Interviewed by Cristina Karrer at Mndwaka JSS

The highlights of the interview were undoubtably:

• The singing of the Mndwaka JSS learners for at least an hour in the background - they even got on the camera crews nerves because of sound quality. Such enthusiasm simply cannot be dampened!


• The way the children and teachers together tackled the XOs working as a team to unravel the mysteries of the devices was great to see.


• The opportunity to explain why communities need to be lifted holistically - that one cannot prefer one form of infrastructure at the detriment of another, e.g. roads vs. internet. And indeed that the OLPC project must go ahead and pilot in the area near Zwelenqaba.


• When questioned about justifying the high cost of OLPC, replying: well how much is the Iraq war costing? In environmental and dollar terms.

I will try to post soon when the clip will appear on German and Swiss TV, and also make available a copy here.

Mndwaka JSS is about 4 kilometers South of Tafalehashi as the crow flies and a candidate for the solar school computer lab project as a satellite school. It is definitely an energetic school with some dedicated educators who are doing great things under difficult conditions. I hope the Department of Education keeps it's promises and delivers the much needed infrastructural upgrade.

By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

Bulungula Incubator

This is a vibrant happening crowd... check them out:
http://www.bulungulaincubator.org/

This project combines sustainable growth, solar and environmentally friendly operations, and a complete development concept (in its birth stages) for the Bulungula Community.

I hope to learn a lot from them.
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

SF.TV comes to Eastern Cape for eKhaya ICT led OLPC pre-pilot

It looks like we are getting some initial international attention for our project location. Next week I shall be demonstrating XO-1 OLPC hardware at a junior school near Tafalehashi. Actually, I will just play a facilitatory role, the demonstrators will be the kids themselves. Antoine van Gelder, the local OLPC-za champion has warned me that the little learners will quickly grasp some of the possibilities and soon be doing head-spinning things on their little $100 laptops.

Recording the action will be Crisitna Kerrer leading an SF.TV camera team. I am looking forward very much to the outing and hope to learn a lot from it!

I hope that the exposure will help the school that will take part in this "mini-pilot" to improve their conditions and infrastructure. Perhaps when the rest of the world looks at what we have in our backyard the DoE will be forced to step in and do something about these poorest of our schools.

By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

Nokia "wireless village" in Eastern Cape

Rhodes University and the university of Fort Hare Dwesa Project, often mentioned on these pages, is most likely to be bolstered by a new arrival on the scene. The Nokia "wireless village" is a ultra-low cost GSM mobile base station with a radius of about 10 kilometres. The business model is that an operator runs such a wireless village allowing free calls within the cell and charging very little for calls between such cells. Calls out of the operators low cost network are charged at regular rates. The concept is on trial in various parts of Africa. On my visit to the Meraka Institute in June, I first heard of the "wireless village" and that it had been rolled out in Mozambique and other places in Africa, and that an installation or two were coming Meraka's way. Owing to Rhodes' close links to COFISA (Cooperation Framework on Innovation Systems between Finland and South Africa - think COoperation-Finnland-SA), they managed to attract some of the wireless village to the former Transkei - congratulations!!
The Dwesa Project gains momentum with this addition of essential high-tech gadgetry. Mobile technology is the way to quickly roll-out applications in Africa, and we are going to be concentrating more on software for mobiles at eKhaya ICT (more about that later...).
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

For our German Friends and Partners

eKhaya ICT is going through a period of expansion. Yesterday, we upgraded our website to include a German translation. Also we are looking at applying our own SEO principles to the site.

• Focused language on each page, and not so much waffling.


• More incoming links.


• More press releases...

Since Friday, there is another desk in our offices. It's the workplace of our new junior programmer, Kagiso, who will be starting in October. He is going to hopefully be doing a whole lot of good with the OpenOffice.org package helping our partners get their data under control.
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

Critical thinking: German vs. RSA media

Since moving back to South Africa, I have been struck by how poor the standard of reporting is in this country. In particular, there is a lack of questioning about underlying causes. So often am I left wondering "Why?!" after reading an article in any of the SA papers. Statements and events are reported unquestioningly - the reason why cabinet voted one way and not the other is not investigated, nor is the gas emitted by decaying fish that kills 5 fisherman named.

In Germany, I had come to expect such investigations and in depth explanations, which I could then go and verify for myself in many cases.

I have since come to believe that the reason for this hole is twofold - first, the lower literacy rate means that some of the knowledge required to think about such questions and to find them interesting is missing. This is a problem in the education department. Secondly, such questions are not interesting because of the authoritarian manner of South African society (Heather wrote a great critique of a Carte Blanche wikipedia article, which echoes this sentiment). This manner is mutating and changing for the better I believe.

