It has almost three years since we installed 10
LC575s at the school in Bali and subsequently
shipped another 4 PPCs and printers to the
school. Because of the assistance given by WAMUG
members in raising money to pay for power usage
at the school, I thought it important to inform
those listers who helped (and others who may be
interested) of the current situation.
It has been very difficult to get much
information through the John Fawcett Foundation
as they believe that it is our (my wife and I =
our) project and they cannot spend time and money
on it. The Foundation did however use the
installation and photos in their report under the
heading of Education Assistance.
A teacher who lives near the school has a PC
with an internet connection and has been able to
shed some light on the situation. Also, an
Indonesian lady who teaches at Castlereagh
Special School at Willetton has been most helpful
in talking directly to the Principal of the
school.
The Principal has informed us that there are only
two computers working and they are only being
used to play games. He also says that the
printers aren't working and that they don't know
how to use the programs. He wants us to go up
and sort things out and we have decided to do
that next week. We will take a couple of iMacs
which have recently been donated by WAMUG
listers. I will take a cheaper inkjet printer of
the Canon refillable cartridge type along with
some inks.
It means a day trip from Sanur up to the school
with a driver who is a reasonably good English
speaker to help with translation and a second
trip to the school as a follow up later in the
week. We figure that we need time with some
teachers and especially four or five intelligent
students. I think we all know that kids can
learn new technology much quicker that adults.
This trip will be in business class as it allows
us 30kg luggage each and we will be able to take
computers, printer and digital camera. It costs
a bit extra each to upgrade to business. Spend
the kids' inheritance.
We will attempt to find a Mac savvy techie whilst
in Sanur and pay him/her to visit the place every
few months to do a tune-up job. There do not,
however, seem to be many Mac people in Bali.
In hindsight, this project was ill-conceived and
can only be saved by smart students working out
how to use things that we take for granted: ie,
using the chooserŠchanging text size/styles,
saving, creating folders etc etc.
Will report back after the visit.
Kev
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