<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=windows-1252" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> <div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed; font-size: 13px;" lang="x-western">Please join us Right Now reviewing the latest OLPC/Sugar community projects over IRC Live Chat: (2PM EDT Boston Time Friday) <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://forum.laptop.org/chat">http://forum.laptop.org/chat</a> Then type at bottom: /join #olpc-meeting AGENDA: * New projects & libraries -- teaching them Community Outreach: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects#XO_Laptop_Lending_Libraries">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects#XO_Laptop_Lending_Libraries</a> * Which projects might you enjoy Mentoring?! <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rt.laptop.org/Search/Results.html?Query=Queue=%27contributors%27">http://rt.laptop.org/Search/Results.html?Query=Queue=%27contributors%27</a> * Fast Review of the 3 latest (greatest!) HW/Project Proposals -- please join us advocating for and/or reviewing shortcomings of these proposals: 1. OLPC 4 Geospatial Learning - Munster, Germany <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47210">http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47210</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://gi-at-school.de">http://gi-at-school.de</a> (blog coming soon) Requests 2 XO's over 8 months Project Objectives: Developing and testing software module(s) within the context of "Understanding space & environment using Geoinformation" in primary schools 2. Home Schools Project - Master Teachers by Satellite for Afghanistan <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47311">http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47311</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.afghan-satellite-teachers.net">http://www.afghan-satellite-teachers.net</a> Requests 9 XO's over 12 months Project Objectives: Our objective is to bring education to the one-half of Afghan children who are unschooled and for whom there will be no school available, according to the Strategic Plan of the Afghanistan Ministry of Education, before they grow into illiterate adults. MTSA has been the chief voice (if not indeed the only one) advocating for these children that they be provided with technologically available educational solutions, including in particular the OLPC laptop computer. MTSA seeks to deploy the XO laptop in "home schools" or "community schools" in rural areas of Afghanistan. The laptop computers will serve both boys and girls who have otherwise little hope of achieving literacy. Based on the experience in India with computers made available to slum kids without instruction (the Hole in the Wall Project), children in Afghanistan should be provided with the XO laptop even before the government can provide them with a trained teacher and before they can have a bricks and mortar school building. What does the future look like for these children today growing up illiterate in the mountains of Afghanistan? The girls will be married off at 12 or 13 to become illiterate mothers before they have become fully women, while the boys will follow their fathers as hardscrabble farmers or as cannon fodder for local war lords or for the Taliban. OLPC and the XO, with our help and yours, can dramatically change this reality. 3. Vung Vieng Fishing Village Laptop Project - Bai Tu Long Bay, Ha Long Bay, Vietna <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47367">http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=47367</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=44253">http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=44253</a> Requests 10 XO's + 2 parts machines over (undetermined) months Project Objectives: This village is very poor. During certain times of the year, it is not unusual for families have only two meals a day. Only 25% of the young adults and adults in the village can read. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Vung</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Vieng</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Village</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> has very few school supplies. Responsibility for family is a very high priority. Young adult and adult children support take care of their parents and grandparents. Primary measurable goals of the Vung Vieng Fishing Village Laptop Project are: 1. To increase literacy and computer literacy among children and adults in the community; 2. To prepare a higher percentage of village children for secondary school and work opportunities in and outside of the village; 3. To achieve an increase in subsistence income for the families, and improved child nutrition and health through the visibility and partners of the Vung Vieng Fishing Village Laptop Project and by education gains. 4. To create a pool of home grown "young adults" and "adults" who can contribute to the future financial support, education, governance, and community life of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Vung</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Vieng</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fishing</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Village</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>