Volunteer Meet-Up: Kampala II

A number of cafes and restaurants around the city center played host to numerous long conversations between four SDV volunteers this week - Charles, Oliver, Emmanuel and Sri.

All four have background in IT and between them have industry experience in Uganda, England and the US and volunteer experience in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and of course, Uganda.

The sodas, coffees and hot-chocolates fuelled many hours of intense discussions on mainly the future of SDV.

We all like the fact that SDV is providing free access and training to the community and want to continue doing that, even beyond the promised six months.

But, we don't want to rely on funding.

The S word was mentioned rather often - how to become sustainable when there is virtually no possibility of generating cash flow in the villages, and while not tying ourselves to funding?

If this seemed like a conundrum at first, by the end of the week, we have come up with a number of exciting ideas.

Over the next month we will continue the discussions off-line (Sri is returning to Sironko, Charles, though based in Kampala will be making regular visits, and Oliver and Emmanuel, based in Bushenyi and Kampala respectively will use the air-waves and travel to Sironko on occassion).

And while the discussions continue, we are already taking the first cautious steps in implementing some of the ideas.

We look forward to sharing more details as we make progress.

In the meantime, thank you to the gang at SDV, Aloysius, Rogers and Sam for holding down the fort during the week!

A Chance Meeting And A Laptop

We have another laptop, bringing the total to ten! How did it happen?

Out of curiosity, an SDV volunteer fell into a conversation with someone wearing a t-shirt featuring the logo you see above. Technology and education - hard to miss this one even in a crowded room.

Well, it turned out that a group of volunteers from Ireland were in Uganda providing IT training to those they had previously donated refurbished computers to. Camara is the name of the organization, and the volunteers are knowledgeable, energetic and shared information and resources freely.

Yet, it was a very pleasant surprise when they asked if they could donate a laptop. They had one to donate and with minimum fuss, it was handed over.

It was refreshing to meet other young people who care about similar things and also follow an open and sharing philosophy. We don't know if we will be able to contribute to their efforts, but we will make sure that the laptop they donated helps educate numerous minds.

Thank you, Emma, Owen and Ryan.

A Generator A Stabilizer

After weeks of research into voltage stabilizers, inverters, surge protectors and generators and numerous calculations involving Amps, Voltage and Watts, we finally made the decision to buy a 1800 Watt generator and a similar capacity stabilizer.

This was the most difficult decision we have yet made since none of the options available to us were ideal. We did not want to suspend training during extended power cuts, but neither could we afford a good quality generator.

We scoured the shops in Mbale, the nearest town where generators could be bought, becoming rather familiar with the shop owners.

In the end we squeezed the budget extra tight, bargained hard and came home with a generator and a stabilizer.

We have been lucky in finding a mechanic who has been volunteering to fine tune the generator.

We can now rest easy knowing that the laptops are protected from voltage spikes and that SDV will continue to have its doors open even when there is no power.

Though, given the price of petrol (gas), the use of the generator is reserved for training sessions only - rather than for general access.

Furniture

We have five chairs and tables at SDV, and we borrow additional furniture from the subcounty headquarters when we the need arises.

The tables and chairs were designed by us, made from trees from the nearby forest, by a carpenter from a nearby village. This was a conscious choice, since we want to spend as much as possible locally. Each pair cost us around UGS 25,000 (US$ 15), plus varnishing, making it a cost-effective choice as well.

The design is simple, yet practical - each chair can accommodate two people comfortably, for all those occasions when a computer is shared. But, during peak hours, five children can squeeze in.

The And a table can host two laptops with some space to spare - and since the arrival of additional computers last week, we have been making use of this configuration, allowing us to put the computers to use right away. In the picture, you can see two police officers sharing a table and a chair during training.

We have been varnishing the furniture ourselves, in rotation, since we did not want to wait long to have them ready for use. In preparation for further expansion, we've placed an order for five more tables and chairs.

Five Laptops Arrive at SDV

They were shipped last week from the US and nine days later we received them at SDV. They arrived by air to Kampala and a volunteer carried them to Sironko safely yesterday.

