Oh wait, we actually need ENERGY for class??

So I arrive at the São João School at 9am sharp. We had to call the director on Friday to make sure he'd have the school open for me to install Etoys 4 on all of the computers, so I was pleasantly surprised when the school was open and ready to go.

I went into the director's office and took out the computers among the stacks there. Only six to start, as I only had five functioning USB drives anyway. I brought them into an empty classroom, a small crowd of students that were hanging in the schoolyard following me. I make a mental note to get these computers cleaned up- or, even better, to have the students clean them with some damp rags. Even one of the kids following me asked if the computers could be cleaned, because they're so dirty- that goes to show you that it's not just me being a neat freak. The computers are just covered in dust, so much that they've taken on this really nice orange-ish color. I'm not as annoyed about it as I might be, though- the fact that they are so covered in pen marks and stickers and grime shows that they have been well used, and well loved.

Then I go to grab one of the power strips that the OLPCorps had brilliantly created for the students here. They made just enough for the students- I think there are about 70 or 80 outlets total that I know about. The outlets are a little bit sketchy, to say the least -- some of them obviously do not work, as it's just wire and metal and no plastic area where you plug in. Others are obviously burnt. But I give it a shot, anyway.

I plug the first computer into the first outlet and hold my breath. It works, thank God.

But unfortunately, none of the other nine outlets work until I reach the last one. On the second power strip, one outlet works. On the third, none. On the fourth, two. On the fifth, none.

Maybe I can put Etoys 4 on the computers without plugging them in, I think. But alas- the computers are all completely drained. They all need to be recharged, and now.

And that's when I knew class would be quite different than we expected.

I think I successfully loaded Etoys 4 onto about five of the computers. However, at about 10:45am I ended up calling Dany in a rut. There's no way around it besides getting new power strips. I asked Ned how much it might cost to buy new ones. "Oh, I don't know," he says. "Maybe 300?"

300 means 300,000 Dobras, or about $15 USD, or about twice as much as it would cost in the States (which sounds about right, as things that are imported- or about 90% of all things- are horribly expensive due to importing and customs fees). I think about his power strip which has about six or eight plugs on it. That's going to cost me about $150, just to get enough outlets for all of the students at school.

Dany and I steal all of the power strips from the school and throw them in the bed of the truck. Our friend, Faia, comes too. We go directly to the hardware store, counting how many power strips need new plugs, how many new outlets are needed and how much new wire. We count about 16 meters of wire, 13 outlets (these are the plastic parts of the outlets that are ripped off the power strip, and do not include the outlets that look fine but still don't work) and five new plugs (a number of the power strips don't even have plugs attached to them anymore-- they've been literally ripped off the wire). It all rings up to 775,000 Dobras, or about $39.16 USD. When we get home, Faia offers to fix the outlets for another 300,000 Dobras, putting us at a rolling total of $54.32 USD for about seven power strips with eight plugs on each. I'm quite satisfied with this price- it's almost exactly the same as I would have paid in the USA, maybe even cheaper, and now I'm helping the São Tomean economy so I feel pretty decently good about myself.

But I don't feel so good when there are 100 students facing me and I have to tell them that class is delayed one more day because, not of lack of electricity, but of lack of power strips!

We do get some good interviews with the kids though (although halfway through the teachers let the kids go play in the schoolyard so it becomes super loud and I'll probably have to redo all the interviews all over again...BUT it was cool anyway). I asked them a few questions, including:

1. Their names
2. What they like most about computer class
3. Why they feel computers are important in São Tomé
4. What they want to be when they grow up.

Questions #3 and #4 were particularly interesting. A number of students hit the nail on the head about why computers are important in São Tomé. They didn't say anything about wanting to learn how to type or be good secretaries. They said things like, "Computers help São Tomé to connect with the rest of the world," and "Computers allow us to think in different ways so we can better our community." These are 11 year-olds that are saying these things, it's great!

