FortySouth

One Laptop per Child is a nonprofit organization that oversees the development of the incredibly affordable educational laptop.

OLPC is currently running the Give-one-Get-one (G1G1) program and so I decided to take a look at how the program is progressing and its impact in Africa.

Read on..

I was reading Bankelele‘s post on tech education in Kenya (rather, it’s gradual plummet to irrelevance) and ended up on Strathmore School‘s website while in the quest to find out how pervasive its teaching in our high school’s is. So that’s how I stumbled upon the Help Kenya Project (HKP).

There are a number of organizations out there trying to help drive down poverty in Africa, in general. That’s a good thing, depending on the approach the development partners and such NGO entities use. On a macro scale, the audacious Andrew Mwenda argues strongly against international aid and a “Marshall Plan” counterpoint in Africa.

What Jude Ndambuki, founder of HKP, does perhaps differently is he helps empower school-going children with skills to compete in the global marketplace and also teaches environmental conservation. HKP collects and refurbishes computers, textbooks, clothing and sports equipment, and then sends them to schools in Kenya. All recipient schools are asked to plant a number of trees for every donation received.

As of July 2008, The Help Kenya Project has shipped over 1700 computers, over 15,000 books, and approximately 20 pieces of medical equipment. In response, beneficiaries have planted over 50,000 trees.

Would you like to help? See what the needs are or perhaps if you’re interested in volunteering with them.

Photo credit: Strathmore School

(via Marigat on the world map)

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In an area that’s near and dear to me, a Community Knowledge Center was set up and a VSAT dish antenna installed by University of Michigan’s IMAGINE Africa Program in collaboration with Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) and Kenya Data Network (KDN). The region stretching from L. Bogoria to L. Baringo and toward Kabarnet has a healthy population of younger people especially since the inhabitant communities (Njemps and Tugens) are now largely sedentary. Engaging this target group with these ICT initiatives could pay dividends for the area.

Eric Hersman (WhiteAfrican.com) interviewed Raphael Marambii, one of the officials at ALIN on the motivation of the project. What he suggests is that the venture will be funded for a 6 month period; what’s not clear is how the CKC will sustain the initiative thereafter – perhaps monetizing the service? I’ll be optimistic that these issues were discussed well in advance of the deployment.