[IAEP] Fwd: OLPC Afghanistan starting! volunteers needed

[Samuel Klein]

One of OLPC's partners in Afghanistan, PAIWASTOON, is looking for
in-country volunteers to help with university outreach and
software/tool development.

They especially need two software developers to help build their team.

OLPC in Afghanistan have over 10,000 XOs to work with in the coming
months, and PAIWASTOON can offer basic travel and living stipends.
Below is the original call for assistance from Svetla, one of their
program organizers, and a leaflet they have made.

You can contact her directly (svetla >at<  paiwastoon.com.af ) for
more information, or follow up on the grassroots mailing list.  Please
pass this on to anyone who might be interested!

SJ


===========================================
Dear All,


Perhaps Afghanistan is not the first place you think of when considering
your next vacation or internship.  But since OLPC are donating 10,000 G1G1
machines Afghanistan and is working with the top level of the Ministry of
Education this could very well become a showpiece for OLPC in S. Asia.

We are looking for 2 Interns / Graduates / Motivated volunteers to help us
building the capacity of the local team.  We need to operate university
outreach programs, training, and a fair bit of direct server config in
advance of having sufficient locally built capacity.   We are looking
through various graduate/student/internship organisations.

We can offer flight support, accommodation, and a living stipend.

Afghanistan day to day in most provinces and most places remains pretty
safe - one can walk around, go out, visit people using taxis or your own
car.  Driving can be just a little chaotic, but nowhere near as bad as in
India.  If you look beyond the media there is a lot to see here,
hospitality that even exceeds other developing countries, and really rapid
progress.  There are some places (like the south) that are dangerous, but
in Kabul and the north things are pretty stable.  One just needs to know
places to go to and places to stay away from (like military bases, big
foreigner parties, etc).

Right now we are half way through setting up an open source localisation
team for Afghanistan and building the open source community.  For those of
you who are more interested in remote contributions to Afghanistan
specifically, a chance is here too.

Afghanistan could be the case study that shows the ability of the XO to be
at the center of redevelopment. If we can make the XO work here - then we
can prove to the world that it can work almost anywhere!  You might hear
on the news about the chronic waste of money out here, the hundreds of
millions missing, wasted, and worse. And you know how cost effectively the
XO can change that.  The great thing about Afghanistan, is being a
development work in progress, we can together, and will, improve that
situation.  I hope we can find some people to join us on the ground and
help make that happen.

For info about OLPC Afghanistan please visit www.olpc.af.

Thanks/Regards,

-Svetla
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