On November 12th, the One Laptop Per Child project will launch a "Give 1, Get 1" campaign. For $399, you can purchase 2 laptops - one will be sent to you at home, and one will be sent to empower and inspire the learning of a child in a developing nation.


Five million laptops are scheduled to be delivered to children in developing nations in the summer of 2008. These revolutionary machines are durable, simple to use, and as low cost as possible. The vision of One Laptop Per Child is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children in the developing world who have little or no access to education.

I will be working closely with Hezekia over the next month or so to see if we can open a dialogue with TZ government officials to initiate contact with the organization who will supply the laptops (they are currently only selling to governments who express interest in the program). This would be a phenomenal opportunity and resource for our students at Hananasif Academy.

For more information

NY Times Review on OLPC
www.laptop.org

Interesting article with brief (recent) history and current information on Tanzania:




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1072330.stm

Sunday morning four of my friends came to church and afterwards the five of us, along with Irene and Gustaf, left for lunch. We were going to go to a park and have a picnic on the benches, but since half the food was left in my house, we decided to just go to my house and have a picnic in the front yard. We enjoyed some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and conversation. After we finished lunch we experimented with the leftover food. A plain bagel with peanut butter spread on it, bits of marshmallows and gramcrackers sprinkled on top and dizzled with melted chocolate. We cut up the creation and passed the pieces around. Gustaf examined his piece and then popped it in his mouth. Irene wouldn't eat it. She said it looked disgusting. I gave her a marshmallow to try instead, but she was uncertain about that too. "What is it?" she asked. A ball of sugar was the best answer I could give. "It looks weird. I don't want to eat it." From there we talked about things they ate back home, and kinds of food that we as Americans might find stange.
We spent most of the remaining time teaching each other common sayings. We now know how to say " You are crazy like a banana" and "Are you kidding me?" We taught them some words, Irene's favorite being 'fantastic.' They also asked us about some words they have heard from others. A few we told them it would probably be a good idea to never repeat them again.
About the most amazing part of the whole afternoon was when Gustaf showed us his front and back flip. All in all, we had a lot of fun spending the afternoon together.

Hey Sydney!

I just returned to Germany last week after volunteering for HOCET for more than 5 month. It was hard to say goodbye and I can´t await to fly over again - hopefully after 2 years. I spent most of my time with the children in Kinondoni. I went with Joan and Hesekia in order to get an idea of how the fundraising works. I also taught English lessons in 2 groups for the primary school students and regularly gave individual lessons for 2 of the older (secondary school) students.

I was there when we started the school on March 5th. So many things changed there up to now and I want to send you some of the latest pictures which I took at Shamba (August 14-17,2007)!
I you´re interested I could also send you some "historic" pictures of Shamba and some more "day-to-day" pictures from the orphanage - now that I have a fast computer again ;-)


(Many thanks to Susanne Weishelt for sending these beautiful recent pictures of the Shamba and our HOCET students and staff)






Future classrooms and computer lab; currently a temporary
office for teachers/staff.



Hananasif Academy students David Edward and Amina
practicing in their theatre group



"No petrol for the generator means studying in less than
favourable conditions," Susanne writes. "Flashlight and oil lamp.
I still hope the solar power plan will be installed before next term."


Daily irrigation activities. Augustino on the water tank.




Isack working on the irrigation system




Students irrigating tomatoes



Future library and laboratory


Best Regards,

Susanne