When I asked what students wanted to be when they grew up, I was expecting a few mixed responses. But the kids had it all figured out. One girl wanted to be an accountant, another, a biological engineer. Two students wanted to be Portuguese teachers. A few of the boys wanted to be computer programmers/technicians. One girl said she wanted to be President. She smiled and blushed, and I told her she can do whatever she wants!!

I was particularly excited to see girls that wanted to be engineers and accountants. I haven't had the best of experiences teaching females- in an English class that I taught last year for students who were in their late teens and early twenties, the females were very visibly disinterested in school. It was heartwrenching to see them having lost their spark for learning. But these sixth graders still have that spark, and they're going onto high school. In many ways I am so happy, so thrilled. But in other ways, I feel even more pressured to keep up with them. To not let them fall through the cracks. To not let the fact that the computers are being left behind at São João hurt them.

I feel like I should go investigate the local high school and see what options there are for computer use there. Maybe I can help them grow their program a little more so students won't feel left behind.

Leaving the school, I had remembered that I rode the motorcycle into the schoolyard (perfectly normal here in STP) rather than pulling over on the road, on the other side of the street, because the road was covered with rocks. Now I would have to pull out of the schoolyard and hang a U-turn without stalling out, getting hit by a car or making a fool of myself.

I made it out perfectly. I'm really getting a hang of this motorcycle, I think.

Little failures turn into little successes.

PS- Went to TAP and apparently my bag is still in Lisbon after all. Long story short, it should be arriving on Friday. Don't ask why they were holding onto it. For some reason they thought I would be back soon and were like, "oh, she can just pick it up on her way back" without telling me. Sigh. Portugal no coração, né?

Lesson 5...hellooo students!

Today was a pretty successful day.

I had forgotten when I arrived at São João that the students would be here today, not for class but in order to hear how the class would be structured in general. It was awesome to see these students- suddenly I remembered every single one of them, and they were just the same, if not six months older. And at that age, in six months, kids grow! Maybe 10 or 15 of the girls were waiting by the gate for my arrival. When I got there, they stayed by my side as I walked to the school building. It's a little bit of a power trip to have 100 kids look up at you, 100 kids run into the classroom as soon as they see that you are here, ready to begin class. I wonder what they're excited about more- using their computers or having me (read: white woman with funny accent) as their teacher. Well, whatever it is, I'm happy they're here!

Anyway, the kids run inside and we meet for about ten minutes to talk about class. The teachers designate me to be the one to lay down the law. I laugh. The “law” is that for the next month, we're meeting five days per week for about 1.5 hours each day. Next week we're meeting at 2pm but we'll most likely start around 9am on other weeks (we're beginning at 2pm next week because teachers have required exam grading in the morning). I also think that after next week the class will be extended to the regular 3 hour schedule- and we'll do a variety of fun things to break up the time. We're going to be learning Etoys and making storybooks, and at the end of the program students will receive colorful certificates in their name. But the biggest “law” of all is the fact that, this time around, the students will not be able to take their computers home, as per the request of the teachers.

This is because the students have now finished with the sixth grade, which is the last grade at the São João School. They are technically no longer students of São João, and because of this, if a computer goes missing, it will be that much harder to track a student down. For the sake of the continuation of the program, all computers need to be accounted for this summer and in September. So we have to keep them here. In pride, the teachers asked the students to raise their hand if they were continuing onto the seventh grade. Nearly all of the students besides a couple raised their hands. The teachers were beaming. I would love to know if there is actually a notable difference in continuation to seventh grade between students in this computer class and students at São João in general. If there is, that would be a powerful quantitative analysis, I would think.

The good news is that unlike the past school year, students will be meeting everyday instead of once per week so they'll be able to use their computers quite regularly. On Monday morning I'm going to go to the school to install Etoys 4 on all of the computers so that they can be ready to go on Monday afternoon. I'm debating as to if I should reflash them too-- if I don't, the teachers will have to reflash at some point and then they'll have to install Etoys 4 anyway. Some of the teachers may join me in the work, if they are available, but I told them they didn't have to if they had other things to do. I also told the students to think of their favorite parts of the computer and their favorite programs, because we would be recording little films of students showing these different things. Then the films would be used as helpful material for the incoming sixth grade to learn more efficiently how to use the computer.

