Dr. Shukuru Kawambwa, the Minister of Education and Vocational Training, called me on November 8th to ask if I could meet with him in Arusha the next day.

We met in the Jakaya Kikwete Presidential Suite at the Kibo Palace Hotel for one hour. He had just come from escorting Prince Charles and Camilla around to schools in Arusha and after our meeting he was returning to bid them adieu at the airport. I felt so honored that he squeezed me in between royalty!

We discussed our programs and I showed him the RACHEL educational content we install on the Powering Potential computers. I played a video for him which explains the balancing of chemical equations. After a minute or so, I made a move to go on to another topic and he stopped me so he could watch more.

When I return to Dar es Salaam at the end of the month, I will meet again with Mr. Ponera (photo below), Director of ICT at the Ministry, to discuss how Powering Potential can best serve the objectives of the Ministry. He is holding the Genesi Smarttop computers we use and on the table is the Smartbook.

This Powering Potential adventure continues to excite and inspire me!

In the photo above we are watching students use a nested IF function to calculate grades. (If you know Excel you will know what I mean 🙂  I was VERY impressed with all that they could do!

Students are seated and standing in the back from left to right are Founding Executive Director of Powering Potential, Karatu District Education Officer, Banjika Headmaster, and Powering Potential’s Country Director.

Then we moved to another room for the awarding of the certificates, speeches, and a feast. I got a big applause when I said, “Moyo wangu unaruku kwa furaha.” (My heart is jumping with happiness.)

And presentation of gifts to Janice Lathen:

A heart-warming expression of appreciation by Happy Mashinga on behalf of the students
A sweet card
A beautiful piece of fabric
An original song and dance by the students

And below is all that they have learned.

RACHEL is the educational content which we install on the Powering Potential computers.

Tanzanian State House in Dar es Salaam

Here I am again in Dar es Salaam meeting with government officials at the U.S. Embassy, the Ministry of Education and the Tanzanian State House (equivalent of the U.S. White House)…that was really cool !

More and more people here are becoming impressed with our work.

Tomorrow morning I will be going to Karatu to attend the graduation of the 23 students who have completed Powering Potential’s five-month Technology Tent training course. Four of them will be chosen to become trainers at Welwel and Florian Secondary Schools, a pair at each school.

Next week we will install a solar energy system and five computers each at Welwel and Florian and the trainers will begin teaching what they have learned. Powering Potential will pay their wages for three months and thereafter each school has agreed to continue the employment of one trainer for a year. When the district can assign a degreed computer teacher to the school Powering Potential will return and add 15 computers and the school can then offer Information and Computer Studies courses as part of their curriculum.

I feel so amazed when I think about all that has happened because my heart was deeply touched by the Banjika school students.

A heartfelt appreciation to all of you who have joined me on this exciting journey.
 

I’ve spent five days in Dar es Salaam and have had meetings at the U.S. Embassy, the Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and I dropped off a proposal for a grant at the Aga Khan Foundation. Whew…

The meeting at the Embassy went great! More on that later….

Hamisi, the head of the Tanzania solar company we use, recommended me to Mr. Msofe the No 2 person at the Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency which is a division of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals. Mr. Msofe gave me an application for a grant which I submitted to him today. He said it was all in order and he is going to consider it.

I also met today with my friends Mr. Kalinga and Mr. Ponera at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Each time we meet they are more and more enthusiastic about what we are doing. They are eager to come to Banjika to see the computer lab and they want me to meet the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. Mr. Ponera is the head of the IT department at the Ministry and Mr. Kalinga is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation. (The press we are getting in the Tanzanian Daily News is definitely helping our cause.)

Also wrote a letter and prepared a proposal for the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports.

I got a referral to the Executive Director of the Aga Khan Foundation in Dar es Salaam. He is on vacation now, so I dropped off a letter and our Action Plan for him to consider when he returns.

Well I’m off to the airport…will be home Friday afternoon.

Baadaye (Later)

I am out of toothpaste…I guess that means it is time to come home 🙂

and I am coming home.

My flight leaves at 10:55pm tonight. I’ll be home Friday afternoon.

I have been kimya (quiet) as the Tanzanians say.

Usually when I am in Tanzania I enjoy robust health and sufficient energy and stamina. This time I am having a different experience.

I’m feeling much better now. Also, I’ve had a hard time getting online from my room at the lodge.

We have finished the first week of training and it has gone very well. We have a Tanzanian computer teacher with a degree in Computer Science and he is teaching the students well. They are appreciating his teaching and they think he is handsome 🙂

The journalist was here for the past three days and conducted several interviews and took photos for The Monitor article and a story for The Daily News in Tanzania.

I’ll try and write more later.

Have you ever driven a car in a country where they drive on the left side of the road? It is not just that they drive on the left side of the road, you shift gears with the left hand, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and the turn signal lever is on the right side of the steering wheel. To make a left turn you push up on the right-hand side lever. Until I got used to thinking upside down and backwards, whenever I wanted to make a left turn, the windshield wipers would come on.

In Tanzania one drives on dusty, rocky, dirt roads while occasionally dodging donkeys, goats, cows, bicyclists, and children. The countryside is SO beautiful. I love these drives into the country.

Yesterday, Happy and I drove one hour from town to visit two secondary schools. We are looking at other schools and meeting headmasters to determine the sites of our installations in 2012. Of course every school is eager to have computers. We are warmly welcomed wherever we go.

Our five-month Technology Tent training session begins June 6. We have 18 computers and 28 applicants. How do we choose? Albin, our Country Director; Justine, the Banjika headmaster; Mr. Tonde, the Welwel headmaster; and Peter, the computer teacher decided to conduct interviews. I sat in the background and kept silent.

Twenty applicants showed up for the interview. Each applicant stood in front of the panel and was questioned about their commitment, ambition, desire to teach technology to others, and computer experience. A few were so fearful they could hardly speak. It was too heartbreaking to me to reject two applicants so we decided to accept all 20. Some computers will be shared. We will see how many participants show up on Monday morning, June 6 with their $25 contribution to begin the program.

Today I am visiting other secondary schools in the Karatu district. We are installing a solar energy system and computers at two more schools in October 2011. One school will be Welwel and the other is still to be determined. I met with Mr. Mbwambo, the Karatu District Education Officer and we compiled a list of 10 secondary schools in the district which he thought would be good candidates for installations in 2012.

Stay tuned.
  

I wonder why some computers are working and some are not 🙂

Powering Potential has a very dedicated group of people working with it. The computer guys are striving diligently to solve our software problems. It is such a relief to me to have such knowledgeable, committed people involved with Powering Potential. I also hired Happy Mashinga, a former Banjika graduate, to help us. On Saturday she helped set up student accounts on the computers, test all the mouses (is it mouses or mice?), accurately set the date and time, and we taught her the proper way to turn on and off the solar energy system. When Albin is in Dar es Salaam and I am in New York, she will be on-site to help. She lives a short distance from the school.

Happy has a lot of potential to power.
  

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

That has been my mantra the past few days 🙂