In the dusty shadows of the Arusha city fringes, are mud and stick structures that are homes to the poor of the poor in Tanzania. During the "dry" season, the corridor leading to these dwellings from the main road is laden with holes and gaps and cracks and surfaced with an abundant supply of dust. At this time of year, the trenches fashioned by the waters of the rainy season and edge the rutted path, crack with thirst. Why anyone would want to coerce a Land Cruiser over this agonizing course would be beyond me, if not for an elegant old German home, now known as the Mwangaza Centre.

For three weeks, the Mwangaza Centre was home to me, my son and my daughters-in-law. And here is where 51 refurbished PC's, monitors and 5 printers made their way by boat and truck from Minnesota in the U.S. At the Centre we would re-box computer systems for use in secondary schools throughout the area.

In the year 2000, I, with the support of a grant from Rotary International, created a program I called CAFÉ. It means “Computer Access For Everyone”. As a project of the Rotary Club of Fairmont Minnesota, the PC's were, three at a time, placed atop the Centres' 4-wheel drive vehicle and, along with the three of us, transported to Secondary Schools where we would train a number of the teachers computer skills sufficient enough to allow them to, in turn, teach their students and teachers at other schools.

Our first school, the Eneboishu Secondary School, was but 1½ miles from our quarters yet we had to drive over 6 miles, mostly over terrene that kept us moving at less than 10 mph, to get there. Three computers, their monitors and other peripherals, were securely strapped to the top of the Mwangaza Centres' Land Cruiser, transported with the three Café staff and Seelah, the Coordinator for the Mwangaza Centre. Being amazed that my body made it there without anything noticeably detaching, I was not surprised, but pleased, that two of the three computers and two of the three monitors made it safely.

If there is a word for "time" in Swahili, it has little meaning. We left for our destination an hour later than planned (or stated). Upon arrival, and while the head master decided who would be the first to be trained, we were proudly shown their new computer room, an 8 by 8 foot room, once containing two desks. Now the room would be fitted with three additional desks for the new computers. Two hours later our students began to arrive for training. But first, we must have a break. Consisting of tea boiled in raw milk, a hard-boiled egg, and a few peanuts on our plate, we sat down as honored guests to enjoy the company of our new students.

Because these teachers did not know anything about PC's and had never used one, we thought it would be a challenge to get the course work planned and completed in three days. It didn't take long, however, to realize that these people were hungry for knowledge and were very bright. They became like children with a new toy that they couldn't wait to master. By days end we were finding that we had completed our first lesson far sooner than anticipated. Victor, Emanuel, Martin and Allen were amazed every time the computer did what they told it to. And when they did something wrong, they were even more amazed that the computer would question their intent.

During the day we found that our converter/protectors that we brought along to protect against the dreadful surges of power that plague this area, were not at all up to the task of protecting the PC's. Not only could they only handle one PC each, when the electricity surged, the unit would appropriately cut out to protect the PC but then would turn right back on after the surge. Switching a computer off and on immediately is very bad and can cause damage because the PC was not allowed to "cool off" before being re-started. So we decided it was necessary to buy voltage regulators (or stabilizers). The Eneboishu School had one but we needed to pick up adapters on our way back to Mwangaza before using them. We limped along for the day, only loosing power once, and would reconfigure the systems the next day.

The first day we taught on only two PC's as the rigors of travel rendered one PC and one monitor totally useless. On our way back for our second day at the Eneboishu School, we brought an additional PC and discussed the possibility of starting instructions at our second scheduled school the following day. We would surely be done at this one by days end. It was true, we had nearly finished teaching our second days material on the first day, and they fully understood the essentials (and more) of a PC and word processing. They were not, however, ready to stop learning. They asked for more. "What more can you teach us" they pleaded. Because we had installed programs that included a spreadsheet, we asked if that would be useful to them. Not knowing what the program "Excel" is used for, they assured us they would certainly need to know it. So - tomorrow - we return to teach "Excel"

On the third day we finished teaching before the 2:00 p.m. lunch period. We converted PC's from 110 to 220, having removed the converters and installing stabilizers instead. We tried to install their laser printer, forgot it only ran on 110 voltage and blew it up. Not all can go right all the time.

At the conclusion of their stay, we took a tour of the school grounds, including a visit to the staff home of Victor where we met his wife and children. The entire student body was gathered in the courtyard to thank their three guests from America. We told the student body about the computers and how they might help them learn. Some of the students had prepared a song that expressed gratitude for the gifts presented to their school. One of the teachers gave a farewell speech encouraging the team to return as soon as possible. As we left the school grounds we could sense the appreciation. All of the schools teachers stood by the entrance, waving with affection, until the clouds of dust, once again, settled to the ground and we were out of sight.

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The Project

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A Visit to the Boma

Safari

Crises in America

Time & Distance