I am also, as per the suggestion of Kris Haamer, going to be interviewing students on camera and asking them what they like most about the program and such. I'll take little videos of class in action in hopes I can make some sort of fundraising video.

When the students left, the teachers and I settled down for Lesson 5. A few of the students continued to play in the schoolyard- one of them asked to use my camera and I allowed her, as long as she was careful, to take pictures and videos outside while I taught the teachers inside. Lesson 5 is all about the viewer and the very first steps of animating- how to make an object go forward 10 and turn 90 at once, for example. I was pretty surprised at how well the teachers seemed to understand the concept of the viewer- it seems that they had more trouble with the actual manipulation of the touchscreen and buttons (particularly when they had to hold down shift, click and drag something) so things like drawing or just understanding the basics of the supply box seemed difficult for them. But now that they get those things, Lesson 5 was nearly a breeze. The teachers really got it, and they were helping each other. I told them that our class is going to be quite big- they've been dividing the students in half lately with 2-3 teachers in each group- so we need to put particular emphasis on being flexible and letting students experiment on their own, and also asking students that understand the material to help the students that don't understand. That's the only way we'll keep our heads above water with so many students and two teachers.

I'm interested, however, in seeing how things go with so few teachers. I know Waveplace has never taught Etoys this way so if anything it'll be quite an experiment – and certainly an important part of this is learning how to best teach Etoys, particularly under limited resources.

We talked about how we would conduct class on Monday- asking students what they already know about Etoys and then talking a little bit about what Etoys is and what it does, explaining the idea of making storybooks over the summer course, then going into Lesson 1, looking at the gallery of projects, maybe even hitting up Lesson 2 if we have time. Those are the hopes of what we will accomplish.

There are a few obstacles that I am already aware of. The first is that the fabulous power strips that the OLPCorps made are already beginning to fall apart. Only a few of the outlets on each one work. That's not going to be good on Monday, when everyone needs to charge their computers and no charger is available. We also made a stricter attendance policy. I had thought that teachers were keeping track of the students but apparently they weren't. So at the beginning of next year, we're going to request a list of students, write the computer's number beside each student's name, and then keep attendance every class period. If a student misses more than three (or four, or five, I'm not sure yet) classes, then they will be pulled from the computer program. There are plenty of other students that want to be a part of the program and it's not fair to deny them inclusion while their peers are skipping class. I thought the teachers were already taking attendance and such but apparently that is one thing that fell through the cracks, so we're going to pick it up again now.

Roberta and I went to the Embassy of the USA today to talk about fundraising for the program. When they saw the nearly $300,000 price tag (this pays for 1,100 computers, maintenance fees and human resources for the entire school for five years) they shut down. They can only fund projects that are about $5,000 maximum, and they cannot fund parts of projects. Roberta and I are looking into what “full projects” we can do with $5,000. Maybe we can get a library started like the one in Petite Rivere des Nippes, for past program participants to use after they finish their studies at São João. Maybe $5,000 will help pay for a summer program, should we continue to offer that. I'm having a good think about it, because I know there must be something that can be done.

However, it has become obvious that we need to seek our funding in other locations. Ned suggested approaching organizations that have already donated to One Laptop per Child, and showing them how successful São João has been and seeking support to continue its success. This is a great idea that I'm going to look into more.

Dany and I are going to hopefully head to an electrician next week to talk about using a car battery and an inverter to power the wifi when there's no electricity at the school. I would be delighted if we could get that moving before I leave São Tomé. The teachers are hoping for their own adult-sized laptops and I have a few friends who are willing to donate their used laptop computers, install something simple like Puppeee Linux on them and ship them over. I told them that when I returned to the USA I would look into it for them, but that I don't want to rely on other people shipping them at the moment, and they agreed that this was the safest way to do things. I wanted to bring them computers this time around but I already had so much stuff, I could hardly take any more. But they said they would pay the shipping if I mailed the computers, and that I believe I can do.