This is the first batch of the twenty recently donated laptops to reach us. We are quite excited to have them and are currently configuring them.

The process was also a lesson in shipping equipment to Uganda. We are encouraged by the speed with which the machines reached us. However, it was only possible thanks to a generous donation which covered the shipment costs.

Fifteen more remain in the US and we are exploring ways to bring them to Sironko.

Thank you to everyone who helped bring these laptops to us.

Volleyball

Wouldn't it be nice if we could play volleyball, we wondered over breakfast last week.

We eyed a piece of land opposite SDV as an excellent site for a court. We approached the chairman of the village, and in a matter of minutes we had a go ahead.

A pole was donated by the nearby police station, and another by a neighbour of SDV. We went to the nearby town and bought ropes and strings made of sisal and set to making a net.

By late afternoon, the poles were planted, the net strung up, and a ball materialised. It wasn't a volleyball, but a netball, but that didn't stop us from playing - until our hands were bruised.

The next day, a volleyball was donated and now we have regular games and the training of a number of youth who showed interest in the game has also begun.

And now, we are eyeing the nice stretch of concrete just outside SDV - it could make a very good basketball half-court.

A Third School Joins

Mutufu Primary School joined the program at SDV last week.

Similarly to other schools, ten students and a teacher walk down to our center, twice a week for an hour each time.

Of all the three schools, Mutufu Primary is the furthest, and their walk is close to half an hour each way.

We are in touch with the Headmaster and the teachers, and are trying to see if we can come up with a plan where the students and the teacher don't spend so much time walking back and forth.

The Houses That Children Built

Outside the formal sessions, where we train youth and adults according to a syllabus, the center is open for anyone to come and use the computers. Almost always there are volunteers to guide those who ask for assistance.

Early on, we had suggested to a couple of children who were interacting with the computers for the first time, that they try draw a house using Microsoft Paint.

A week or so on, drawing a house has become one of the most popular activities among the children who visit us. And almost always, the new initiates are assisted by those who have mastered the skill, without any assistance from the volunteers.

And, much to our delight, we discover houses of various shapes and colours, saved under My Pictures. This is all the more poignant since most of the children don't have access to crayons or color pencils or paper to draw on.

Moving To The Rhythm Of The Village

We have very few rules at SDV.

Children often wander in from the field or on their way to fetching water. Similarly, older youth and adults drop by when they find the time.

Life is not governed according to a schedule here. And things beyond one's control, such as a sudden heavy downpour, can influence the day's activity.

In response to this, we are trying to allow patterns to evolve naturally, instead of imposing a structure.

We have tasked ourselves with optimising the use of the resources at SDV and the volunteers' efforts, given our environment. Where necessary, we are putting in place a few practical policies to guide the process.

Here is an example of one that came about in the course of the last couple of weeks.

Children will be asked to leave SDV at around 6:30. This one caused much uproar among the kids, and they had a point. They argued that they can only use the computers after school, and even then they have to share them with the adults. So, we made a compromise, during our lengthy negotiation. From four to six pm, most of the computers will be reserved for children.

Even so, it is always a difficult moment when we ask the children to leave.

A more weighty issue we are dealing with concerns the adults. We have a number of individuals, ranging from police officers, nurses, government workers, NGO staff, qualified young people in the process of searching for employment, who visit SDV regularly. The volunteers have been training them, mostly on an individual basis.

We very much want to train them in groups, as it is currently very taxing for the volunteers and we cannot really meet the demand. However, we recongnise that we cannot realistically create a training schedule that can accommodate them.

So, we have suggested, as an experiment, that we offer training in groups of four, and we keep a dynamic schedule for each group. And where possible, we try and combine groups.

We are not sure if this will work, but if we find that it doesn't, we will think of a different approach.

Through it all, we are reminding ourselves that it is not the structure we build that will be permanent, but hopefully the process by which we build, will be.

More Photos

If you haven't discovered it already, we have created a Flickr Album to share photos related to SDV and our surroundings.

