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Labdoo Newsletter global |
Issue: 17 Date: 04/2017 |
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Labdoo.org "Tag a laptop, spread education" |
LABDOO is a humanitarian social network joined by people around the world who want to make our planet a better place by providing those in underdeveloped regions a chance at a better education. The goal of the social network is to send unused laptops, ebook readers, tablet-PCs and any device that can be loaded with education software to needy schools around the world using colaboration and without incurring any economic or environmental costs. There is a very large number of stories taking place within the Labdoo social network (take a look at the global activity feed) and this newsletter can only capture a few of them. If your story does not show up and you feel that it is worth spreading, please send an email to contact@labdoo.org and we will make any possible effort to include it in the next issue. The Labdoo Team. 
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Global Progress:
Link to Edoovillage: https://www.labdoo.org/edoovillage?e=1529 Project DEFY had a humble beginning in 2014, not just metaphorically but in reality. A small room, in a non-descriptive village on the outskirts of Bangalore, having no furniture, no equipment, no books, with plenty of junk, some basic tools. The only hitech items were one personal computer and an Internet connection to do an experiment in education. Soon the rooms were abuzz with boys and girls from the village, who had come there out of sheer inquisitiveness and curiosity which eventually led to learn by doing and making - the experiment was working. The room was getting filled with eager learners and the experiment turned into a project. Project DEFY had to be upgraded with more computers on priority. The founders had already exhausted their personal saving and funds raised through family & friends. Just when hopes were fading, there came a beacon of light in the form of LABDOO – The humanitarian social network made by people around the world providing technology to those in need purely for education.
Labdoo's assistance has enabled Project DEFY to grow from it's humble beginning. Project DEFY presently has THREE Nooks running. The first one in peri urban Bangalore in Kagallipura, the second one in a farming community of Mangalore and the third one has been built in partnership with SINA at Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Project DEFY within a short span of time has already some emerging micro entrepreneurs and leaders. Now there are more than 250 learners at all the nooks. Mattanchery, was once a thriving hub of art and creativity, a home to brilliant local artists who made livelihood from the art they created. As commercial tourism exploded, the area got pushed into abject poverty, where-in the same artists have sadly become truck loaders and other unorganised labourers. Today, you can see a distinct divide between the booming elitist art hub on the other side of the slums, while the community remains sunk in poverty. The key take away in Project DEFY is the awesomeness of a human being's ability (particularly children) to learn on their own without having information thrust forcefully into them, as is the norm today. Provide them with the right resources, allow them to choose their own subjects and topics of interest and voilà!!!! we have INNOVATIONS…...The makers in the Nooks have even built robotic arms, phone controlled airplanes, arduino boats from scratch. Makers at our Mangalore Nook are building aquaponics projects at a small scale to replicate them as agricultural solutions for the larger farming community. One of the makers (a girl) from the first Nook has set up her own jewelery business. At the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. This 60 year old camp has residents from Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Erythria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. This Nook, created in a plastic bottle house that was built for this project, by the learners themselves. Similarly all the furnitures that were needed was again make by the people at the Nook, within a few days, from foldable tables to sliding stand for the projector. The learners (participants) have already started a social venture creating shoes out of used cloth pieces. Project DEFY objective is to give education back to the people and the community, which will give rise to leaders, entrepreneurs, youth venturers and creating sustainable solutions.
Edoovillage story: https://www.labdoo.org/edoovillage?e=33423 Kar Geno is translated in Luo as, the Center for Hope. For several years now, the organization has been seeking and providing assistance, sustainability, and hope within their community of Asembo County. I learned of this organization through a website called Moving Worlds where you can volunteer your skills to better a community of people. Raphine Muga, one of Kar Geno's founders, expressed interest in my skills as a photographer and after a few Skype meetings and some emails later, the rest was history. Right before travelling to Kenya, Raphine asked if I would be willing to travel from my home Charleston, SC all the way to Africa with two refurbished laptops generously provided by Labdoo. Unsure of their exact use and purpose, I accepted the extra weight in my carry on and made the long trek across the world. I have now been in Kenya and working with the organization for about three weeks and have seen first hand the excitement and the joy Labdoo's laptops have brought to this organization. The two laptops provided will be used to teach Asembo's young women who were not given proper education, basic computer skills, as well as connecting the children and teachers in the nearby schools with teachers and students from the United States through a program called Teachers to Teachers. Thank you so much to Labdoo for opening up this beautiful community's world. They are forever grateful for your generosity and excited for the possibilities in store for them!
Day: Saturday October 21st, 2017 Call for Stories: Are you managing a Labdoo hub or edoovillage and do you have a story to share? Write about your Labdoo story and come to present it at the Conference. If you are part of a hub or an edoovillage, we would like to hear about your experiences. Tell us how did you get started with Labdoo and what type of actions you have taken to help bring education to children around the globe. What challenges did you have to overcome? What motivated you to create your edoovillage or hub? What are the anecdotes and inspiring moments of your story that are worth sharing with the world? How are the laptops helping you and other people to gain a better education and in which ways? If you are a hub manager, you can also write about your strategies to mobilize your local community to help collect and sanitize unused laptops. If you are an edoovillage manager, tell us about how the laptops are helping the community nearby the school. In this link you will find examples of stories from last year's conference. The stories you submit will also be published together in the Labdoo 2017 Story book.
