OMPT Blog

Time: December 5, 2007, 3:38 pm

Here is a Press Release about the two workshops that I led.

SOUTHERN SUDAN EDUCATION OFFICIALS AND EDC TO CONDUCT WORKSHOPS ON NEW EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES

The Southern Sudan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Department of Alternative Education Systems, will sponsor two workshops focusing on the use of technology to enhance education in South Sudan during the week of November 26, 2007. The first workshop will take place from November 27-28 in Juba and focus on low-cost technologies to complement the Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction (SSIRI) radio broadcasts of primary school and English programs. The second workshop follows on November 30 – December 1 at the Arapi Teacher Training Institute (TTI), and will provide training on video production to support teacher education. The Education Development Center (EDC) will provide technical support to both workshops.

The first workshop will explore the use of low-cost technologies in education with Ministry officials, partners, and teachers at a launching workshop in the Juba Grand Hotel on November 27-28. These technologies, which include MP3 players with attached speakers plus solar panels or hand-cranked generators for charging batteries, will extend the reach of SSIRI programs to places where radio broadcasts can’t be used. The technologies are designed to be effective, low cost, reliable, and easy to use.

The SSIRI programs (managed by EDC with support from USAID) include daily half-hour broadcasts to primary school grades 1-4 to teach local language literacy, mathematics, English, life skills such as HIV/AIDS, landmine risk awareness, and peace education. SSIRI also produces and broadcasts English language programs for out of school youth and adults. In addition, SSIRI produces and broadcasts programs designed to improve the skills of teachers.

The second workshop will focus on using appropriate technologies to strengthen the skills and qualifications of teachers. During this workshop, the Ministry will launch a new initiative to create videos for teacher education. The workshop will be facilitated by EDC consultant Matthew York, producer of Videomaker magazine in the United States. The participants from Arapi and Maridi TTIs will receive a thorough orientation to the role of video in strengthening teacher education and produce their own video during the workshop. One important use of videos will be to document good teaching practices in schools and to incorporate these videos into the TTI programs.

Department of Alternative Education Systems, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology:
The Department of Alternative Education Systems focuses on developing a range of educational programs to meet the needs of the large numbers out-of-school youth and adults who missed out on education during the civil war. In addition to SSIRI, their programs include the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), which is a compressed primary school education, Intensive English Language courses, Adult Literacy, and Community Girls’ Schools. AES is taking the lead in a National Literacy Campaign.

Education Development Center: Founded in 1958 by faculty from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, EDC is one of the world’s leading non-profit organizations involved in implementing educational change in the U.S. and throughout the world. EDC works with government organizations, private entities, communities and schools to promote student-centered methods and use appropriate technology to improve learning outcomes. In more than 50 countries, EDC’s diverse and creative staff offers proven educational solutions for today’s most pressing development challenges.

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For further information, contact:

Mr. Kuol Atem, Director, Department of Alternative Education Systems, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. atemkuol2004@yahoo.com, +256-477-107065.

Thomas Tilson, Chief of Party, EDC/SSIRI. ttilson@edc.org, +254-733-440036

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: December 5, 2007, 3:29 pm

After a few days in the bush, I am now back on the internet and I also have some time to write.
I am staying at a camp in Juba

http://www.afexgroup.com/camp_juba.php

I have attached a press release about the workshops that I conducted.

These workshops were a great success!

In total we had about 80 learners attending, mostly teachers and facilitators. The learners were far more capable and enthusiastic that I had ever imagined.

Father David (the principal of the Arapi Regional Teacher Training Institute) was very very happy with the outcome. Now the teachers can produce video on their own!

The past week is kind of a blur. I worked very long hours. A few nights I got to bed after 1 AM and had to teach the next morning at 8 am. We drove 4 hours on a dirt road to Nimule to get to the Arapi TTI near Pagari. On that drive we passed by mine fields, bombed out buildings and burned out military tanks. There is a total of 1 mile of paved road in Souther Sudan.

We arrived in Nimile after dark with no arrangements for our team of 11 for sleeping. There was not much availability. I stayed at a camp of the Catholic Relief Services. We had dinner at another camp (Kololo). We ordered chicken dinner at 8 PM. At 9 PM a women walked into a small hut and came out with two live chickens. We heard a chicken scream a few minutes later. AT 10 PM I went tothe “kitchen hut” and noted that our chickens were not fully plucked of feather. At 11 PM several of use decided to skip dinner. Those that were left behind finally had dinner the next morning; just after midnight.

There are no warm showers in Souther Sudan. Goats roam around here like squirrels. Once in a while I remember that I am just one of just two white guys – sometimes for miles and miles around.

