We
thank Katie Henderson and her father, Jeff Henderson, of Columbus, Ohio for giving
the students at Axim Girls Senior High School (AGSHS) and also children at the
Axim Public Library a HUGE BOOST in their Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) and
computing skills.
Katie,
a student at Columbus School for Girls, is an expert in IIAB, One Laptop per
Child computers, and Scratch, a beginning
computer programming language that students use to create animated
stories, games, interactive art, and simulations.
Katie took her skills and her Dad to
Axim this July, and went to work. |
| From left to right: Jerry Kwofie, ICT teacher at AGSHS; Headmistress Theodora Appiah; Katie Henderson; Jeff Henderson |
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| Katie working with senior high school girls at Axim Girls Senior High School |
Adam Holt of Unleash Kids coached her mightily across the Atlantic via text, email, voice, WhatsApp, and who knows what else? You remember Adam…we wrote about this wonderful guy installing and training Internet-in-a-Box at Axim Girls Senior High School back in March 2015 (http://ghanatogether.blogspot.com/2015/03/internet-in-box.html).
Not wanting to waste any of Katie and Jeff's skills, Ghana Together found funds to buy another server and other apparatus to set up a second IIAB at the Axim Public Library (thank you, thank you…generous friends).
So, Katie not only held workshops at AGSHS in beginning computer coding and IIAB skills. She also set up the second IIAB at the Axim Public Library, and held about a week of workshops. She worked with the children on Wikipedia, especially, using the 30 or so OLPC XO computers in the Children’s Computing Lab we helped set up in … was it two years ago? (So much happening, we can’t keep track.)
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| Katie working at the Children's Computing Lab/Axim Public Library on the One Laptop per Child XO laptops, teaching them how to use them to access the IIAB and to work with the many learning activities built into these computers |
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| First let's get the basics under our belts!! |
Katie
was assisted big-time by Jerry Kwofie, ICT teacher at AGSHS, and Evans Arloo, Operations Manager for Western Heritage Home, our NGO partner in Axim. During
the Axim Library installations and workshops, Gaddiel Eyison and James Amrado,
staff members, helped out and were themselves trained. AGSHS Headmistress
Theodora Appiah and Regional Library Director Mercy Ackah were supportive at every turn.
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| The on-the-ground team: Katie, Jerry Kwofie, Evans Arloo, James Amrado, and Gaddiel Eyison |
And
of course, Dad Jeff discovered perhaps somewhat rusty skills as he helped to get all the components working! Thanks, Jeff, for making this all
happen.
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| "I just KNOW we can make this work!!!" |
My
experience in Axim was a wonderful one. With great support from Jerry and Arloo
(and Adam and team back in North America), we have accomplished a great deal,
including:
- Internet-in-a-Box system is installed and fully operational at the Axim Library site
- 30+ XO-1 laptops have been updated with the latest firmware and software
- 12 desktop PCs now have new wireless capability at AGSHS, allowing them to connect to the IIAB system in the computer lab
- 24 fourth and fifth grade students have had a week of training on the use of the IIAB, particularly Wikipedia
- 22 high school students at AGSHS have had a week of training on the various tools within IIAB, including Wikipedia, RACHEL, Power Typing, Open Street Maps, and others.
Ghana Together loved
facilitating this visit! On behalf of Ghana Together, Western Heritage Home,
Axim Girls Senior High School, and Axim Public Library we can only say THANK
YOU to the Henderson duo and also to Unleash Kids!
Katie created a fascinating blog for friends
and family documenting her experience...neat to hear from her first-hand:
Prior News Updates: http://ghanatogether.blogspot.com
Our website is: http://ghanatogether.org
Contact us: info@ghanatogether.org
We are a 501c3 non-profit, Fed ID: 26-2182965