As you can see, there's a lot to be thought about these days. If anyone has input about anything, let me know. Hope everyone is enjoying July- the US Embassy is having a party in São Tomé on July 9^th (just a few days after July 4, but it's because the Embassy is actually based in Gabon so they need to do their July 4 party in Gabon) for us Americans. I'm actually sort of really excited about it. Our other volunteer, Polly, left us early this morning. It was so sad to see her go! I know she'll be happy to get home though, after living here for four months! Now it's me and the boys at the house again. I'm trying to take extra good care of Ned's kitten, because Polly always treated her so well. Might as well get in touch with my mothering side while I'm here.

Thursday Thursday (Rabbit Rabbit)

Not much to report today. Teachers had a busy exam day so I didn't go into the school, except to return Adelina's computer, which I had quite magically fixed so that it could sense the network again simply by restarting it. It's so frustrating because I know I have restarted computers before that couldn't sense the network and that definitely did not help them, so I of course submit a sort of "help ticket" with OLPC and restarting, as per their suggestion, works like a charm. Oh fudge!

Talked with Dany about the possibility of using a battery + inverter combo to charge the wireless internet at the school. I think we're going to talk to an electrician next week about it.

Made an appointment with Roberta to talk to the US Embassy tomorrow and Voice of America next week about funding our computer programs. Also looking into a few other groups that may be able to help us out as well. Keep your fingers crossed.

Party last night went great. We all had an awesome time, and quite a few of my friends came by (it was really really nice). Even my girl Bianca came, who I hadn't seen since last year!!! Tonight the party continues, as a few of us are going out for Polly's last night. Will definitely be a good time.

Lesson 4...and the teachers are still happy

After class today, the teachers pull me aside. “We just wanted to say,” they begin, “That...before you came along, we had no idea how to use Etoys. We are learning a lot. It's great!”

I'll be honest; I swelled with pride upon hearing that. It was such a relief to know that the teachers are appreciating class. Today was a particularly difficult day. We covered lesson 4 in Etoys, which I think is when things start to get a little bit complicated. First, I showed them how to save things to the Squeakland Showcase. This took a good amount of time as the internet was really slow. I told them the students wouldn't have to do this, just them. I gave them login names and passwords that they could use, and I said if they wanted to share projects created by their students, they could save them to a USB drive and then upload them themselves, or even login under the teachers' name on Etoys, so that the kids don't have to go through what could be a disastrous few days of trying to get everyone set up in Squeakland (for example, it took a couple of class periods to get everyone email addresses. I don't even want to think about the Squeakland Showcase!).

After that, I told everyone to draw something quick over a period of 30 seconds. The class today would not be about drawing- we already know how to do that. Instead, it would be about how to manipulate a drawing. Three of the teachers drew up nice pictures really quickly. Two of them had troubles with their computers so it took longer. Then as I helped those two teachers with their respective problems, the three teachers would continue to embellish their pictures until they just had to the do the thing all over again because the picture started to get too detailed. Good grief, it must have taken an hour just to get five little drawings made. I think the teachers saw that I was mildly frustrated, but I still tried to make a joke. When it took me literally 60 seconds to draw a flower, I laughed about how I could have drawn a whole garden of flowers by the time they had each finished their respective drawings! They laughed too.

The issue is that the teachers are at this point quite comfortable with the way the XOs and Sugar work. The problem, however, is that the teachers are not comfortable with some mechanical things that Etoys requires- clicking and dragging, for example, or, something that is really hard, clicking and dragging and pressing “shift” at the same time (Miguel was having trouble with this and as I patted him on the back I joked, “I know it's three fingers at once, but don't worry, you'll get it- you do have ten fingers, anyway!” and he burst out laughing). When entering in http://squeakland.org on the Navigate activity, the teachers are constantly adding extra letters, forgetting slashes, etc. Reminds me of the “good old days” when I was first learning how to use the Internet and I was forgetting little details like that, too.