Formal Sessions Have Begun

Eight students and a teacher from Buhugu Primary school were the first ones to take part in a formal session at SDV, on Tuesday, June 27.

In consultation with the school, we created a program where these selected students and the teacher walk down to our center twice a week, for one hour, during school hours. The children range in age from eight to fourteen.

They receive training, for free, of course, and in the process we are also grooming them to be future volunteers. For once they complete the training, they will train other students and teachers from their school, in partnership with trainers from SDV.

And on Friday, we initiated a similar program with a second school, Bumatufu Primary, which is also located within walking distance from the school.

Meet Katy

As mentioned in the previous blog post, Katy Weprin, a student in the US, has helped us in a very big way.

Here's Katy in her own words.

My name is Katy Weprin and I live in Studio City, California. I am a 17 year old senior at Grover Cleveland High School, as well as a Senior Girl Scout in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California.

When a girl reaches the level of Scouting that I have, they have the option of earning the Gold Award, which is the highest award given in Girl Scouts. A national award, with national standards, it represents initiative, leadership, creativity, communication skills and the ability to make a significant contribution to the community.

For my Gold Award, however, I wanted to reach far beyond my local community to make a difference globally to underserved countries.

I have committed, through my project, "Link'n Kids", to initiate a drive for technological equipment which will aid the Youth for Technology Foundation in Sironko, Uganda.

I am partnering with local business leaders and entrepreneurs, and asking them to help by making donations of unneeded technology, particularly notebook-style computer.

So far, I've collected 20 good working and semi-new laptops from a single company.

The Sherman Oaks/ Studio City Rotary Club has also shared their generosity with a check of $250. This money will go to the specific needs of the Sironko Digital Village.

Although the Gold Award project will be over in September, "Link'n Kids" will likely continue for some time.

I'm excited about what I've accomplished and I wish I could see the shining faces of the children at the Sironko Digital Village.

I'd like to thank Njideka Harry and Sri Arumugam for their devotion and commitment to my project. They've both been there to guide me every step of the way. I couldn't have accomplished what I have without their help.

Thank you Katy for all you have done. We hope that you will come visit us, perhaps soon. You have a home here in Sironko.

Twenty More Laptops

What can a seventeen year old student from California do to help the youth in Sironko?

Katy Weprin, who has been partnering with us over the last few months, has showed us that being a world away is no barrier.

Thanks to her efforts, we will be receiving twenty laptops, which were donated by a company in her community.

We are very excited and are working on getting them to Sironko.

This generous act is going to go a long way in helping the youth in Sironko. Currently, it is not unusual to see around ten young people crowded around a laptop at our center.

Please read the follow up post where Katy shares the story behind this in her own words.

The Electricity Challenge

There is an electricity crisis in Uganda. The output from the dams and the diesel generators do not meet demand, especially during peak hours.

We knew that this would be one of the challenges we would be facing, and since the launch we have been watching the pattern of when planned and unplanned cuts happen.

And what we have seen has convinced us that we need to look for a backup solution. The only feasible one that we see, though not ideal, is to invest in a generator.

Laptops Vs. PCs - Part II

So far, the laptop is winning - quite convincingly. Here, we took one to a nearby "cafe" while some work was being done on the building.

We first posted about this topic, here.

The Launch

There were no special guests, speeches, ribbons, food or drinks.

Yet, by mid afternoon, the center was packed with hardly any room to move about. There were close to two hundered mostly young people according to our estimates.

Many more came by throughout the day as we played music videos and nature documentaries with the aid of the projector, a large newly white-washed wall and hired speakers.

In a separate section, in two corners, young people were huddled over laptops, exploring and teaching each other.

Most of the eighty or so people who signed our visitor log database application, had their first interaction with a computer in the process.

And the best part was that those who have been working on this for months, took a step back. The event was thoroughly in the hands of young volunteers who became part of the project in the last few weeks.

We couldn't have imagined a better start.

A heartfelt thank you to all of you helped make this happen from all of us here. We wish that you could have been with us.

Meet The Fabulous Four

They have been scrubbing, painting, wiring and taking care of the innumerable details over the last week.

