Five hour drive home yesterday through a lovely Nor'easter. Paula had to drive through sheets of rain and wind, while her scared-to-drive husband stared out the window and communed with the elements. I did manage to get about an hour worth of work done, mostly figuring out how to make Wordpress templates so I can switch from Movable Type for the Squeakland and Waveplace blogs. "The world will turn if you're ready or not." Now sitting on my little couch at home while the girls sleep upstairs. I'm always the first up, which gives me some quiet time. I'd say...
9! Hedging our bets. Sat, 13-Mar-2010 (teefal)
Anything that can go wrong, will. Or so say the Irish. In Haiti, I'd strengthen the statement and say, "Every part of your plan will have obstacles, so have backup plans for everything, and backups for your backups." As an example, the Graham & Parks kids didn't bring in their laptops yesterday, so I won't get to meet with them after all. As for the Haiti pilots, the biggest bad news we could get is injury, disease, or kidnapping. Bill, Beth, and I are aware of these ever present risks, though aside from watching where we walk, getting immunizations and...
10! The laptops are flying. Fri, 12-Mar-2010 (teefal)
The laptops are on their way. Yesterday we got our tracking number from DHL, which has graciously agreed to ship our 200 XO laptops to Haiti for free. They’ll be in Port-Au-Prince early next week. The big question is whether they’ll clear customs before next Friday, and how much we’ll be charged by the Haitian government. Place your bets! We can now officially thank One Laptop Per Child for redonating these 200 laptops to our Waveplace effort from the laptops donated by G1G1 recipients after the earthquake. Their trust in our efforts is both humbling and much appreciated. Special thanks...
impossible tasks Thu, 11-Mar-2010 (teefal)
Today's the first of daily morning posts I'll write during the Haiti pilots. Exactly eight weeks ago, on my birthday, I woke from a late night of worry and resolve, weighing the realities of an expanded Waveplace plan in Haiti. I dwelled on the logistical, financial, and personal risks, running through the whole thing in my mind. On the surface, for hours, my brain was certain that I simply couldn't do this. Underneath was another truth, unspoken but felt . . . how can I not do what I can? I woke on my birthday, struggled for an hour more,...
first five haitian mentors Tue, 2-Mar-2010 (teefal)
Just recieved a photo of the first five Haitian mentors in our upcoming Haiti pilots. Meet Jean Antoine, Ericlese, Alin, Yves Antoine, and Michena-Edith from Petite Riviere des Nippes. Another 35 will soon join them....
Vacation Week Mon, 15-Feb-2010 (allison)
The past two weeks were jam-packed. We taught sessions in the morning and afternoon and then decompressed and adapted plans in the evening. We progressed through our eToys curriculum and figured out what worked and what needed to be tweaked. We also kept our ear to the voices of local communities, here and in Haiti. This is the strategy we believe gets the best results. We attended events around Cambridge with our friends at OLPC and MIT and attended Haitian Creole church services in Dorchester. We also trekked to NYC on the weekends to attend Crisis Camps there and connect with burgeoning efforts in translation and community activism.
Piloting Stories in Translation Wed, 3-Feb-2010 (allison)
...deeper issues of translation are at stake. Throughout the day while the children are beginning to integrate the language of their everyday life with this new scripting language, volunteers for Waveplace Foundation and One Laptop Per Child debate translation of Haitian Kreyol.
Thinking about Color and Imagination in Haiti Mon, 1-Feb-2010 (allison)
Surely the XO cannot be panacea to all existing infirmities within Haiti, particularly the devastation caused by the recent earthquakes from January 12 and on. However, these devices, along with skilled Haitian mentors, can introduce creative problem solving in an area that has suffered for too long from discrimination based on color, and the discouragement of imagination.
two pilots begin Mon, 1-Feb-2010 (teefal)
In two hours, I'll be meeting with William Stelzer, our chief mentor, who flew up from the Virgin Islands last night, and Allison Bland, who just returned from Crisis Camp NYC, which was a very helpful event. The three of us will start two local pilots today, one at the Fayerweather Street School, which has an ongoing relationship with the Matenwa Community Learning Center in Haiti, and another at Graham & Parks with a class of mostly Kreyol speaking Haitian children. We'll meet with each pilot class once a weekday for the next two weeks, teaching them Squeak Etoys and...
Waveplace Plan to Help Haiti Tue, 26-Jan-2010 (teefal)
Hi everyone, After talking non-stop with dozens of people and groups over the last two weeks, Waveplace has settled on a plan to help Haiti in the coming four months. Tonight I've uploaded three videos describing this plan. Please forgive the roughness of my presentation (and my tired haggard look). This was simply the quickest way for me to put the details of the plan online for all to see. I will be transcribing the videos tomorrow for those that would rather read text. Here are the videos: The transcription will be here tomorrow: http://haiti.waveplace.com We welcome the ideas and...
haiti update Fri, 22-Jan-2010 (teefal)
Hi all, Tim Falconer from Waveplace. Just a quick update to let everyone know that the schools and kids from our two Haitian pilots, and the upcoming one in Matanwa, are all alive and safe for now. The building in Petit-Riviere was spared, and luckily the Port-Au-Prince children were moved to the new facility in Williamson just prior to the earthquake. Our chief mentor, Bill Stelzer, is in Port-Au-Prince now . . he's helping with the schools and filming. He & Suzie have been on CNN twice in the last two days (http://haitichildren.org). I'm now in Cambridge MA in talks...