Though this might come in handy when teaching scripting- because now the teachers can relate to the need to have everything exactly right or the computer won't respond correctly.

So once the first hour passes and we have our drawings in order, everything else goes smoothly. I printed the images that the Columbus School for Girls students created- large replicas of each handle in the halo- and distributed them among the teachers. The teachers were then able to write little notes on the page of each handle so that they could remember what each one does and how to use it. Great! By the end of the afternoon, we had forests, gardens, strange and unusual sizes and colors of cheese, houses, roses and squiggles (the squiggles were created by Professora Arlete. She took absolutely FOREVER to do everything – she gets frustrated pretty easily with the computers – so when she FINALLY made the first squiggle I just said “stop it right there, that's plenty!!!”).

Thank god.

At this point it had been about an hour and forty minutes. I asked the teachers if they wanted to continue into the next lesson or if they wanted to rest and go home. They opted to go home. This was fine; we did a full lesson and that is all that was important. For a few minutes, we sat around and talked about the future. This week it's just me and the teachers doing lessons; though because of students' exams we won't have class tomorrow. Next week the teachers need to grade the exams, but there is the possibility of teachers being able to come and do a class in the afternoon, either with just me or with the students. Miguel had told the students to come to class this Friday and we would give them the low-down.

I told the teachers that their homework tonight was to essentially decide what they wanted to do. This needs to have a strong foundation, so if they don't even want to teach the students at all until the fall, we can consider that if we have a plan. Instead, we can spend this summer learning Etoys at a slower pace, and lesson planning for the incoming school year. Or, we can start students up on Monday, keep them for about 90 minutes and then have teacher classes in the afternoon (sort of like how Waveplace did in Haiti) so that the teachers can always stay a step ahead of the students. Whatever they want to do, it's fine by me- as long as they find a solution that works for them.

So that's where we are. They are thinking about how they want to organize their class, and I will support them. They'll tell me the verdict on Friday. I still need to talk to the director about paying (or his lack of paying) the teachers for their work over the school year, but I am hoping that my presence is already reminding him that he needs to turn their hours into the Ministry of Education. The teachers have begun to ask me for their own personal laptop computers. When I talked to them, I realized that it seems that they are not looking for anything special- just something smaller than the enormous computers that are in the computer lab, something transportable, and something adult-friendly (unlike the XOs). I told them the only thing that was holding me back was the shipping fee, but they said they would pay it.

Well, if I can arrange for some donated laptops and then have them pay the shipping, we're golden. So that's my plan right now.

Roberta still hasn't made an appointment with the American Embassy, so I need to get on her back about that to make sure we have time to do it while I'm still here. I'm also hoping to talk to the Taiwanese Embassy, which apparently takes interest in medical and educational projects on the island (and if we have public health curricula, they could definitely pay for that). A few things to do on my list, many of which hopefully will be worked on tomorrow when I have a day off from school.

Polly and I took the motorcycle into town today to meet up with Michelle and Jared, her two American friends, again. Jared is doing his Fullbright on São Tomean history and identity, essentially. It's very interesting work. I just saw the dog throw up a big pile of rice, gross. Speaking of dogs, there is a disintegrating dog in the road over the first hill going into town. I didn't notice it until Polly mentioned it. It's been there for a few weeks now so it looks like a pile of dirt in a dog shape. Nice image, right?

Anyway, took the motorcycle into town, got espresso and pastries, did some tourist shopping, enjoyed the sunlight, and all in all had a great time. Tonight Ned is having my welcome and Polly's goodbye party so a few of our friends are coming by for calulu, an amazing São Tomean stew. The party is supposed to start in about an hour and a half and I'm excited for it! Only a little bit bummed that my supposedly “found” luggage has, in fact, not been found, and therefore I can't look particularly cute because I lack makeup, earrings, a comb, and other previously necessary commodities.

