Customs, shipping, fees, oh my!

Just got a very generous donation of 15 XOs for our São Tomé program. Now we'll be bringing down about 23 XOs for our students to use in São Tomé. But how to avoid high heavy baggage fees and customs??? I have no idea.

Does anyone have advice as to how to get waived in paying baggage fees or customs for a "charity" program such as this, or in seeing how something like DHL would be able to ship for free?

Any help would be so very much appreciated.

STEP UP...Parkville?

Working with the Parkville Senior Center to potentially put on a penpal partnership between students at São João and Portuguese-speaking seniors here in Hartford, CT (where there is a strong Portuguese and Brazilian community).

Will keep you all posted with more news as it comes along.

Linking senior citizens with sixth graders...oceans away. That's what we do at STEP UP OLPC!

Looking for used laptops (not XOs)

The teachers at the São João School are hoping for some used laptops (not XOs) that they can use to help train students. Overall, I'm looking for four to five of these computers. If you have one that you are willing to donate, please please get in touch with me!

Thanks all so much! The tickets to head back to São Tomé are set for June 23-July 23. Very excited to head over!

Beth

Waveplace/OLPC Realness Summit

I'm presenting so come check it out!!


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Waveplace is pleased to announce the OLPC REALNESS SUMMIT.

No hype, no bashing, no wireless, no room service.  Just straight talk about what works, what doesn't, and why we do what we do.

WHERE: Maho Bay Camps on the island of St John, US Virgin Islands (steps from the beach)

WHEN:  May 28, 29, 30, 31

HOW MUCH:  $300 for four nights, including lodging

Twelve invited talks and discussions, three a day, from five continents and the Caribbean:

* WAVEPLACE:  Tim Falconer

* OLPC:  Adam Holt

* SUGAR LABS:  Bernie Innocenti

* ASIA:  Mike Dawson from the OLPC Afghanistan

* SOUTH AMERICA:  Marta Voelcker from Brazil and Carlos Rabassa from Plan Ceibal, Uruguay

* AFRICA: Beth Santos from the Step Up OLPC (São Tomé and Príncipe)

* EUROPE: Christoph Derndorfer from OLPC Austria

* CARIBBEAN: Lunise Cerin from Haiti, formerly of USAID and Save the Children, and John Engle of Haiti Partners

* NORTH AMERICA: Christine Murakami from Columbus School for Girls, Ohio

All of this will be happening at the same time as our St John mentor workshop and pilots, which take place over ten days (May 24 to June 2).  We'll be training 40 new mentors, many for Haiti, and working with 60 elementary children from the islands three schools.  So all summit attendees will get to see XOs in action, with mentors and children working together.  You can also sign up to take the full ten day workshop, which would make you eligible to travel for Waveplace to one of our upcoming pilots.

We're very excited about this event!   I hope many who love XOs from around the world can attend so we can compare stories and solutions.

Find out more and register at http://realness.org.

Please help spread the word by forwarding this announcement to people, groups, and mailing lists you know.