further student interest in this initiative. Furthermore, because our team will exist as a club long after the initial deployment, we will be able to provide logistical support in addition to financial support for our collaborators in Bogue. Our local partner, the Peace Corps, will remain in the area for many years after our departure. Their dedicated presence in the Bogue GMC combined with our continual support will ensure that the program is sustained for several years to come.

Impact on Children

• Our approach to teaching children will be to take learning from passive memorization to active engagement. We believe that given the right tools and resources, children will teach themselves. One of our goals with the XOs is to teach the children how to think critically about their environment, allowing them to turn mundane situations into learning opportunities. With the tools the XOs provide, children will be able to record their community history snd cultural vibrance. They will be able to investigate their surroundings analytically, something that is beneficial for both the children and the community. They will be able to express their creativity by writing and sharing stories, artwork, and music. They will be able to model electrical circuits, keep track of local market trends, and apply their knowledge practically. This will allow them to grow up be engaged and critical adults with greater awareness of the world.

Communication

The children of Bababe speak Pulaar. To overcome the language barrier, mentors at the Bogue GMC who speak both English and Pulaar will serve as translators. Prior to deployment, our team will familiarize translating staff with our curriculum, goals, and XO capabilities to guarantee effective translation.