Etoys: Day One

At 10am I began my walk from the STeP UP office to the São João school. Walking there takes about 30-40 minutes total, and though my bags are heavy I somewhat enjoy it- passing through neighborhoods, a long stretch of bakeries, shops and a garage, the bustling market with many taxi and motoqueiro stands, then waterfront, with old, rusted ships that beached ashore long ago and soft waves lapping at the sand below a short cement barricade. And then, of course, the São João School, a pinkish colored cement building behind gates, outside of which women sell jaca and bananas and cookies and lollipops.

The teachers were inside the school, waiting for me. Professora Arlete wasn't here yesterday but she's here now. Her eyes smile as I walk in. “Elizabeth!” She exclaims. “I am this very moment writing an email to you!” I look at the computer screen in front of her- one of the big clunker computers that are from the early 90s- and sure enough there is an email addressed to me there. Professor Nelys is there too and we laugh as Arlete writes her email to me, in front of me.

When Miguel, Adelina and Mirian arrive, we head to an empty classroom and set up shop. Today, I explain, we're going to learn Etoys. My idea is to have students create their own storybooks by the end of the summer camp. But first, of course, we need to learn how to use it.

Unlike the teachers of other Waveplace deployments, these teachers have been using the XOs all year long so they are extremely comfortable with the way they handle (in fact, Nelys instant messaged me on Microsoft Messenger yesterday, from his XO. I had thought it was impossible and asked him how he did it. “I have tricks,” he had responded with an emoticon smile). For this reason, we literally breezed through lessons 1, 2 and 3 with ease. Even Professora Adelina, who is a bit older than the other teachers, was keeping up quite well.

And it wasn't even that the teachers were hanging on – they were actually surpassing me to the point that I could hardly teach the material. When I showed them how to pull text from the Supply Box, they were immediately asking how they could resize it, change the color, etc. When I showed them the grab patch and the lasso, they used that and then quickly started recording their own voices with the sound recorder, without me even having mentioned its existence yet. In some ways the speed at which they were learning was a negative thing- they seemed to lose interest relatively quickly because this stuff was easy for them.

But, of course, this is only the beginning. There's a lot more than that came from.

Like for example, the idea of creating little pictures to compile into one big picture is new to them. They get it but they still don't *quite* understand why one would do that. When we move to animations soon I think it is going to make a lot more sense.

We are focusing less on “how to teach” at the beginning, and just working on getting the teachers comfortable with the material. The reason why we're doing this is because the teachers have already been teaching this computer class for an entire school year. The material has certainly been different, but I'd like to see what they're doing. With each teacher taking over a group of about 20 students by themselves, I want to see what their technique is and will be. They are experienced so I am hoping for the best. However, I do know that the high teacher/student ratio will be different, interesting, and, well, potentially hazardous. But there's no way to truly know until we get started.

Miguel's computer nearly ran out of battery in class. He went to the office to grab a big long power strip that the OLPCorps had made for them. He plugged his computer into it...but the power strip wasn't working all that well. We weren't sure why. After some shifting the plug around in the socket and a bit of confusion we got it to work relatively well, but I'm concerned that one day these power strips may stop working entirely. And when they do, the teachers are going to have to learn how to make new ones...or something.

The computers are quite dirty and definitely need to be reflashed. Arlete took one of the students' computers out of the director's office as she had left hers at home. It was covered – I mean COVERED! – with orangeish dust from the schoolyard. I told the teachers that it might be a little extra work, but they should wipe these computers clean and then reflash them before the fall. I might actually consider doing that myself before I leave. Even though the students will be using the computers over the summer program, at least there's a smaller chance that they'll mess them up in two to three weeks.

Talked with Roberta today. She said the US Embassy is currently accepting funding applications, which is great news! She's going to call them and find out when we can come over to talk to them. We're working on making the funding application a little bit different for each location we approach, in hopes we can divide the costs and conquer that way.

No word yet on the car battery. I basically need to ask Dany about it right now but haven't had a chance to.

Tomorrow we're starting with lesson 4, which I actually think the teachers are going to like very much, as it has to do with resizing and re-coloring their creations, which is something they've been wanting to do for a while now.