And when not renovating or talking to the community members about the project, three of them have been patiently sharing their computer knowledge with others, young and old, and also with each other.

Often drenched in sweat and sometimes hanging from the roof, and at other times surrounded by people eager to learn, these volunteers have given so much that it is hard to put into words.

From the right: Geoffrey (aka Rogers), Aloysius, Masisa (aka Chairman) and Sam.

Making A Little Go A Long Way

Working up to the launch we've been thinking on our feet everyday, playing a game of prioritising and improvising.

It might be hard to believe, but the funding we had available before the launch was less than $300.

We have been dipping into our own pockets when necessary, which is probably the best indication of how we feel about this project.

And we are stunned sometimes when pausing to consider how much has happened in a matter of days.

A result of all this is that now we feel confident in telling our potential partners, contributors and donors that the resources they put towards this effort will be well spent indeed.

Open and Free

We debated whether we should charge a small fee or provide access for free. It wasn't a hard decision to make in the end.

We have promised free access to the entire community for the first six months.

With most families relying on subsistence farming, this is not really a cash-based economy. The reaction on people's faces when we mentioned that there would be no fees confirmed for us that we have made the right decision.

After six months, we will take stock, consult with the community and make further decisions.

A Good Problem To Have

Here the rain is plentiful and the soil is fertile and the population density relatively high. Where one village ends, another one begins.

There are three schools within walking distance from the center, and between them they have close to three thousand students. All of a sudden our four stand-alone laptops and a PC seem rather pathetic!

But we are smiling. This is the kind of challenge we love. And we are already working on getting more laptops and developing a training model where the trainees become trainers.

"Can We Start Today?"

We can feel the excitement in the air. Everywhere we walk, people stop and talk about the project.

When we visited the schools and talked to the staff, there was an audible gasp. Some teachers were almost jumping out of their seats to be trained right away so they can train others.

They have been giving advice, ideas and suggestions. Self-appointed volunteers are already cleaning and painting the building. And as we setup and test the equipment, we are already involving young people and showing them the ropes.

If community ownership was once a dream, it is now very much a reality.

Here are some quotes from our interactions:

"We have heard so much about computers, but we don't know what this thing looks like." (This is something we heard again and again.)

"I'm the Headmaster of this school. When I go to Kampala, I see children using computers, and I don't know how to use them. This has to change." Laughter. "This has to change."

"This country is developing fast. We need to keep up with it."

"Uganda is not static. We are moving forward."

"You have come at a right time."

"The Building Belongs to the Community"

As we walked around to people's homes and talked about the project, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic, from young and old.

We visited the community elders first and a number of them expressed their support and pledged to help the project get started.

And this has resulted in an unexpected turn of events. The owners of the building that we found ideal for the project, but for which we didn't want to pay rent, have had a change of heart. We will be receiving the keys today!

When we set off, we didn't know how people would receive this project. Such a positive attitude from the community has now become a major driving force and we are making progress faster than we had expected.

We are now working towards an official launch this Sunday morning and are spreading the news in schools, the church, the student hostel and by word of mouth.

Hello, Mulembe, from Sironko!

Sironko is lush, green and beautiful with wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.

We arrived in Budadiri yesterday morning to a very warm welcome. It's been a dream experience so far, filled with warm interactions, smiles and laughter.

After a hearty lunch, which included the staple matooke (plantains), we set off to have further discussions on the building we wrote about here. It is quite ideal for our purposes, set in a quiet peaceful spot, with a good amount of space for all the activities.

But, the owners, even after a lengthy discussion about the project, wanted us to pay rent to use the space. We thought long and hard, but felt quite strongly that it was important that the community provided space at no or negligible cost.

In the evening we approached another community leader and shared our story. His response was very positive, and he felt with us that it was imperitive that the community shares the ownership of the project.

He suggested two locations as a possibility: a room at a nearby school, or one near the Budadiri market, and promised to secure one of them by the end of the week.

So, while the space will not be as good, we feel very encouraged to be working with a like-minded person.