Edoovillage story: https://www.labdoo.org/edoovillage?e=1073 Labdoo is changing the lives of women and girls in my village and beyond! Kisumu and Rusinga Island now have new profiles and Kakamega is joining in! Our previous trips to a Cyber Cafe were long and far. We had to trek for miles through the scorching heat to get our fingers on the keyboards and it was expensive. So most of the time, access to computers was not possible for us. Through the power of connection, PACHO was introduced to Labdoo and the positive impact was immediate. This power has proved unstoppable as connections continue to be made! From World Pulse to MSTERIO to Labdoo, networks and support have been created with each and every one of them contributing thoughtfully to our communities! PACHO empowers women and girls to change their lives for the better as well as those of their children and their communities. The basis for this empowerment is skills training. For many decades, our women have been left behind and now, they are discovering that they can create the lives they want to lead. As we all develop new skills, the computers donated by Labdoo prove to be invaluable tools for us.
Physical and sexual abuse are a daily occurrence. We have vowed not to stop fighting against this violence until it comes to an end! Now that we have our own computers, we are changing the narrative! Labdoo has upped the game allowing our women and girls to communicate freely with one another and ask for help when needed. In addition, they are able to obtain the information they need regarding their rights within the laws of Kenya. Now, the perpetrators know that if a single woman is abused, action will be taken. Yes indeed, they must be stopped! Our women and girls are also improving their literacy skills through the regular use of the internet by searching for information and communicating directly with networks, collaborators and friends across the globe. Through these actions, they are learning English, reading and writing. By teaming up with great organizations such as World Pulse [who has generously given us assistance with Training Labs], our women are making connections over the internet and finding support for their work in new and diverse ways. Using Labdoo computers, the younger women are progressing academically because they can have the relevant syllabus material at their disposal and all of this contributes to enhancing their self-esteem. In the past, some of these girls were labelled 'stupid' when they did not grasp a lesson as quickly as their teachers expected them to. This damage to their self-confidence further led them to passively accept any form of violence or abuse. But now, these girls can research, study, understand and excel at their own pace and everyday, they are growing into champions!
Nyanza, our lake region is high on the poverty scale in Kenya. We know that our women can elevate their community by becoming proficient with the World Wide Web to market their work globally. They are producing jewellery, home decor and fashion items by using locally available materials and recycled objects and through the entrepreneurial skills learned and acquired in groups, they are able to sell their goods. Some of these women are young; some are widows. All the women are changing their lives and enabling the education of their children. When in school, the children also have access to Labdoo computers. They play educative games and can source learning materials. They are privileged beyond millions of other Kenyan children similar in age who currently have no such opportunities to use computers. With the Labdoo computers, young women are raising their 'status' and improving their lives. Aphline says: "I no longer look back. I know where to find for what I want! Thank you PACHO, we are now able to learn from other women all over the world through your computers." I have a team of collaborators whom I have met through my work with Labdoo. This is a powerful team and I am learning from you everyday. Thank you! There is not enough time to mention the contributions of Labdoo because they are huge. In our villages, we now sing a different song and dance to a different tune. Thank you, Labdoo!
Project Labdoo receives the Alan Turing Award for Social Impact from the Associations of Telecommunications Engineering and Computer Science from Catalonia. The Award Ceremony had as special guests the President of Catalonia and the President of the Parliament of Catalonia. Project Labdoo's first seed was planted in Guatemala, were 12 laptops loaded with educational software were delivered to a school in the village of Antigua. Since then, thanks to the Humanitarian Social Network Labdoo.org and many people's collaboration, powerful laptops loaded with educational software have been delivered to more than 800 schools, in more than 115, reaching out to more than 220,000 children. More over, this large scale effort to spread education around the world has been done with a strategy of zero cost, both economically and environmentally, basing the platform on just global acts of goodwill. All the actions performed in the network are based on collaboration and excess capacity, even the transportation system in Labdoo is CO2 neutral, as it is based on the concept of dootrips, a feature in the Labdoo platform that uses collaboration to repurpose existing global trips. This effort is only possible thanks to an amazing global team effort, with a growing number of more than 180 operational hubs distributed in the 5 continents. To all of you who make project Labdoo possible every day, thank you for being part of this story. If you want to be part of this global movement to help spread education around the world, you can join the Labdoo platform via the links you will find on the front page: https://www.labdoo.org/
A heartfelt thank you to Max, teacher at the Enna Girls' School, who wrote this wonderful poem to thank everyone at Labdoo for bringing laptops loaded with educational software to the school where he was teaching. You can read more about the school where Max has been teaching and see more pictures from the following edoovillage project: https://www.labdoo.org/edoovillage?e=815 The Great Network Sometimes ago it sprung, And the herb grew bigger, My word I give to you
Imagine, a small young boy Many of us here had grown These are just to mention
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