Getting dinner tonight with Polly and some of her American friends in town. Tomorrow is Ned's welcome/goodbye party for us...very excited to see a bunch of my friends again all in one place!

Get This Party Started!

Stopped by São João this morning around 10:30, after students' exams were over for the day. Four of our five teachers met me at the school and we moved into an empty classroom so we could talk a bit about how we want to organize this summer program.

The teachers explained to me that students are in exams this week and then next week is a sort of evaluation period, so students won't be available for the summer program until the week after that (what I believe will be two weeks before I leave). This is both good and bad news. Obviously I want to spend time with the students and am going to miss them. But at the same time, the later we start, the better my chances of getting my lost suitcase back which had some really nice teaching materials (as well as toolkits that I had bought for each teacher so that they could fix their own computers) that I'd love to use. So in a way I don't mind that we're starting later than normal. I have faith that the teachers will be able to teach their students how to make storybooks in Etoys without me. That will be our goal this summer...to learn the Basic Etoys lessons and to make storybooks. I think it's a worthy goal.

As the students are still in exams, tomorrow I am going to start teaching the teachers. I explained that it will take a few hours each day for multiple days to learn Basic Etoys. I also have faith that the teachers will learn rather quickly, as it's only five of them and they'll be able to gather around my computer and pick up things pretty fast. Etoys 4 has been translated into even Portuguese than Etoys 3, and the teachers are overwhelmingly grateful to see that change. I also passed around a few materials I printed for them, including the ten Etoys lessons that I translated into Portuguese (as well as a fresh copy of the Troubleshooting Guide); an XO manual which is essentially a translation of the ominous (and entirely in English) Help activity on Sugar, translated by a noble and secret source; and a guide to Etoys created by the Squeakland group and used in Brazil.

There are no words to describe how happy the teachers were to see lesson material in Portuguese. All they could say over and over was, "Oh, this is so much better. Oh, this is so much better!" I know they've been dodging the hurdles of English throughout the entire school year and I know they will be grateful to get a little break in their own language.

They also seem excited to learn how to use Etoys, which has been a sort of dark corner for them, especially since Etoys 3 was not as Portuguese-friendly as Etoys 4 (like for example, the little bubbles that pop up to tell you what each button means are now in Portuguese and not English, thank God!). I showed them storybooks that students in Haiti made and the teachers definitely seemed interested in the idea of their students making similar ones. I also told them that we're going to head to a few bigwigs- UNICEF, the UN, the Ministry of Education, even Voice of America and a few banks here in São Tomé- looking for donations to see if we can get enough computers for the whole school. They nodded their heads enthusiastically, especially Miguel, when I explained that I'd like to eventually get rid of our Saturday classes over the school year and just start using the computers in the classroom. That is my dream. Dona Roberta at STeP UP has been helping me re-work my funding proposal so that we can go together to these organizations and make our requests. We also thought it'd be a good idea to have a sort of "open house" for potential funders to come and watch a class in action, to see how it's going so well, and to then attend a Q&A session afterward.

A meeting also needs to be held with parents of our students. Unfortunately, even though students have been told that they need to turn their computers in at the end of the year, they have been slow to believe it. They have been using the computers all year, anyway- it's not easy for them to think that they will actually give them back after all this time! Because of that, we've had a couple of computer brutalities- a torn off "s" key, a ripped off antenna. The teachers want to have another meeting with the students to talk about computer care, to tell the parents that the students have to return the computers at the end of the year and to build a better system so that students really do take care of their computers throughout their "loan". I suggested the idea of building a sort of computer library like our Waveplace mentors are doing in Petite Riviere des Nippes, in Haiti. That can allow students to continue the learning even after they leave São João. The applied technology school that STeP UP is hoping to build would also be a solution to this, as students would be able to continue learning with computers after their time in the XO laptop program.