We will spend the coming week visiting homes, purchasing furnitures and doing other preparations for the launch. If the last two days are anything to go by, it is going to be an incredible adventure.

Volunteer Meet-Up: Kampala

Viva Cafe, on the busy Kampala Road, was the venue for our first volunteer meet-up in Uganda. We chatted, discussed the project details, asked some tough questions, got to know each other better and had some good laughs.

From the right: Charles, Susan, Pamela and Aloysius.

Some of the volunteers are based in Kampala and will contribute towards project coordination, planning and monitoring. They also hope to travel to Sironko, about six hours by road, to experience first-hand the project setting and its realities.

Touch Down

It's a beautiful day in Kampala, partly cloudy and a comfortable 24 degrees Celcius (75 F).

The equipment, and the volunteer, reached Uganda safely on Sunday and seem to have survived the journey in tact.

They'll spend the week in the capital city, before travelling to Sironko over the weekend.

Thank You. Wanyala.

To all of you who have contributed your energy, time, ideas, resources, criticisms and encouragement, thank you. Or wanyala, as people in Sironko would say.

Starting next week, we will mostly be blogging from Uganda.

The idea to bring young people and technology together in Sironko was first voiced over some emails in January of this year. We are now on the verge of making it a reality. We travelled this far, this quickly, thanks to so many people giving freely and without strings attached - it's been a heart-warming and inspiring experience.

This is just the beginning. We look forward to sharing the stories as this journey continues.

Planet Earth

Yesterday, we added to our digital collection the recently released series Planet Earth, by BBC.

It is spectacular, giving a grand view of our planet. If anything in our collection has the power to wow and inspire the young people in Sironko, this is it.

Uganda - A Diversion

It's less than two weeks before the laptops arrive in Uganda. In the meantime we are taking a small diversion with this blog post. We want to share a few images as well as some words, taken from two popular guide books to the region, to entice further exploration of Uganda - virtually or in real-time.

Images sourced from traveladventures.org

"Uganda has changed. And how!" - BG

"Uganda is Africa condensed, with the best of everything the continent has to offer packed into one small but stunning destination." - LP

"Ugandans... genuinely do come across as the most warm, friendly and relaxed hosts imaginable." - BG

"[Ugandans] are smiling and friendly, with an openness absent in other places - truly some of the finest folk in Africa." - LP

"Uganda is widely and rightly regarded as one of the most crime-free countries in Africa." - BG

"Uganda is home to the highest mountain range in Africa... It is the source of the mighty river Nile... offering the best white-water rafting in the world. It has the highest concentration of primates in the world, including the majestic mountain gorillas..." - LP

"the scenery is so striking that it looks like a watercolour" - LP

If you are not already in Uganda, we hope that you pay us a visit sometime in Sironko and leave enough time to explore the rest of the country too.

If you are a virtual explorer: more pictures here and country information here.

The Software Question

Will it be open source or proprietary?

Both. We are constrained by resources to solely depend on proprietary software, and don't feel that it is up to us to dictate what software platform or applications individuals should have access to.

Based on this premise, a typical laptop at the center is likely to have open source applications, such as GIMP, running on top of a Windows XP platform.

Duty Free

Since this is the first time we are taking laptops to Uganda, we weren't sure about customs duties and other related issues.

So we contacted UgaBYTES, in Kampala, Uganda, and they have been very helpful in offering their advice and support.

And the advice provided by UgaBYTES, as well as our online research, suggests that the Ugandan government has scrapped customs duties on computer hardware and software in order to promote their import into the country. Super.

A Collective Experience

A clone of this projector has just started its journey to Sironko from New York City.

The story starts with a friend suggesting that a projector would be a good addition to the center as it would help provide a collective experience (in contrast to the single person experience that a computer offers) and thus possibly bringing people closer.

We thought it was a "beautiful" idea, to quote one of our initial responses. (We liked it especially since very few households have a television set in Budadiri - our base in Sironko district.)

So, our friend sent an email to his friends at the university sharing this idea. They responded, rather generously, and within weeks we had a few hundred dollars. We must admit that we were quite pleasantly surprised by all of this.

