OLPC Workshop in Kigali, Rwanda

The workshop in Kigali, Rwanda was amazing and very eventful. The first day we arrived we met all of the other teams deploying in Africa. There were people from all around the world- Ghana, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Paraguay, and various states in the U.S. We were able to learn about their deployment sites, their ideas on implementing the programs on the laptops, teacher workshop ideas, and much more. It was great to connect with intelligent, motivated, and diverse people. After the workshop we retreated back to Bethel One Hotel on Nyamirambo. The dinner the hotel provided was delicious. They make great pasta and fish dishes. I have also tried a lot of tropical fruit such as the japanese plum and passion fruit.
The next day we had a conference with different prime ministers in Africa, the director of KIST (Kigali Institute of Science and Technology,) Nicholas Negroponte, and not to mention the guest of honor, the President of the Rwanda Republic: Paul Kagame. He is a very extraordinary man. He was a general in the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. I even got to shake his hand! Afterwards we were able to see traditional Rwandan dances. They were wearing traditional clothing, had head dresses, bells, and staffs. Our team mate Brandon even jumped in! I will try to post that video as soon as I can, it is hilarious.
We had some very productive workshops on the XO's. We first updated the computers which doubled the amount of programs. Secondly, we got to fix broken laptops that children sent in from previous deployments. We took them apart, used spare piece to fix them, and put them back together. Afterwards we got to drink some traditional Rwandan tea and coffee. Lastly, we got to explore a new program called Scratch. Basically you create your own animation and make it move, speak, and basically anything else you wanted to do.
In other workshops we were able to find out how to connect a server, internet, use access points, and how update several laptops simultaneously. We used another program called E- toys to create story books and animations using pictures we drew using the paint button.

I will continue talking about the workshop in another post, this one is getting too long!

-Sophia