As we come to espouse and value other perspectives than ours, we come to see that facts often have a depth that extends beyond a binary black & white face value.

The internet promises great progress in the introduction of critical thinking and broadening of horizons, not only at schools like Zwelenqaba, but also in the developed areas of the planet.
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

p.i. plateau reached

I guess we won't be hitting 500'000 accesses per month by December. The last few months show a stable 4000+ hits per month.





How did this come about

• In July and August eKhaya ICT carried out a number of commercial projects which were only loosely related to the core project.
  


• The summer break in Europe put a brake on the number of page impression from there as activity of our NGO there was curtailed.

I am hoping the next phase of the core projects will produce another jump.
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

Visiting Zwelenqaba S.S.S. (Part III/IV) / Collaboration

On my third trip to the school (8/8/2007) I was pleasantly surprised, that the principal Mr. Genukile had handed over his office to an H.o.D. Mr. Ziduli. On arrival at the school I was told the reason:

The school kids had gone on strike and had refused to write their June exams until the Principal was removed from his office and from the school altogether!! Their reasons sound very legitimate. I won't repeat them here, as the allegations are under departmental investigation. All I can say is, that I had my doubts about a headmaster who was never at school when I called him, dressed very flashily and preferred to talk about personal problems rather than project matters.

Deep respect to the "learners of Zwelenqaba"! May this resolution and courage of your convictions carry you forward through fulfilling and rewarding lives as adults who are not scared to do the right thing.



On this trip we prepared an agenda for the meeting with SELF (Bob and Jeff) and discussed things the school could do in the meantime. One matter was the rusting of the burglar bars on the multimedia room of the school The school also mentioned the possibility of hiring a tent for the day. I didn't think that was necessary because of the cost.

On the next trip to the school 15/8/2007, like magic, a tent stood in the breeze and high white clouds billowed overhead. It was a day of mixed weather with rain and sunshine - so the tent was very useful. Also the burglar bars had been painted, a beaming Mr. Sayti (member of the community) had rustled up the rust binding paint and done a good job. Jeff, SELF's Project Director, sized up the situation and found an interested technician in Mr. Zinto the Physics teacher.

All in all, the community, teachers and of course the school kids were extremely enthusiastic and happy about the day and Jeff's visit. The word of the day was collaboration - we are all looking forward to an extremely successful collaborative project.


By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

I am a learner

I have always found the "learner" designation for schoolkids a bit of a misnomer. "Learner" implies something concrete to be learned, as in "learner driver". At school you are learning all sorts of different things, the teachers are also learning in fact we're all learning all the time, whether we like it or not (even old dogs are learning, just not necessarily tricks). When you stop learning your life is over.

It seems to me as though this nomenclature were introduced to entrench the "teacher-learner" dichotomy. That is so stale. Wake up you hierarchical monolithic dusty old Department! This is not the education of/for the future! We need agile minds, creative thinkers (who may also kick balls brilliantly), not order-following ball-kickers (who can't think of anything but the glory of winning).

This all echoes Jeff's sentiments in the OLPC-ZA Archives.
By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]

A hectic month

What might in the Northern Hemisphere be misconstrued as a "Sommerloch" - a summer gap of month long proportions spent idling in comfortable tropical locations - has in fact been the Southern month of hard labour. That is to say, eKhaya ICT has been completing programming projects in the internet, webservices and open source/ Open Office segments at a furious rate. More about this, when we launch the websites to all of these technical projects.

Our favourite projects in rural areas have not been neglected either, you will be glad to know. I have been busy at the University of Fort Hare helping get their ecommerce portal up to speed and taking care of some Sofware Engineering for Paul Tarwireyi and trying to get Tonderai Muchenje MSc concepts straightened out. These student projects are all concerned with different aspects of ecommerce at Dwesa - a deep rural school and community network. Also, i have been in touch with Zwelenqaba and made a nother trip there - photos will follow.

The preparations for the solar computer lab project at Zwelenqaba SSS are intensifying. I am going to have to say more about that later.

Also the Non-Profit company I am trying to set up in Germany to support responsible and sustainable ICT4D is progressing slowly but surely.

On the personal front things have not been still either. The garden of our new home has been double-handedly revamped, and a whole lot of things that happen when one moves have been dealt with including DSL installation! A true relief to be online whenerver I want again! Also assisting family members with their IT woes and Xanadu - a family project - see Xanadu, Chintsa, South Africa. Hosted at Imaginet (FTP, PHP, etc.) for R19.99 per month, a real bargain.

By: Ron Wertlen [permalink]