Now, we had to get creative to find a way to send the projector to Uganda. We got lucky and received an enthusiastic response from an Airline Ambassadors volunteer, Patriece, willing to take it with her on an upcoming trip to Uganda. The catch - we had just one day, today, to purchase and deliver the projector to her in New York City.

Hoping against hope, we called a friend in NYC and she totally amazed us with her willingness to put in the time and effort to find the model we wanted and to hand deliver it to Patriece, all on last minute's notice.

So, after many phone calls, IMs and emails between four people in three different states, not to mention negotiating with the salesperson to get the same great deal we saw at an online store, the projector is now on its way across the Atlantic.

It all happened so quickly that we still can't quite believe it. A very big thank you to everyone who lent a helping hand!

Our Home?

We are excited to share what is likely to be our home in Budadiri, Sironko. There is still some work left to do before we finalise, but we hope to move into this building in just over a month!

Talking with a Camera

A greeting package put together by children in Florida, USA, will be travelling to Sironko along with the hardware.

The package mostly contains pictures of about a dozen children, around ten years old. They took pictures of themselves playing, goofing around, doing crafts and even cooking. The message is simple. Hi, this is us, and we'd like to find out about you.

One doesn't normally think of the digital camera as a communications tool. But, they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, don't they? And where language barriers exist, it is even more useful.

The plan is to deliver the package to similar aged children in Sironko and have them put together a digital package to share something about themselves. Through this the children will also be introduced to the digital camera as well as the computer and relevant software.

How the communication evolves will largely be determined by the children and their interests. But, we'll be sure to encourage and enable collaboration between them.

Grassroots

Let's peel a few layers to see what is at the core of this project.

It started with a young person hoping to provide access to technology to others in his community. He expressed this wish and attracted the interest of a couple of people a continent away who felt that this was worth contributing their energies to.

They in turn talked to other people about this. They also shared the details of the project on spaces where people go to find out about such efforts to potentially contribute to.

So, without anyone getting paid for any of their efforts, we have moved from a wish to this:

• A handful of laptops donated.
• A potential home for the project identified in Uganda.
• A volunteer to carry the equipment to Uganda and spend a month helping with the setup.
• Friends and volunteers in the US helping to spread the word.
• Individuals in Uganda and the US expressing interest in contributing their energies to this effort.

So, what is at the core? It's simple. People.

Without any guaranteed source of funding, we are nevertheless taking up the challenge of making a positive contribution that won't be fleeting. The strength of the project will be a reflection of the contribution of the many hands that shape it.

IT Training

Besides being a place for young people to gather and learn about their community and the world, one of the main aims of the center is to provide technology related training for the youth which they could potentially use in the workplace.

The trick is to find out what skills are really useful, beyond computer literacy and word processing skills. To this end, we plan to talk to companies in Uganda who employ young people with technical skills, study the IT outsourcing climate in Uganda and analyse the skill-sets that are in demand and also take a cue from other IT training centers in the various urban centers and the curriculum they offer.

We do feel confident in being nimble in designing the curriculum since the core members of the team have between them a couple of Computer Science degrees and also industry experience.

Youth in Sironko Share Their Interests

As mentioned in a previous post, we had asked some young people in Sironko to share with us what topics interests them most, so we could better tailor the content of the Offline Digital Library.

Here are a few items on top of their list:

• How are computers being used around the world?
• What are youth in other parts of the world up to? How are they getting involved in their community and the world at large?
• Wild life documentaries
• Videos about HIV/AIDS
• Material related to automobiles

The High Cost of Internet Connectivity

As a follow up to the previous post, here's a brief look at Internet connectivity in a rural district like Sironko in Uganda.

Image source: news.com

Fibre for Africa points out what is suggested by the above map of undersea cables:

East and Southern Africa is the only region in the world that is not connected to the global broadband infrastructure and accounts for less than one percent of the world's international bandwidth capacity. As a result of this 'missing link', the region relies on satellite connectivity, with costs amongst the highest in the world.

The population density of urban centers makes it possible for Internet Cafes to provide connectivity at a profit. Not so in rural Uganda.