I asked the teachers how energy was at the school. They said it is better now than it was when I was here last, but it's still not perfect. I brought up Mike Dawson (OLPC Afghanistan)'s suggestion of getting a car battery to hook the wireless router to, so that students can at least use the internet even when there isn't electricity. Then the battery can be plugged into the wall and recharge when there is electricity so that it can be used later. Their response was much like mine when I learned about that idea- GENIUS! We're going to look into it right away.

I also asked teachers about payment and if they were getting paid okay by the Ministry of Education for their extraordinary hours. They sort of grew quiet and hung their heads. Apparently they have been submitting time sheets to São João's director, with their signatures and all. At first the director passed them along to the Ministry so that they would be paid, but lately he hasn't been doing it so the teachers have not been getting the payment they earned. We're not sure why this is the case and the teachers asked me to talk to the director so I'll do this in the next couple of days. We wonder what could possibly make this man not want to pay the teachers- perhaps he's just being lazy and will get around to it. Perhaps he's slightly, well, jealous that they're getting extra pay (since they're putting in extra work) and he isn't. Whatever the reason, I'm going to find out and hopefully fix it.

It seems the teachers are pretty stable on their own but definitely are benefitting from me being back and checking in on things. I wish I could replicate this model in every country in the world. So far I think it is working extremely well and I am so impressed with the teachers' dedication and interest.

We'll see how Basic Etoys lesson 1 (and hopefully 2) go tomorrow!

After class just had the most wonderful day in São Tomé. A little rusty on the motorcycle but-- it's like riding a bike (but then again, it is a bike!) and I'm feeling quite comfortable with it. Polly (another STeP UP volunteer) and I went into town after lunch with Ned, bought some jack fruit (jaca, em Português) and just hung out by the ocean and watched the horizon. We saw that the cathedral was open and decided to be tourists and check it out. As we approached the doorway, we heard voices. I thought maybe there was a ceremony going on. We entered and saw all the pews pushed into the two side chapels. Then, in the central nave, was a group of guys PLAYING SOCCER INSIDE THE CATHEDRAL!!! I had never seen anything like it in all my life. But it made sense- it was cool in there, there was lots of space, it wasn't being used anyway...why not? Hilarious though. Only wish I could have taken a picture.

Then we met up with my friend Kilson for beers as the sun began to set. Tomorrow we're going to a restaurant that is apparently very popular in São Tomé but I have yet to go there. And on Wednesday, Ned is throwing us a little welcome/goodbye party (welcome for me, goodbye for Polly). I'm already falling in love with São Tomé all over again.

Day Two and Feeling Good

The five USB flash drives that I purchased for my teachers are stuck somewhere in Boston or Lisbon in my checked baggage, among other small things like that for class. I say to myself over and over, “At least it wasn't the computers that were lost. At least it wasn't the computers.”

Today I scrounged around in all my bags and ended up finding a perfect total of five used but still functioning emergency flash drives that I had hidden in various bags in case of emergency during our time in Haiti. Thanking my lucky stars right now as I reformat them and put on the materials that were on the other prepared drives.

Had a great talk with Ned over lunch today. STEP UP is hoping to build an applied technologies shool where students can go to learn how to fix computers, create solar energy and other things that can help them get a leg up in a developing country. This school could have an incredible symbiotic relationship with the laptop program at São João. Students that go on to this applied technologies school could learn how to better fix the XO laptop and build up quite a little market in computer repair. Students who participate in São João's program who may not have otherwise had an interest in school or technology may now want to attend a school such as the one STEP UP wants to create. There are just a wealth of good things to talk about if this pulls through.

It's Sunday so between the laptop over-thinking I have also been laying on Ned's dock, soaking in the sunshine, then sitting on his porch and watching the waves. It's been a quiet day but a good one. By tomorrow morning I will be fully prepared to visit the São João school, see the teachers and get ready for a great week of planning, organizing and learning. This works out quite well, since tomorrow is Monday and there's no time to lose! Also hoping to talk to Roberta at STEP UP about speaking with UNICEF, the UN, USAID, etc. Will probably send her a copy of my funding proposal to see what she thinks.

Until tomorrow-

B