PGHS Solar Computer Lab Project objectives

The aims of the Prosperity Girls High School Solar Powered Computer Project are basic:  1) to provide local girls with information technology skills and, 2) use solar energy to power computers and lighting that will extend the use of school buildings into the evening.

Basic objectives, but ones that will have major impact on the small community of Rotifunk.

I briefly met Principal Kaimbay on my first visit back to Sierra Leone and was immediately impressed with her.  When we talked by phone after I returned home, I asked what her priorities were for the school.  Getting more vocational subjects to give the girls practical skills was her immediate answer.  I couldn’t have agreed more, and we quickly agreed computer skills were top of the list. We would need a solar powered system to make this achievable.

Simply stated, the scope of Prosperity Girls High School Computer Lab project will include:

1. Solar energy to run the facility, including indoor/outdoor lighting for school buildings

2. Computers and furniture for a class of thirty pupils

3. Photocopier/printer/scanner and internet connection (more on this later)

Example of a solar power system being installed in Sierra Leone
by Energy for Opportunity

Here’s a glimpse into operating a school now with no power in Rotifunk – and in most of today’s rural Sierra Leone.

Initially sharing and reviewing a project proposal was a dilemma.  Principal Kaimbay had neither a computer nor a smart phone at the time.  Forget mailing.  Postal service was never re-instated in small towns like Rotifunk after the war.  Using email to send messages or documents would only work if she drove to the capital and found someone she knew with an email account to send messages for her.  I recall shouting my email address into a bad cell phone connection.  A zero was mistaken for an “o” and I never got the document she had a friend email me.  About a month later after several calls from me and a couple trips to the capital for her, I finally received the proposal she and her staff had prepared. 

A nuisance for me, but I could only imagine what this had been like for her. Forty miles to the capital may sound like an hour’s drive or less.  But dirt roads carved with potholes can mean at least two hours to approach the outskirts of Freetown. I figure you add 20% mileage to your trip by virtue of having to weave back and forth across the road slalom style, trying to escape wheel axel eating potholes.  In the rainy season, roads sometimes are impassable.

The capital doubled in size during the war because people fled there for safety and then stayed.  Roads in town are choked with traffic, typically taking another 60-90 minutes to make your way into the heart of the city where government offices are.  In a tropical country near the equator, the hours of day and night are nearly equal, so it’s getting dark by 6:30 pm.  You’ll need to leave at dawn and try to get your business done in time to get back by sunset.  Not a good idea traveling these roads at night with frequent vehicle breakdowns.  Or, you travel back the next day, and lose part or all of two days of school. 

All this just to complete a task I wouldn’t even think about taking ten minutes in the States.  Not long after this first interaction, I decided the best way to make progress on the project was for me to soon return to Sierra Leone so we could have a meaningful discussion and make proper plans.

There I found no electrical power at the school also meant no printer or copier, as well as no computers.  Teachers are unable to document lesson plans, prepare test materials or print report cards.  Typewriters can function, but things like test materials must then be carried to the capital Freetown and copied there at no small expense.  Or you do it the way I did teaching many years ago – everything is hand written on a classroom blackboard.

Setting up computers and internet access has become a necessity for Rotifunk to join the rest of the 21^st century world.  

Solar energy will maximize benefit of a computer lab for the whole community.  With solar powered lighting, the school can operate into the evening, effectively multiplying use of the facility. The school can offer computer training for students of other community schools, as well as for graduates wanting computer skills to advance their careers.  It can also hold adult literacy classes and serve as an Internet Café for others in town needing computer access.

And this is only the beginning.  Solar power that enables community access to computers and the Internet is the start of a lifetime of learning for people with little access to books and media.

So, simple objectives and outcomes – thirty two light fixtures distributed around the school, thirty computers in a room and some power outlets. 

Simple, but transformative outcomes that can have a profound impact on a small town like Rotifunk, Sierra Leone, West Africa.

I brought Principal Kaimbay a laptop computer for her use on my second trip.  She got herself a basic smart phone that receives email.  We haven’t made big strides in communications yet. Internet connections to Rotifunk are still difficult.  And costly for people on limited incomes. Small personal modems you plug into your PC like a memory stick were just becoming available this year.  But internet signals outside the capital are weak in a country with low volume of users and poor infrastructure.  No doubt limited band width. You can’t get a connection and when you do, they run at glacial speed – and then frequently drop.  Can you hear me now?!  Internet and cell phone signals are the worst now in the rainy season.

Still, as time goes on I see small progress. Bit by bit things improve. This year a personal modem.  Hopefully next year infrastructure work for stronger, faster internet signals.