Satellite connectivity using a VSAT, for example, costs around US$ 6000 minimum for set up and around US$ 600 in monthy charges (not to mention maintenance costs).

So, what is being done to address this issue? Well, there are two projects that aim to bring undersea cables to east africa: EASSy and TEAMS. When they will actually be implemented and whether they would bring a drastic drop in connectivity costs remain unknown.

Offline Digital Library

Internet access is expensive in rural Uganda. (How expensive? And why? We'll have a follow up post on that.)

During Phase I of the project, we are trying to be creative in offering digital content without relying on Internet connectivity.

One of the ways is to offer an Offline Digital Library. The library will contain audio, video, DVDs, offline web content (such as Wikipedia), E-books, images, games and so on.

We are scouring the web for public domain, Creative Commons licensed and other freely downloadable material to be cached. We are also putting the word out for donations of DVDs and educational games.

A catalog of all the material will be made available for participants to browse and explore, similar to a regular library.

Being conscious of the quality and the relevance of the content, we have asked some young people in Sironko to share with us the topics that interest them the most.

If you have any suggestions for material, please drop us a note.

Sironko from Air

Image source: Google Earth

The defining feature is Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano which sports "one of the largest intact calderas in the world".

It is also a "prime trekking mountain in East Africa". The village of Budadiri in Sironko District is the starting point for one of the popular routes up the mountain, the Sasa River Trail.

Anyone up for a trek?

Laptops vs. PCs

PCs are plentiful, yet we have decided to go with laptops which are harder to source. Why?

The major reason is the cost of shipping, which for PCs is prohibitively expensive in our opinion. Laptops on the other hand are:

• Cheaper to ship to Uganda.
• Fewer resources are needed on the ground for logistics such as storage and transport.
• When the electricity is out, there is the possibility of relying on battery power.


• Can easily take the laptops out of the center and into a classroom, for example, when necessary.

The State of ICT in Sironko

Here's what we've heard from the youth:

• Few secondary schools provide basic computer education.
• Most school going children unfamiliar with computers.
• Lack of access to equipment the major factor limiting the exposure to ICT.
• Community mostly unaware of ICT tools and their potential benefits, with the possible exception of mobile phones.
• ICT not regarded a priority by the political leadership.
• Noticeable divide between Sironko and the neighboring district of Mbale which has Internet cafes and computer training schools.

General Characteristics of Sironko District

"Sironko is a home of valleys and hills with a beautiful view no matter what part of the district you are standing in."

So proclaims the Sironko district portal which has some useful information on the district.

Here's a brief summary:

• Newly created district (1999) as part of the decentralization efforts
• West of Mt Elgon (a tourist attraction) bordering Kenya
• Connected by a highway to the rest of Uganda
• Population about 280 000
• Main economic activity: small scale agriculture aided by abundant rainfall
• Main cash crops: coffee as well as bananas (matooke) and vegetables
• More girls attend school than boys (51:49)
• Relatively low dropout rates at schools (10% - 20%)
• Electricity generally available
• Clean drinking water is not
• Poor infrastructure overall
• Mobile communication service provided by MTN

Introducing the Sironko Digital Village project

Youth for Technology Foundation is partnering with the youth of Sironko, Uganda in using ICT as a catalyst to create positive changes in the community.

In 2005, United Nations volunteer Charles Galusha spent some months at the Owerri Digital Village in Nigeria gaining experience and first-hand knowledge of YTF's model of delivering ICT-based benefit to the community.

Now back in Uganda, Charles, in partnership with YTF, is initiating a project to bring together young people in the Sironko district to build a Community Technology Center.

The center will be used as a base for:

• Training young people in the use of ICT tools.


• Providing ICT services to the community.


• Enabling youth to develp a deeper understanding of their community through the use of ICT tools.


• Empowering youth to affect changes in their community using ICT tools.

A volunteer from the US will travel to Uganda this summer to collaborate with the youth in Sironko.

We will post background information, stories and updates on progress on this blog and we welcome you to share this journey with us.