There are lots of NGOs working in Sudan. In Nimile I met a Jamacan guy (Willis) who graduated from the same high school as my brother in Brooklyn. He was the security contractor for an NGO building a road. They had a escort comprised of three police armed with automatic weapons. It made me think that we were perhaps unprepared. Willis was working with a man from Rome who has an uncle in the town where my mother was born in southern Italy. It is a small world.

Everything is always late here. At the Arapi TTI lunch arrived at 5 PM. The local culture does not include eating utensils so we ate goat meat and ugali with our fingers.

At times, it is very sad for me to witness the hardships that these people have suffered.

A rebel group stormed the TTI at Arapi a few years ago. Several were injured and a guard was killed. The workers had to sleep “in the bush” for many days for their safety. Only the snakes could bother them, which is not as bad as bullets.

I went to a school with over 100 children per teacher. Their faces were happy. I have seen little kids, maybe two or three years old, walking down the road alone. Handicapped people crawling in the streets begging.

There is garbage everywhere. The most disturbing trash are the flattened plastic water bottles. I must have seen millions of them.

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: November 25, 2007, 1:13 pm

We met Tim La Rose, a web strategist with the United Nations on Friday Nov23. We met Tim on a Safari in Masai Mara, where we spotted lions eating a fresh kill, dozens of hippos, a cheetah, a leopard, several elephants and water buffalo. When the Masai waiter asked where I was going, I told him to Southern Sudan. He asked me if it was safe and I told him that I was about to ask him the same thing. After all, he should know better than I. This was a good example of having doubts about this effort. However, if not me then who?

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: November 25, 2007, 1:07 pm

We did some final configuring of the equipment on Nov 22nd. I went to the Nairobi hospital for a cholera vaccination. This was not available in the US. It was an oral dose that can disturb digestion. It was an unusual way to spend Thanksgiving. Tomorrow all of the gear gets shipped to Juba. Press Release and invitations were sent out. Further planning on the two workshops.

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: November 25, 2007, 12:58 pm

We met Kuol Atem today at Tom Tilson’s office. We demonstrated the Thumb drive MP3 players and the portable speakers. Kuol was impressed and stressed the need for the equipment to be reliable. After the meting we shared a cab with Kuol. He told us that after 21 years of civil war, the education system needs much development. Kuol told us that many children have gone without an adequate education for a long time. Many young adults (in their 20s) are in need of basic education. Many of these adults are unemployed and resent the fact that many of the jobs in the development of the country are going to Kenyans. This can be the root of crime and violence. There must be an accelerated program. We hope that PMPs can help.

We also met with Leo Blyth of Solarpak. He is the local vendor in Nairobi that will be supplying the solar panel for battery charging. Leo will create a few custom products for us.

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: November 25, 2007, 12:54 pm

There is very little fiber optic cable so the internet is very slow here. It makes it hard to blog.

We arrived at the EDC/SSIRI office on Tuesday Nov 20th. I was impressed with the staff and the quality of their equipment. Upon checking the shipment we found that we had one less box of MP3 players than the quantity that were sent from DC. During testing we “toasted” a Boom Box that plays MP3 files. We did not notice that it had a 220 volt and 110 volt switch on the bottom. Kent Noel, the Chief of Party confirmed our plans for dinner with Kristine Pearson of the Freeplay Foundation. We had hoped to begin testing 2 or 3 Freeplay Lifelines that were modified to accept USB thumb drives with MP3 files but they have not arrived.

The blog entry below is being posted from Africa in late November 2007.

Time: November 17, 2007, 9:55 am

Flying over the Sahara Desert was surprising to me because of it’s vastness. It seemed like an ocean of sand, stretching out as far as I could see for hours while flying at 30,000 feet. It reminded me of flying to Hawaii except the water was replaced by sand.

While flying over Nairobi, I looked down and saw a stark contrast; a large slum adjacent to a golf course. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa with a population of perhaps one million.

We arrived in Nairobi with three suitcases of last minute equipment; solar panels, battery chargers, batteries and my “Doctor’s kit” comprised of cable connectors, soldering iron, jacks, shrink tubing, voltage meter , tool kit, etc. We will fabricate speaker/MP3 player and battery charging solutions on the fly in Juba next week. The original shipment of equipment was delayed in customs for a few weeks. It was nice to sail through customs with the gear packed in suitcases.

We had breakfast with Lisa, who is working on a project in Zambia that is using iPods, foot powered generators and large solar panels. They need some help to increase reliability. We will work with them on this later this year..

We attend an orientation next week and then fly to Juba, the regional capital of Southern Sudan and the capital of the Sudanese state of Central Equatoria. We will then drive to Nimule and then onto a teacher training institute (TTI) named Arapi before returning to California.