Report from the Haiti pilot Tue, 20-May-2008 (bill)
(from newsletter) In Early May I headed back to Haiti to check on the Waveplace pilot at Mercy and Sharing's John Branchizio School. Haiti is one of the most turbulent places in the western hemisphere, and since I had last been there in February, rising food prices had caused rioting and the ouster of the country's Prime Minister. During this time, by necessity Waveplace's pilot had been put on hold. When I touched down on the Port au Prince tarmac it was relief to see that the city was back to normal. (Though I did have a UN soldier standing...
News from our partner in Haiti Sun, 20-Apr-2008 (teefal)
(written by Amanda Adams of Mercy & Sharing, from newsletter) During the most recent period of rioting and civil unrest in Haiti, we at Mercy & Sharing were forced into "emergency mode" to keep the precious children in our care safe. A bright spot for us was the more than 160 Haitians we employ in our operations in Haiti. Some of these amazing people courageously risked their lives to navigate around mass riots and burning barricades to deliver food, supplies and life saving medicine to our orphanages, schools, feeding centers, clinic and abandoned baby unit where we care for abused,...
XO donor comments Mon, 17-Mar-2008 (teefal)
Today I read some very nice comments from a few of the people who donated their XO laptops to children in our Haiti pilot. Last week I posted photos of the children that got their laptops as well as a new video. The first donor comment was from Emily Davidow, who also blogged: Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program! Seeing the pictures and movie made me so happy. Looking forward to following the progress in Haiti and all your programs through the newsletter. The next was from author David Weinberger, who blogged as...
photos from haiti and st john pilots Sat, 1-Mar-2008 (teefal)
Just received some photos from the start of our Haitian pilot, along with some new photos from our St John pilot, which is in its sixth week. * Haiti photos * St John photos...
Report from our St John and Haiti Pilots Tue, 26-Feb-2008 (bill)
(from newsletter) For the past two months my brain has been in two different places, only a few hundred miles apart on a map of the Caribbean, but worlds apart in challenges faced. On St. John we are now six weeks into our pilot. Learning most of the XO is almost effortless for the kids. Chat, Write, Record, Journal, and Browse took me all of about fifteen minutes to get a few kids started, then I just sat back and watched the newfound knowledge spread like wildfire. Learning Etoys is more like jumping into the deep end of the pool,...
haitian pilot starts Wed, 20-Feb-2008 (teefal)
Today we're starting our pilot in Haiti, at one of the Mercy & Sharing schools in Port-Au-Prince. Our very own Bill Stelzer, leader of our St John pilot, will be teaching Emile Roulsa Jean and two others to become Haiti's first Waveplace mentors. They'll then start a ten-week pilot using the nineteen laptops we were able to receive in time. Our greatest thanks go to the ten kind souls who donated their XOs last weekend, along with David Weinberger, Jerry Michalski, and Wayan Vota for helping spread the word. David & Jerry are A-List blogerati and Wayan runs OLPC News,...
give two, keep none Fri, 8-Feb-2008 (teefal)
Just sent out a plea to forums and bloggers I know. David Weinberger not only posted it, but he's sending us his XO! Here's the plea: Waveplace is a non-profit starting an XO pilot in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, in ten days. OLPC was going to be giving us laptops, but it fell through, which is why I'm trying to get twenty XOs from elsewhere. Your laptop may end up in the hands of one of the most needy children in the Western Hemisphere. The school where the laptop will be sent is run by Susie Scott Krabacher, who has been the...
Waveplace in Haiti Thu, 31-Jan-2008 (teefal)
(written by Susie Scott Krabacher, president of M&S, from newsletter) On our January trip to Haiti we had a special treat to show the kids at our Mercy House Orphanage, the new XO laptop designed especially for children by the geniuses at One Laptop Per Child. OLPC had just announced the country recipients of the donated laptops from their Give One Get One program and, praise be, Haiti made the list. (Although as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere it's hard to imagine how it couldn't!) After setting everything up with Tim Falconer, president of Waveplace Foundation, our Mercy...
extreme poverty Tue, 30-Oct-2007 (teefal)
In the year 2000, world leaders made eight pretty incredible promises, which are known as the Millennium Development Goals. The first of these goals is to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1 USD per day. More than 1.5 billion people qualify, which is roughly 1 out of every 4 people alive. Two-thirds of these people don't have access to clean water, and malnutrition is so bad that six million children die EVERY YEAR before their fifth birthday. That's a holocaust-sized catastrophe...
